USS Suwannee (AVG/ACV/CVE-27), was a US Navy escort carrier of World War II. Originally built as Markay, one of twelve tankers built by a joint Navy-Maritime Commission design. This design was later duplicated and designated a T3-S2-A1 oiler. She was acquired by the Navy in 1941, and renamed Suwannee (AO-33), a fleet oiler. In 1942, she was converted to a . Originally classified as an "Aircraft Escort Vessel", AVG-27, on 14 February 1942, she was reclassified an "Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier", ACV-27, 20 August 1942, before finally being classified as an "Escort Carrier", CVE-27, 15 July 1943. After the war, she was later classified an "Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier" and again redesignated, CVHE-27, 12 June 1955. She was named after the Suwannee River, in Georgia and Florida.
Construction Markay was laid down on 3 June 1938, at Kearney, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, MC hull 5; launched on 4 March 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Marguerite Vickery (née Blanchard), wife of Howard L. Vickery; delivered to the Keystone Shipping Company's subsidiary Keystone Tankship Corporation.
Service history On 26 June 1941, the US Navy acquired Markay and renamed her Suwannee (AO-33), the ship was commissioned "in ordinary", an inactive status, on 9 July 1941, then placed in commission, on 16 July 1941, as a fleet oiler.
Fleet oiler service After fitting out at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, from 23 to 31 July 1941, Suwannee transported passengers to Hampton Roads, then on 9 August, she continued on to the Gulf of Mexico, proceeding to New Orleans, Louisiana, from 14 to 16 August, before she returned to Norfolk, on 21 August, setting course later the same day for the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Suwannee there embarked officers and men of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 1 (MTBRon 1), and loaded six 77-foot Elco Motor Yachts (ELCO) torpedo boats: PT-20, PT-21, PT-22, PT-23, PT-24, and PT-25, from 24 to 26 August. The oiler and her passengers and deck cargo began their voyage when she stood out on 26 August.
After transiting the Panama Canal, from 31 August—1 September 1941, Suwannee proceeded directly to San Pedro, California, from 9—11 September, whence she sailed on 11 September for Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. She steamed to Pearl Harbor, where she disembarked the officers and men and offloaded MTBRon 1's six ELCOs, completing that operation on 18 September. Shifting to Honolulu, on 20 September, the oiler sailed for San Pedro, with two leave-bound USMC non-commissioned officers and one enlisted marine, from Marine Aircraft Group 21, later the same day.
Reaching San Pedro, on 26 September 1941, Suwannee embarked east coast-bound travelers on that day and the next, disembarking the three USMC passengers who had ridden the ship from Hawaiian waters. The new passengers’ destinations ranged from new construction, like the carrier , the destroyer , and the submarine , to the gunboat . A Sea2c, however, who embarked on 26 September with orders to report to the light cruiser , deserted before the oiler cleared San Pedro, for the Canal Zone, on 28 September.
Suwannee paused briefly at the Canal Zone, from 6—9 October 1941, disembarking four passengers during her time there, a PhM2c to the US Naval Hospital, Balboa, and an MM2c to the gunboat Erie, on 6 October, and an OS3c to the Submarine Base, Coco Solo, Canal Zone, on 8 October; then continued on for Galveston, Texas. Shifting thence to Baytown, Texas, she took on cargo, after which she took departure on 15 October. Disembarking three more passengers at Bayonne, New Jersey, on 21 October, Suwannee sailed for Hampton Roads, the next day. Following her arrival, the oiler disembarked more passengers from 23 to 25 October.
Clearing Norfolk, for the Gulf Area, on 3 November 1941, Suwannee arrived at her destination after a passage of five days, after which she sailed down the Houston Ship Channel, setting course for Argentia, Newfoundland, on 10 November, where she provided services to the Atlantic Fleet's ships as the fleet's involvement in the Battle of the Atlantic intensified. Arriving at her destination on 17 November, she remained at Argentia, until she sailed for Hampton Roads, on 4 December, with passengers, the largest group of which, 29, held orders to the carrier . Suwannees work at Argentia would earn her the American Defense Service Medal, from 16 to 22 November 1941.
Suwannee disembarked her passengers, then underwent a restricted availability at the Norfolk Navy Yard, during which time the Japanese unleashed their onslaught in the Pacific, 7—8 December 1941, and Germany joined its Axis partner on 11 December. Against that backdrop of the United States' being at war in both oceans, the oiler sailed from Hampton Roads, on 13 December, and set course for New Orleans, and there loaded a cargo of oil. Departing that port on 19 December, Suwannee touched at San Juan, Puerto Rico, then returned to Norfolk. Suwannee cleared Norfolk, on 11 January 1942, for Bermuda, with passengers that included six bound for the carrier , five for Savannah, and two for the destroyer . Disembarking her passengers on 14 January, she provided fueling services there before returning to Hampton Roads, where, upon completion of unloading, she began preparations to undergo conversion.
Conversion to escort carrier After operating for six months as an oiler with the Atlantic Fleet, Suwannee was designated an "Aircraft Escort Vessel", AVG-27, on 14 February 1942, and decommissioned, on 21 February, at Newport News, Virginia, for conversion to a , at Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. On 20 August, she was redesignated an "Auxiliary Carrier", ACV-27, and was recommissioned as such on 24 September 1942.
Escort carrier service 1942 Less than a month after commissioning, Suwannee was underway from Hampton Roads, for the invasion of North Africa. She joined Ranger, as the other carrier attached to the Center Attack Group, whose specific objective was Casablanca, itself, via Fedhala, just to the north. Early in the morning of 8 November, she arrived off the coast of Morocco, and for the next few days, her Grumman F4F Wildcats maintained combat (CAP) and anti-submarine (ASW) air patrols, while her Grumman TBF Avengers joined Rangers in bombing missions. During the Naval Battle of Casablanca from 8–11 November, Suwannee sent up 255 air sorties and lost only five planes, three in combat and two to operational problems.
On 11 November, off Fedhala Roads, her ASW patrol sank what was reported to be a German U-boat, but which was later determined to have been , one of the three French submarines which sortied from Casablanca, on the day of the assault. She was the first escort carrier to score against an enemy submarine, and she helped to prove the usefulness of her type in ASW.
Suwannee remained in North African waters until mid-November, then sailed, via Bermuda, for Norfolk. She arrived back at Hampton Roads, on 24 November, and stayed until 5 December, when she got underway for the South Pacific.
1943 The auxiliary carrier transited the Panama Canal, on 11–12 December, and arrived at New Caledonia, on 4 January 1943. For the next seven months, she provided air escort for transports and supply ships replenishing and bolstering the Marines on Guadalcanal, as well as for the forces occupying other islands in the Solomons group. During that span of time, she visited Guadalcanal, Efate, and Espiritu Santo, in addition to New Caledonia. She was reclassified as an "Escort Carrier", CVE-27, on 15 July 1943.
She returned to the United States at San Diego, in October, and by 5 November, was back at Espiritu Santo. On 13 November, she departed to participate in the Gilbert Islands operation. From 19 to 23 November, she was a part of the Air Support Group of the Southern Attack Force, and her planes bombed Tarawa, while the ships in the Northern Attack Force engaged the enemy at Makin. Following the occupation of the Gilberts, the escort carrier returned to the US, via Pearl Harbor, arriving in San Diego, on 21 December.
1944
She remained on the west coast for two weeks, into the new year, then set a course for Lahaina Roads, in the Hawaiian Islands. She departed Hawaii, on 22 January 1944, and headed for the Marshalls. During that operation, Suwannee joined the Northern Attack Force, and her planes bombed and strafed Roi and Namur Islands, in the northern part of Kwajalein Atoll, and conducted anti-submarine patrols for the task force.
On the 26 January there was a collision with her sister ship, the . No personnel were injured but of her flight deck was buckled and some parts of the ship torn off and lost. Both carriers able to continue air operations. Suwannees captain was found to be responsible, but this had little effect on his career and he was later promoted.
Suwannee remained in the vicinity of Kwajalein for the first 15 days of February, then spent the next nine days helping out at Eniwetok. On 24 February, she headed east again and arrived at Pearl Harbor, on 2 March, for a two-week stay.
By 30 March, she was in the vicinity of the Palau Islands as the 5th Fleet subjected those islands to two days of extensive bombing raids. A week later, she put into Espiritu Santo, for four days. After short stops at Purvis Bay, in the Solomons, and at Seeadler Harbor, Manus, the escort carrier headed for New Guinea. For two weeks, she supported the Hollandia landings by shuttling replacement aircraft to the larger fleet carriers actually engaged in air support of the landings. She returned to Manus, on 5 May.
Following two voyages from Espiritu Santo, one to Tulagi, and the other to Kwajalein, Suwannee arrived off Saipan, in mid-June. For the next one and a half months, she supported the invasion of the Marianas, participating in the campaigns against Saipan and Guam. On 19 June, as the Battle of the Philippine Sea began to unfold, Suwannee was one of the first ships to draw enemy blood when one of her planes flying combat air patrol attacked and sank the , while she was on the surface, with four depth charges. Suwanees planes did not actually become engaged in the famous battle of naval aircraft, because they remained with the invasion forces in the Marianas providing ASW and CAPs.
On 4 August, she cleared the Marianas for Eniwetok and Seeadler Harbor, reaching the latter port on 13 August. Almost a month later, on 10 September, she put to sea to support the landings on Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies. Those landings went off without opposition on 15 September, and Suwannee returned to Seeadler Harbor, to prepare for the invasion of the Philippines.
On 12 October, the escort carrier got underway from Manus, in Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague's Escort Carrier Group to provide air support for the landings at Leyte Gulf. She reached the Philippines several days later, and her planes began strikes on enemy installations in the Visayas, until 25 October. She provided air support for the assault forces with ASW and CAPs and strikes against Japanese installations ashore.