USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) was the twenty-sixth of fifty s built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after Petrof Bay, which in turn was named in 1928 after Ivan Petroff, a Russian Alaskan who served as a special census agent for the 1880 United States census. The bay is located within Kuiu Island, which at the time was a part of the Territory of Alaska. The ship was launched in January 1944, commissioned in February, and served in support of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Philippines campaign, including the Battle off Samar, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the Battle of Okinawa. She was decommissioned in July 1946, when she was mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. Ultimately, she was broken up in September 1959.
Design and description
Petrof Bay was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, the most numerous type of aircraft carriers ever built. Built to stem heavy losses during the Battle of the Atlantic, they came into service in late 1943, by which time the U-boat threat was already in retreat. Although some did see service in the Atlantic, the majority were utilized in the Pacific, ferrying aircraft, providing logistics support, and conducting close air support for the island-hopping campaigns. The Casablanca-class carriers were built on the standardized Type S4-S2-BB3 hull, a lengthened variant of the hull, and specifically designed to be mass-produced using welded prefabricated sections. This allowed them to be produced at unprecedented speeds: the final ship of her class, , was delivered to the Navy just 101 days after the laying of her keel.
Petrof Bay was long overall ( at the waterline), had a beam of , and a draft of . She displaced standard, which increased to with a full load. To carry out flight operations, the ship had a hangar deck and a flight deck. Her compact size necessitated the installation of an aircraft catapult at her bow, and there were two aircraft elevators to facilitate movement of aircraft between the flight and hangar deck: one each fore and aft.
She was powered by four Babcock & Wilcox Express D boilers that raised of steam at . The steam generated by these boilers fed two Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines, delivering to two propeller shafts. This allowed her to reach speeds of , with a cruising range of at . For armament, one /38 caliber dual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. Additional anti-aircraft defense was provided by eight Bofors anti-aircraft guns in single mounts and twelve Oerlikon cannons mounted around the perimeter of the deck. By 1945, Casablanca-class carriers had been modified to carry twenty Oerlikon cannons and sixteen Bofors guns; the doubling of the latter was accomplished by putting them into twin mounts. Sensors onboard consisted of a SG surface-search radar and a SK air-search radar.
Although Casablanca-class escort carriers were intended to function with a crew of 860 and an embarked squadron of 50 to 56, the exigencies of wartime often necessitated the inflation of the crew count. They were designed to operate with 27 aircraft, but the hangar deck could accommodate much more during transport or training missions.
During the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, she carried 16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters and 10 TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bombers for a total of 26 aircraft. However, during the Battle of Leyte, at the opening stages of the Philippines campaign, she carried 16 FM-2 fighters and 12 TBM-1C torpedo bombers for a total of 28 aircraft. During the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, at the middle stages of the Philippines campaign, as well as during the Battle of Iwo Jima, she carried 20 FM-2 fighters and 12 TBM-1C torpedo bombers for a total of 32 aircraft. During the Battle of Okinawa, she carried 18 FM-2 fighters and 12 TBM-3 torpedo bombers for a total of 30 aircraft.
Construction Her construction was awarded to Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington under a Maritime Commission contract, on 18 June 1942. The escort carrier was laid down on 15 October 1943 under the name Petrof Bay, as part of a tradition which named escort carriers after bays or sounds in Alaska. She was laid down as MC hull 1117, the twenty-sixth of a series of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers. She therefore received the classification symbol CVE-80, indicating that she was the eightieth escort carrier to be commissioned into the United States Navy. She was launched on 5 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. J.G. Atkins, the wife of Captain Atkins, the executive officer of the Farragut Naval Training Station, located in Northern Idaho; transferred to the Navy and commissioned on 18 February 1944, with Captain Joseph Lester Kane in command.
Service history
Upon being commissioned, Petrof Bay underwent a shakedown cruise down the West Coast, heading to Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California. Upon arriving, she took on passengers, aircraft, and cargo, before departing on 29 March for the southwest Pacific. She arrived at Espiritu Santo of the New Hebrides on 14 April, where she unloaded part of her cargo. On 20 April, she steamed for Seeadler Harbor, in Manus Island of the Admiralty Islands, arriving there on 25 April. After arriving, she transferred eight aircraft that she was ferrying to other ships within the harbor.
On the morning of 29 April, Petrof Bay met with the Fast Carrier Task Force (Task Force 58) of the Fifth Fleet, whereupon she began providing replacement aircraft to the task force in preparation for a follow-up strike against the Japanese naval stronghold of Truk of the Caroline Islands, which had previously been heavily damaged in Operation Hailstone. She then headed to Majuro Atoll of the Marshall Islands, arriving on 3 May, where she replenished. She then rendezvoused with the Fast Carrier Task Force again, after it had successfully conducted its strike, providing all of her aircraft, as well as most of her aviation spares and material to the fleet carriers. She also loaded onboard damaged or obsolete aircraft, as well as salvage equipment for transportation back to the West Coast.
Accompanied by the and three screening destroyers, Petrof Bay headed back to the West Coast on 7 May, sailing into the San Francisco Bay on 20 May. She then headed back down to San Diego, where she embarked Composite Squadron (VC) 76, commanded by Lieutenant Commander James W. McCauley, and which was to be assigned to become her combat air contingent. She initially conducted shakedown air operations with her newly embarked squadron, before heading westwards for Pearl Harbor on 30 July, arriving there on 6 August.
Marianas and Palau Islands campaign
At Pearl Harbor, Petrof Bay disembarked her excess aircraft, and on 12 August, she left port, as a part of Task Group 32, the Western Attack Group, assigned to the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, but more specifically, to the planned Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II. She first headed to Guadalcanal of the Solomon Islands, anchoring in Tulagi Harbor on the afternoon of 24 August. On 4 September, having been assigned to Task Unit 32.7.2, or "Taffy 3", commanded by Rear Admiral George R. Henderson along with her sisters , which was Henderson's flagship, and , she sortied for the western Caroline Islands as a part of the Peleliu and Anguar Movement Group Number 2, screened by the s , , , and the .
Petrof Bay, upon arriving off of Peleliu on 15 September, immediately began launching strikes against Japanese positions on the island. Marines of the 1st Marine Division landed on the southwest beaches of the island on the morning of 15 September, with the aircraft of VC-76 providing crucial close air support as they advanced up the island. For example, on the late afternoon of 15 September, as the Japanese garrison massed for a counterattack, a VC-76 TBM dropped a bomb in the midst of three tanks, putting all three out of action. Her aircraft continued supporting the Marines almost continuously until 29 September, with the exception of one day when she replenished on munitions at Kossol Roads. Notably, her aircraft were allowed almost free rein over the island, with the beleaguered Japanese forces in the area never providing any air opposition. By 30 September, the airfield on the island had become operational, enabling the use of land-based aircraft, and therefore Petrof Bay retired back to Manus Island.
Philippines campaign Whilst at Manus Island, Petrof Bay was assigned to Task Unit 77.4.1, or "Taffy 1" of Task Group 77.4, the Escort Carrier Group. Commanded by Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague, it consisted of the s , which was Sprague's flagship, , , , as well as the Casablanca-class escort carriers Saginaw Bay and Petrof Bay in Carrier Division 28, subdivided from the other carriers, but still within the same task unit. Carrier Division 28 was commanded by Rear Admiral George R. Henderson, whose flag was still hoisted onboard Saginaw Bay. On 14 October, she sortied from Seeadler Harbor, headed for Leyte Gulf in support of the opening landings on Leyte, which was to be the return of American forces to the Philippines, and which would also begin the Philippines campaign.
As the escort carriers snaked northwards from the Admiralty Islands, they provided air cover and screening for the troop transports underway. Petrof Bay and Saginaw Bay were assigned to escort the transports of Task Group 79.3, which was carrying the troops of the 7th Infantry Division, which was bound to land near Dulag, near the southern flank of the planned initial beachhead. On 20 October, having finished her task of escorting the attack transports, she separated from the rest of "Taffy 1" and rendezvoused with Task Unit 77.4.2, or "Taffy 2" for the initial landings, as "Taffy 2" was responsible for covering the landing of the 7th Infantry Division. Between the two carriers, they made forty air sorties on 20 October, as the 7th Infantry landed on Leyte. She then detached from "Taffy 2" and rejoined "Taffy 1", which had been suffering from Japanese air attacks. Petrof Bay continued providing air support from 21 October to 24 October.
In the meantime, as the escort carriers conducted their strikes, the Japanese garrison on Suluan had managed to alert their command, triggering Admiral Soemu Toyoda to launch Shō-Gō 1, a gambit to defend Japan's access to the oil fields of Southeast Asia. On 24 October, news began filtering through of the Japanese fleet moving out to engage, in what was to be the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Petrof Bay, having rejoined "Taffy 1" (Saginaw Bay had transferred her aircraft contingent to other carriers and retired from the field on 24 October), was located in the southernmost group of the escort carriers, just east of Surigao City. With this news, VC-76 began rearming into a complement more suitable to fighting against surface ships, with Captain Kane ordering all of her TBM Avengers to be loaded with torpedoes, of which they would dearly need the following day.
Over the night of 25 October, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's Center Force swung through the San Bernardino Strait, confronting and catching "Taffy 3", the northernmost escort carrier group, by surprise as the sun rose. The Center Force had previously been sighted and attacked by aircraft in the Sibuyan Sea, and had been thought to be withdrawing, information which had certainly played into Admiral William Halsey Jr.'s decision to lead his Third Fleet northwards, after spotting Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's diversionary Northern Force. Thus, the only ships covering the vulnerable landing crafts of Leyte Gulf were the three escort carrier task groups and their screens.