Commencement Bay-class escort carrier

The Commencement Bay-class escort aircraft carriers were the last class of escort carriers built for the US Navy in World War II.

USS Commencement Bay
Class overview
Builders	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding, WA
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Casablanca-class escort carrier
Succeeded by	None
Built	1943–1945
In service	1944–1957
Planned	35
Completed	19
Cancelled	16
Scrapped	19
Preserved	0
General characteristics
Type	Escort carrier
Displacement	10,900 long tons (11,075 t) standard 24,100 long tons (24,487 t) full load
Length	525 ft (160 m) wl 557 ft 1 in (169.80 m) oa 501 ft (153 m) (fd)
Beam	75 ft (23 m) 105 ft 2 in (32.05 m) flight deck
Draft	30 ft 8 in (9.35 m)
Installed power	16,000 shp (11,931 kW)
Propulsion	4 × Boilers 2 × Allis-Chambers geared steam turbines 2 × screws
Speed	19 knots (22 mph; 35 km/h)
Complement	1,066 officers and men
Armament	2 × 5 inches (127 mm) guns (1 × 2) 36 × 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors gun (3 × 4, 12 × 2) 20 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon cannons
Aircraft carried	34

The ships were based on the hull of the Maritime Commission type T3 tanker, which gave them a displacement of approximately 23,000 tons and a length of 557 feet (170 m). Unlike most earlier escort carrier classes, which were laid down as something else and converted to aircraft carriers mid-construction, the Commencement Bays were built as carriers from the keel up. Their general layout was similar to the Sangamon-class escort carriers, but some of the Sangamon's engineering shortcomings were addressed.

They entered service late in World War II – USS Commencement Bay launched on 9 May 1944 – so most of them saw little or no operational service. Thirty-five of them were ordered but many were cancelled prior to completion. Nineteen saw commissioned service in the US Navy, four were broken up on the ways at the end of the war, two were accepted from the builders but never commissioned, and the remainder were cancelled before being laid down.

After the war they were seen as potential helicopter, anti-submarine, or auxiliary (transport) carriers, and a number of ships served in these roles during the Korean War. The oncoming Jet Age ended their careers, as the ships were no longer large enough to safely carry the much larger jet aircraft of the late 1950s, and all units were out of service or reclassified by 1960.