USS Altamaha (CVE-18)

History
United States
Laid down:	19 December 1941
Launched:	22 May 1942
Commissioned:	15 September 1942
Decommissioned:	27 September 1946
Fate:	Sold for scrap
General characteristics
Displacement:	7,886 tons
Length:	492 ft (150 m)
Beam:	69.5 ft (21.2 m)
Draft:	25.5 ft (7.8 m)
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement:	970 officers and men
Armament:	2 × 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 guns (2×1), 20 × 40 mm Bofors guns (10×2)
Aircraft carried:	24

USS Altamaha (AVG-18/ACV-18/CVE-18) was an escort aircraft carrier in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for the Altamaha River in Georgia.

Altamaha was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 235) on 19 December 1941 at Tacoma, Washington, by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation; launched on 25 May 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Thomas S. Combs, the wife of Commander Combs, who was the commanding officer of Casco, and commissioned on 15 September 1942 Captain J. R. Tate in command.

Following brief sea trials, Altamaha got underway for San Diego, California, on 27 October in company with Kendrick. While they were en route, Kendrick spotted a submarine and claimed that members of her crew had seen three torpedoes which had been fired at the escort carrier. However, no one on Altamaha observed any of the torpedoes. The voyage continued uneventfully, and the ships reached San Diego on 31 October. The carrier then took on aircraft and passengers and sailed in convoy on 3 November for the southwest Pacific.

Upon reaching Espiritu Santo on 24 November, she delivered part of her cargo and continued on to New Caledonia. She reached Nouméa on 28 November and commenced a period of flight operations and training exercises. The vessel returned to Espiritu Santo on 30 December, but continued on to the Fiji Islands and touched at Nadi on 13 January 1943 before beginning another period of operational training.

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