USS Attu (CVE-102)

USS Attu after weathering a typhoon. Several aircraft are in disarray on deck.
History
United States
Name:	USS Attu
Builder:	Kaiser Shipyards
Laid down:	16 March 1944
Launched:	27 May 1944
Commissioned:	30 June 1944
Decommissioned:	8 June 1946
Struck:	3 July 1946
Fate:	Sold for scrap 3 January 1947
General characteristics
Class and type:	Casablanca-class escort carrier
Displacement:	7,800 tons
Length:	512 ft (156 m) overall
Beam:	65.2 ft (19.9 m)
Draft:	20 ft (6.1 m)
Speed:	19.3 knots (35.7 km/h)
Complement:	860 officers and men
Armament:	1 × 5 inch (127 mm)/38 cal gun, 16 × Bofors 40 mm guns, 20 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
Aircraft carried:	28

USS Attu (CVE-102) was a Casablanca-class escort aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, named after Attu in the Aleutian Islands.

Originally Elbour Bay, CVE-102 was renamed Attu 6 November 1943. She was laid down on 16 March 1944 at Vancouver, Washington, by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1139), launched on 27 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. George W. Steele, and commissioned on 30 June 1944, Captain H. F. MacComsey in command.

Following shakedown along the west coast, Attu got underway from San Diego on 7 August with numerous aircraft and personnel for transportation to Pearl Harbor. After a two-day stop in Hawaii, Attu continued on to Guadalcanal and Espiritu Santo to deliver replacement aircraft and personnel. The escort carrier then got underway on 31 August to return to the United States.

She reached San Diego on 13 September and, shortly thereafter, began post-shakedown availability at Terminal Island, California. This work was completed on 28 September, and Attu sailed for Alameda, California to load fuel, provisions and aircraft.

The escort carrier departed the west coast on 1 October and reached Finschhafen, New Guinea, on the 18th. She later made a stop in Seeadler Harbor at Manus Island before reversing her course and heading back, via Pearl Harbor, to Alameda. Following a two-week availability period, Attu sailed for Pearl Harbor on 23 November. She shuttled supplies and troops between Guam and Pearl Harbor before returning to San Diego on 4 January 1945.