USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70)
Encyclopedia
USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) was a Casablanca-class
Casablanca class escort carrier
The Casablanca class escort aircraft carriers were the greatest number of not only escort carriers, but also any size aircraft carrier ever built to a like-design by any nation at any time. Fifty were laid down, launched and commissioned within the space of less than two years - 3 November 1942...
United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
escort aircraft carrier
Escort aircraft carrier
The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the USN or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft carrier used by the British Royal Navy , the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, and the...
, launched 1 November 1943 by Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
, sponsored by Mrs. J. L. Kenworthy, Jr.; and commissioned 9 December 1943, Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
Douglass P. Johnson in command. She was reclassified CVHE-70 on 12 June 1955.
Service history
Fanshaw Bay sailed from San Diego 6 April 1944 with Rear AdmiralRear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
G. F. Began, Commander Carrier Division 25, embarked, and reached Majuro
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
20 April. After 10 days of antisubmarine patrols and air searches out of Majuro, she returned to Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
for replenishment and training. She sailed 29 May for Eniwetok and final preparations for the assault on Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, for which she sailed 11 June.
Operating about 30 miles east of Saipan, Fanshaw Bay launched antisubmarine patrols, combat air patrol, and photographic reconnaissance flights as well as raids on Japanese positions to pave the way for the invasion on 15 June. During an attack by five enemy aircraft on that day, Fanshaw Bay saved herself from a torpedo by prompt maneuvering, but two days later in a melee of raids from all sides which included about 70 Japanese planes, Fanshaw Bay was struck by a bomb, after her antiaircraft guns and fighter planes had splashed many of the attackers. The bomb penetrated the after elevator and exploded in midair above the hangar deck, killing 14 and wounding 23. Fires broke out, and the fire main was ruptured, flooding several compartments aft. In just under an hour the damage was brought under control, but Fanshaw Bay listed 3° to port and settled 6 feet by the stern. She transferred Rear Admiral Bogan to a destroyer, and sailed for Pearl Harbor and battle damage repairs.
Fanshaw Bay arrived at Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
on 28 August 1944 for training in preparation for the invasion of Morotai
Morotai
Morotai Island Regency is a regency of North Maluku province, Indonesia, located on Morotai Island. The population was 54,876 in 2007.-History:...
, for which she sailed 10 September, with Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague
Clifton Sprague
Vice Admiral Clifton Albert Frederick Sprague was a World War II-era officer in the United States Navy.-Biography:...
, the new division commander, embarked. Her planes flew combat air patrol and support missions, and on 16 September provided air cover for one of the pilots, down just a few hundred feet off the enemy-held shore of Wasile Bay. Diving low, they provided protection until two daring motor torpedo boats dashed in to snatch him out from under enemy shore guns. The escort carrier replenished at Manus from 7 October to 12 October, then put out for the invasion of Leyte on 20 October.
Battle off Samar
Through the first four days of the invasion, Fanshaw Bay operated off Samar, launching combat air patrol, antisubmarine patrols, observation flights and drops of psychological warfare material, as well as raids and strikes in direct support of the troops ashore. Warned on 24 October that Japanese surface ships were on the move, she flew off early the next morning all her aircraft to attack the enemy while the escort carriers retired from the threat of the Japanese surface ships, far faster, and with far greater fire power. Just 6 minutes after her planes were ordered away, she came under fire from the Japanese cruisers, and although a heavy rain squall shielded the escort carriers briefly, she soon began receiving hits. By 0855, when she took the third hit, she was under fire from two cruisers and two destroyers, later joined by a third destroyer whose torpedo attack she avoided. All through this battle, the American destroyers fought gallantly to protect their vulnerable charges, and at 0924, the Japanese battle line at last broke formation to avoid an air attack. Later, kamikazeKamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
planes attacked and sunk . Fanshaw Bay fired effectively in this attack, splashing among others a plane just about to crash into . With her screen detached to rescue St. Los survivors, Fanshaw Bay shaped her course for Manus, unprotected, and throughout the day landed planes from her sunk or damaged sisters. In this Battle off Samar
Battle off Samar
The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar Island, in the Philippines on 25 October 1944...
phase of the Battle for Leyte Gulf, Fanshaw Bay lost four men killed, and four wounded, but won enduring esteem and a Presidential Unit Citation
Presidential Unit Citation (US)
The Presidential Unit Citation, originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941...
for the distinguished role she played in this and other actions.
Fanshaw Bay replenished at Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
from 1 November 1944 to 7 November, then returned by way of Pearl Harbor to San Diego for battle damage repairs. After refresher training and patrol duty in Hawaiian waters, Fanshaw Bay arrived at Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
14 March 1945 to re-embark Admiral Sprague, now Commander Carrier Division 26. She sortied for the invasion of Okinawa 21 March, and four days later her planes began pre-invasion attacks on the island. Fanshaw Bay flew cover for the landings 1 April, and continued daily operations in support of the advance of troops on the island until 28 May when she arrived at San Pedro Bay
San Pedro Bay (Philippines)
San Pedro Bay is a bay in the Philippines, at the northwest end of Leyte Gulf, about 15 km east-west and 20 km north-south. The bay is bounded on the north and east by Samar and on the east by Leyte Island. It is connected by San Juanico Strait to Carigara Bay of the Samar Sea. The...
to replenish. Between 9 June and 27 June, she sailed off the Sakishima Gunto, between Okinawa and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, to launch air strikes, then provided air cover for minesweeping in the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
through July.
After calling at Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
and Eniwetok to load aircraft and replenish, Fanshaw Bay sailed to Adak
Adak Island
Adak Island is an island near the western extent of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Alaska's southernmost town, Adak, is located on the island...
, and from there took part in the occupation of northern Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
until returning to Pearl Harbor 24 September 1945; here she landed Rear Admiral E. W. Litch, who had relieved Admiral Sprague during the Okinawa operation. She arrived on the west coast with Marine Corps passengers 3 November, and after a voyage to Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
to return men of all military services to San Diego, was placed out of commission in reserve at Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
, Washington, 14 August 1946. She was sold 26 September 1959.
Awards
In addition to the Presidential Unit Citation, Fanshaw Bay received five battle stars for World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service.