USS Gilbert Islands (CVE-107)
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: |
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| Builder: | Todd Pacific Shipyards |
| Laid down: | 29 November 1943 |
| Launched: | 20 July 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 5 February 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 May 1946 |
| Recommissioned: | 5 February 1951 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 January 1955 |
| Reclassified: | Cargo Ship and Aircraft Ferry, AKV-39, 7 May 1959 |
| Struck: | June 1961 |
| Recommissioned: | 7 March 1964 |
| Renamed: | USS Annapolis, 22 June 1963 |
| Reclassified: | Communication relay ship, AGMR-1, 1 June 1963 |
| Struck: | 15 October 1976 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping 1 November 1979 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Commencement Bay-class escort carrier |
| Displacement: | 10,900 long tons (11,100 t), 24,100 long tons (24,500 t) full load |
| Length: | 557 ft (170 m) |
| Beam: | 75 ft (23 m) |
| Draft: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2-shaft geared turbines, 16,000 shp |
| Speed: | 19 knots (22 mph; 35 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,066 |
| Armament: | 2 × 5 in (130 mm) guns (2×1), 36 × 40 mm AA guns |
| Aircraft carried: | 34 |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | United States Pacific Fleet (1945-46, 1964-67), Atlantic Reserve Fleet (1946-49, 1955-61), US Atlantic Fleet (1952-55) |
| Operations: | Battle of Okinawa (1945), Battle of Balikpapan (1945), Vietnam War (1964-1967) |
| Awards: | 3 Battle stars (WWII) |
USS Gilbert Islands (CVE-107) (ex-St. Andrews Bay) was a Commencement Bay-class escort carrier of the United States Navy.
She was launched on 20 July 1944 by the Todd-Pacific Shipyards in Tacoma, Washington. She was sponsored by Mrs. Edwin D. McMorries and commissioned on 5 February 1945 with Captain L. K. Rice in command.
She was reclassified as AGMR-1 on 1 June 1963, renamed USS Annapolis on 22 June 1963 and finally recommissioned on 7 March 1964.
After shakedown training, Gilbert Islands departed San Diego on 12 April 1945 for exercises in Hawaiian waters. She sailed on 2 May with an escort carrier force that closed Okinawa on 21 May. Her aircraft blasted and strafed concrete dugouts, troop concentrations, ammunition and fuel dumps on Okinawa from 24–31 May. In the following days she helped neutralize outlying Japanese airfields and installations with repeated bomb and rocket attacks. Four of her Marine pilots and three TBM Avenger gunners were killed in action in all of 1945. She departed Okinawa on 16 June to replenish at San Pedro Bay, thence to Balikpapan, Borneo. She gave air cover to Australians storming that shore 1 July and remained 4 days to attack all targets in sight. With the Australians securely established, she returned to Leyte on 6 July.
Gilbert Islands departed San Pedro Bay on 29 July to screen logistic ships replenishing 3rd Fleet striking forces along the coast of Japan. On that station 15 August she joined a task group that included nearly all the 3rd Fleet and heard Admiral Halsey's laconic direction: "Apparently the war is over and you are ordered to cease firing; so, if you see any Jap planes in the air, you will just have to shoot them down in a friendly manner." After replenishment at Okinawa, she departed on 14 October to participate in a show of air strength during occupation of Formosa by the Chinese 70th Army. She was then routed onward via Saipan and Pearl Harbor to San Diego, arriving on 4 December 1945. She remained in port until 21 January 1946, then set course for Norfolk where she decommissioned on 21 May 1946 and was placed in reserve.
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