USS Tulagi
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| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | USS Tulagi |
| Namesake: | The Battle of Tulagi, 7–8 August 1942 |
| Ordered: | as Fortazela Bay |
| Builder: | Kaiser Company |
| Laid down: | 7 June 1943 |
| Launched: | 15 November 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 21 December 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 April 1946 |
| Struck: | 8 May 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Casablanca-class escort carrier |
| Displacement: | 7,800 tons |
| Length: | 512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) |
| Beam: |
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| Draft: | 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m) |
| Speed: | 19 knots (35 km/h) |
| Complement: | 860 |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Operations: | |
| Awards: | 4 Battle stars |
USS Tulagi (CVE-72) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy.
She was laid down on 7 June 1943 at Vancouver, Washington, United States, by the Kaiser Company, Inc., as Fortazela Bay (ACV-72); and redesignated CVE-72 on 15 July 1943. However, her name was corrected to read Fortaleza Bay on 19 October 1943, and the ship was renamed Tulagi on 6 November 1943; launched on 15 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. James Duke Earner; and commissioned on 21 December 1943, Capt. Joseph Campbell Cronin in command.
The new escort carrier got underway from Seattle on 17 January 1944 bound for San Francisco where she was immediately pressed into service ferrying stores, airplanes, and military personnel to Hawaii. She departed Pearl Harbor for the homeward voyage on 29 January and arrived at San Diego with her load of passengers on 4 February. Throughout most of February, she participated in training exercises out of San Diego before steaming, via the Canal Zone, for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Following her arrival at Norfolk on 17 March, Tulagi underwent overhaul and carrier qualification tests.
Tulagi embarked a load of Army Air Forces planes late in May and departed New York on the 28th in convoy with two other carriers and their screen. On 6 June, Tulagi entered her first foreign port as she steamed the swept channel approach to Casablanca. After disembarking her cargo, the carrier took on passengers including a group of 35 prisoners of war and then headed home.
After arriving at Norfolk on 17 June 1944, Tulagi got underway late in June for Quonset Point, Rhode Island, where she embarked personnel, planes, and equipment. On the last day of the month, she departed Narragansett Bay with Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin on board as Commander, Task Group 27.7, and steamed eastward conducting squadron and battery training en route to Oran, Algeria. Tulagi visited Malta on 26 July and then spent the following weeks conducting exercises, which included a dress rehearsal out of African and Italian ports for the coming Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.
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