Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
"Kenneth Whiting" was launched on 15 December 1943 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation, Seattle, Washington; sponsored by Mrs. Edna Andresen Whiting, widow of Captain Kenneth Whiting. Kenneth Whiting (Naval Aviator No. 16) received flight training from the Wright brothers at Dayton, Ohio; and was the first executive officer of the first United States aircraft carrier . Commander Whiting was credited with many basic tenets of naval carrier aviation, including landing signal officers, pilot ready rooms, a darkroom and photo lab to develop movies of carrier landings, and making pilot qualification a requirement for command of an aircraft carrier.