USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | USS Gambier Bay |
| Builder: | Kaiser Shipyards |
| Laid down: | 10 July 1943 |
| Launched: | 22 November 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 28 December 1943 |
| Struck: | 27 November 1944 |
| Nickname(s): | Kaiser Coffin |
| Fate: | Sunk on 25 October 1944 in the Battle off Samar |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Casablanca-class escort carrier |
| Displacement: | 7,800 long tons (7,900 t) |
| Length: | 512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 65 ft 2 in (19.86 m), 108 ft (33 m) maximum width |
| Draft: | 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m) |
| Installed power: | 9,000 ihp (6,700 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 19 kn (22 mph; 35 km/h) |
| Range: | 10,240 nmi (11,780 mi; 18,960 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 860 |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 28 |
| Aviation facilities: |
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| Service record | |
| Part of: | United States Pacific Fleet |
| Commanders: | Captain Hugh H. Goodwin, Captain Walter V. R. Vieweg |
| Operations: | Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, Philippines campaign, Battle off Samar |
| Awards: | |
USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. She was sunk in the Battle off Samar during the battle of Leyte Gulf after helping to turn back a much larger attacking Japanese surface force. She was the only American aircraft carrier sunk by enemy gunfire during World War II.
Named for Gambier Bay on Admiralty Island in the Alaska Panhandle, she was originally classified AVG-73, was reclassified ACV-73 on 20 August 1942 and again reclassified CVE-73 on 15 July 1943; launched under a Maritime Commission contract by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington on 22 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. H. C. Zitzewitz, wife of Lieutenant Commander Zitzewitz, the Senior Naval Liaison Officer (SNLO) assigned to Kaiser's Vancouver Yard from the Navy's Bureau of Ships; and commissioned at Astoria, Oregon on 28 December 1943, Captain Hugh H. Goodwin in command.
The ship was referred to as the "Bonus Ship" by yard personnel because she was the 19th carrier delivered in 1943. The yard had originally projected 16 carriers would be delivered before the end of 1943, however, in September the Navy asked the yard to increase that number by at least two more. To rally the workers, Kaiser initiated a campaign called "18 or More by '44" to meet the new challenge. Gambier Bay—being the 19th and last Kaiser-built carrier commissioned in 1943—hence was dubbed the "Bonus Ship". No ships in her class survive today.
After shakedown out of San Diego, the escort carrier sailed on 7 February 1944 with 400 troops embarked for Pearl Harbor, thence to rendezvous off the Marshalls, guarded by the destroyer Norman Scott, where she flew 84 replacement planes to the fleet carrier Enterprise. She returned to San Diego via Pearl Harbor, ferrying aircraft for repairs and qualified carrier pilots off the coast of Southern California. She departed on 1 May to join Rear Admiral H. B. Sallada's Carrier Support Group 2 (TG 52.11), staging in the Marshalls for the invasion of the Marianas.
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