USS Munda (CVE-104)
_in_San_Francisco_Bay_1945.jpeg)
USS Munda (CVE-104) in San Francisco Bay, 1945
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Munda |
| Builder: | Kaiser Shipyards |
| Laid down: | 29 March 1944 |
| Launched: | 27 May 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 8 July 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 24 April 1946 |
| Struck: | 1 September 1958 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap on 17 June 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Casablanca-class escort carrier |
| Displacement: | 7,800 tons (standard), 10,400 tons (full load) |
| Length: | 512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) overall |
| Beam: | 65 ft 2 in (19.86 m), 108 ft 1 in (32.94 m) maximum width |
| Draft: | 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 19.3 knots (35.7 km/h) |
| Range: | 10,240 nmi (18,960 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: | 1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal dual purpose gun, 16 × Bofors 40 mm guns (8×2), 20 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons |
| Aircraft carried: | 28 |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | United States Pacific Fleet (1944–1946), Pacific Reserve Fleet (1946–1958) |
| Operations: | Operation Magic Carpet |
| Awards: | 1 Battle star |
USS Munda (CVE-104) was a United States Navy Casablanca-class escort aircraft carrier. She was the last of the series to be built.
More Casablanca-class carriers were built than any other single class of aircraft carrier in history, and the last to be built on the Liberty Ship platform; the Commencement Bay class escort carrier which followed was designed from the keel up as a carrier.
She was laid down on 29 March 1944 under Maritime Commission contract as MC hull 1141 by the Kaiser Shipyards, Vancouver, Washington, originally designated ACV-104, and redesignated CVE-104 on 15 July 1944. Originally named Tonowek Bay on 23 September 1944, the carrier was renamed Munda on 6 November 1944, in honor of the battle to take Munda Bay in the Solomon Islands. It was during this fight that Rodger Wilton Young was killed. Some commemorative photographs of the ship gave the name as Munda Bay.
Munda was launched on 27 May 1944 (sponsored by Mrs. James E. Dyer), to be accepted and commissioned on 8 July 1944, under the command of Captain L. A. Pope (a Naval aviator who had, in the 1920s, literally "written the book" on aerial photography for the Navy).
After a west coast shakedown, Munda, assigned to Carrier Transport Squadron, Pacific Fleet, got underway independently on 16 August 1944 on her maiden voyage. With 71 planes and 202 passengers crowded aboard, she arrived at Espiritu Santo on 1 September. Proceeding next to Finschhafen and Manus Island, she returned to Alameda, California for brief availability, before setting out again to carry replacement planes and personnel to forward areas. Returning from her second supply run on 5 December, she was underway again on the 12th. She completed three more runs to various islands in the Pacific before mid-1945, when she sailed for Eniwetok on 3 July. There, she joined Task Group 30.8 (TG 30.8) and commenced supplying planes, pilots, and aviation stores to the fast carriers of Task Force 38 (TF 38).
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