USS Casablanca (CVE-55)

USS Casablanca
Overview
Order	1942
Keel laying	November 3, 1942
Launch	April 5, 1943
1. Period of service
Commissioning	July 8, 1943
Decommissioning	June 10, 1946
Whereabouts	scrapped
Technical specifications
displacement	7800  ts (standard) 10,400 ts (application)
length	156.2 m
width	32.9 m
Draft	6.9 m
crew	860
drive	4 piston steam engines, 9000 HP on two propellers
speed	19 kn
Range	10,200 nm at 15 kn
Armament	1 × 127 mm gun 8 × 40mm twins 20 × 20 mm MK
Planes	28

The USS Casablanca (CVE-55) was an escort aircraft carrier for the United States Navy and the lead ship of the Casablanca-class . The carrier was in service with the US Navy from July 1943 to June 1946.

history

The carrier was originally ordered in 1942 as HMS Ameer and the classification "AVG" (Auxiliary Aircraft Ferry) for the Royal Navy . On August 20, the identifier was changed to "ACV", auxiliary aircraft carrier, and on November 3, the keel was laid at Kaiser Shipyards in Vancouver , Washington . During construction, on January 23, 1943, the name was changed to Alazon Bay , and on April 3, two days before the launch, the carrier was given its final name, USS Casablanca . The ship was christened by Eleanor Roosevelt , the wife of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt . On July 8, 1943, the Casablanca was put into service with the US Pacific Fleet under the command of Commander WW Gallaway. A week later the identifier "CVE" was introduced for escort aircraft carriers. Until August 1944, the carrier operated on Juan-de-Fuca-Strasse as a training carrier for ship and aircraft crews. On August 24, the left Casablanca , the San Francisco Bay to fuel, aircraft and troops to Manus to bring. After returning to San Diego on October 8th, the porter resumed training runs on the west coast. On January 22, 1945, the Casablanca was docked in San Diego for overhaul. After completion of the work on March 13, the carrier set sail for Hawaii and Guam to transport material. The Casablanca transported material and soldiers between Samar , Manus and Palau until May 12 , when it returned to the west coast of the States for another overhaul. On June 24th she ran again with passengers in Pearl Harbor , in the following time further personnel transports between the US west coast and Hawaii and Guam followed. In August, the Casablanca was briefly used as a training provider off Saipan. After the Japanese surrender , the porter brought soldiers home for the first time in September, followed by further transports back from Pacific islands in October and November. The last mission took the carrier from December 8, 1945 to January 16, 1946 from San Francisco to Yokohama . On January 23, 1946, the Casablanca left San Francisco for the US east coast. On February 10, she arrived in Norfolk , where she was taken out of service and transferred to the reserve on June 10 . On April 23, 1947, the carrier was sold for scrapping.

Web links

Commons : USS Casablanca (CVE-55)  - Collection of images

• History of USS Casablanca (CVE-55) in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
• Pictures of the Casablanca at navsource.org (engl.)