USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60)
_lying_alongside_captured_U-505.jpg) |
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS Guadalcanal |
| Ordered: | 1942 |
| Builder: | Kaiser Shipyards |
| Laid down: | 5 January 1943 |
| Launched: | 5 June 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 25 September 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 July 1946 |
| Struck: | 27 May 1958 |
| Motto: | Can do |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap on 30 April 1959 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Casablanca-class escort carrier |
| Displacement: | 7,800 tons |
| Length: | 512 ft (156 m) overall |
| Beam: | 65 ft (20 m) |
| Draft: | 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 19 knots (35 km/h) |
| Range: | 10,240 nmi (18,960 km) @ 15 kn (28 km/h) |
| Complement: |
|
| Armament: | 1 × 5 in/38 cal dual purpose gun, 16 × Bofors 40 mm guns (8×2), 20 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (20×1) |
| Aircraft carried: | 27 |
| Service record | |
| Part of: |
|
| Commanders: | Daniel V. Gallery |
| Operations: | Battle of the Atlantic |
| Victories: | U-544, U-515, U-68, U-505 (1944) |
| Awards: | Presidential Unit Citation, 3 Battle stars |
USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy, which served during and after World War II. She was the first ship to carry her name. She was the flagship of the Hunter-killer Group which captured the German submarine ("U-boat") U-505.
Guadalcanal was built using a converted Maritime Commission freighter hull by Kaiser Shipyards in Vancouver, Washington. Originally Astrolabe Bay (AVG-60), she was reclassified ACV-60 on 20 August 1942 and launched as Guadalcanal (ACV-60) on 5 June 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Alvin I. Malstrom. She was reclassified CVE-60 on 15 July 1943; and commissioned at Astoria, Oregon on 25 September 1943, Captain Daniel V. Gallery in command. After shakedown training in which Capt. Gallery made the first take off and landing aboard his new ship, Guadalcanal performed pilot qualifications out of San Diego, California, and then departed on 15 November 1943, via the Panama Canal, for Norfolk, Virginia, arriving on 3 December. There she became flagship of Task Group 22.3 (TG 22.3), and with her escort destroyers set out from Norfolk on 5 January 1944 in search of enemy submarines in the North Atlantic Ocean.
World War II submarines had to run surfaced most of the time, and could not stay submerged for more than about 72 hours before having to surface to recharge batteries. But by 1944, U-boats dared not surface in daylight, because they would be spotted by patrolling aircraft. Patrols from escort carriers covered even the middle of the Atlantic. Surfacing at night was safer, because night flight operations from escort carriers were considered too dangerous. The best the escort carriers could do was substitute extra fuel tanks for depth charges on a Grumman TBF Avenger, so the plane could take off at sunset, fly around all night, and land at dawn. The U-boats would not know the plane was unarmed, and would not risk staying surfaced.
...
Wikipedia