USS Tulagi ( CVE - 72 ) USS " Tulagi " ( CVE - 72 ) was a 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 . Service history . 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 . On D - Day , " Tulagi " steamed in formation 45 miles off the invasion beach ; and , at 0546 , she launched her first flight of F6F Hellcat s . In the next week , aircraft from " Tulagi " flew a total of 68 missions and 276 sorties , inflicting considerable damage on the enemy . Weather was generally good as carrier - based planes conducted spotting missions and made strikes at various targets ashore , including gun emplacements and railway facilities . On 21 August , " Tulagi ' s " last day in support of Operation " Dragoon " , German forces were in retreat before the Allied thrust . " Tulagi " ' s fliers conducted a devastating attack along the line of march of a German convoy which snarled the roads for miles around Remoulins and crowned her achievements of the day by downing three German Junkers Ju 52 s . After taking on supplies and fuel at Oran , she got underway for home on 6 September . Following a quick overhaul at Norfolk , the escort carrier set her course for Panama ; transited the Canal ; and arrived at San Diego on 26 October . There , she embarked two air squadrons for transportation to Hawaii and departed the west coast on 29 October 1944 . Following her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 5 November , the carrier participated in antisubmarine warfare and gunnery exercises . On the 24th , she got underway in company with a special antisubmarine task group which conducted sweeps as it steamed via the Marshalls and Ulithi for Saipan . Throughout December , " Tulagi " continued antisubmarine activities in the Palaus and the southern Marianas . On the first day of the new year , 1945 , " Tulagi " got underway for Lingayen Gulf and the impending invasion of Luzon . Meanwhile , the Japanese in the Philippines had assigned more than 100 suicide planes for a concerted attack on " Tulagi ' s " task force . The convoy passed through Surigao Strait into the Mindanao Sea on 3 January . In the following three days , the kamikazes took their toll . On the 4th , reports of enemy aircraft in the area became more frequent ; and , late in the afternoon , a suicide plane crashed while trying to dive into . Moments later , observers on " Tulagi " saw the conflagration which marked the death throes of , the victim of another kamikaze . On the morning of 5 January , enemy air attackers continued to menace the convoy as it steamed through Mindoro Strait and into the South China Sea . Although fighters from the carrier shot down two Mitsubishi A6M Zeros , three enemy aircraft succeeded in penetrating the defenses of the convoy . Two were shot down , but one managed to crash into , a member of the convoy ' s screen . When landing began at Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945 , " Tulagi " launched her planes for air strikes on land targets , anti - snooper patrols , and air cover for American vessels . On 12 January , " Tulagi " supplied air support for the Lingayen Gulf beachhead ; and , the next day , her port battery shot down a suicide plane which had singled out the carrier for destruction . Before it crashed , the attacker , deflected from " Tulagi " by withering anti - aircraft fire , crossed astern and to starboard of the escort carrier and vainly attempted to dive into an alternate target . On 17 January , the Army Air Force assumed responsibility for direct air support of American operations in Lingayen Gulf ; and " Tulagi " ' s fliers turned their attention toward the Zambales coast where they provided cover for support and protection of forces near San Narcisco . On 5 February , " Tulagi " arrived at Ulithi after a grueling period of sustained flight operations during which her planes had been in the air for all but two of 32 days . " Tulagi " departed Guam on 21 February to conduct hunter - killer exercises in support of the assault on Iwo Jima before joining a task unit in " area Varnish " west of Iwo Jima on 1 March . She supplied air support and antisubmarine patrols until departing the area on 11 March , bound for Ulithi . Arriving there on 14 March , she prepared for the invasion of the Ryukyus . Assigned alternately to antisubmarine and direct support activities , " Tulagi " operated continuously off the coast of Okinawa from the end of March until early June . On 3 April , four Zeros attacked her formation , and all were shot down . On the 6th , while " Tulagi " was anchored at Kerama Retto for rearming , a Japanese air attack penetrated air space over the harbor . The carrier took one of her attackers under fire at 4 , 000 yards , but the Japanese plane came harrowingly close before turning aside to dive into a nearby LST which burst into flames 200 feet high . Minutes later , " Tulagi " shot down another attacker and chased off a third with her accurate fire . The next day , " Tulagi " resumed her station off Okinawa , providing planes for air strikes called in by ground observers and for running photo - reconnaissance and patrol missions . On the 13th , after she launched a special strike against the airfields of Miyako Jima , she began antisubmarine operations along the shipping lanes approaching Okinawa . Following this long and arduous tour , " Tulagi " arrived at Guam on 6 June 1945 . The carrier departed the Marianas on the 8th , bound for San Diego . She remained on the west coast throughout the summer undergoing overhaul , trials , and training . Peace came while she was at San Diego , but she departed the west coast again on 4 September and steamed via Hawaii for the Philippines . At Samar , she embarked planes for transportation back to the United States and reached Pearl Harbor in October . After returning to San Diego in January 1946 , the veteran escort carrier reported to the 19th Fleet at Port Angeles , Washington , on 2 February 1946 for inactivation . She was decommissioned on 30 April 1946 and struck from the Navy List on 8 May 1946 . Awards . " Tulagi " received four battle star s for World War II service .