USS Guadalcanal ( CVE - 60 ) USS " Guadalcanal " ( CVE - 60 ) was a " Casablanca " class escort carrier of the United States Navy . She was the first ship to carry her name . She was converted from a Maritime Commission hull by Kaiser Co . , Inc . , of Vancouver , Washington . Originally " Astrolabe Bay " ( AVG - 60 ) , she was reclassified ACV - 60 on 20 August 1942 and launched as " Guadalcanal " ( ACV - 60 ) on 5 June 1943 , sponsored by Mrs . Alvin I . Malstrom . She was reclassified CVE - 60 on 15 July 1943 ; and commissioned at Astoria , Oregon on 25 September 1943 , Captain Daniel V . Gallery in command . Service history . After shakedown training in which Capt . Gallery made the first take off and landing aboard his new ship , " Guadalcanal " performed pilot qualifications out of San Diego , California , and then departed on 15 November 1943 , via the Panama Canal , for Norfolk , Va . , arriving on 3 December . There she became flagship of Task Group 22 . 3 ( TG 22 . 3 ) , and with her escort destroyers set out from Norfolk on 5 January 1944 in search of enemy submarines in the North Atlantic . On 16 January , aircraft from " Guadalcanal " sighted three submarines fueling on the surface , and in a rocket and bombing attack succeeded in sinking . Replenishing at Casablanca , the task group headed back for Norfolk and repairs , arriving on 16 February . Departing again with her escorts on 7 March , " Guadalcanal " sailed without incident to Casablanca and got underway from that port on 30 March with a convoy bound for the United States . Scouring the waters around the convoy on 8 April northwest of Madeira , the task group discovered and closed in for the kill . " Guadalcanal " aircraft and , , and made several well coordinated attacks on the intruder with rockets and depth charges throughout the night . Losing depth control on the afternoon of 9 April , the submarine was forced to surface amid the waiting ships , and was immediately devastated by point blank rocket and gunfire . As F4F Wildcat s from " Guadalcanal " strafed the submarine , her captain , " Kapitaenleutenant " Werner Henke , ordered abandon ship and she went to the bottom . Again on the night of 10 April , the task group caught on the surface in broad moonlight 300 miles south of the Azores and sank her with depth charges and rocket fire . The convoy arrived safely at Norfolk on 26 April 1944 . After voyage repairs at Norfolk , " Guadalcanal " and her escorts departed Hampton Roads for sea again on 15 May 1944 . Two weeks of cruising brought no contacts , and the task force decided to head for the coast of Africa to refuel . Capture of U - 505 . Ten minutes after reversing course , however , on 4 June 1944 , 150 miles West of Cape Blanco in French West Africa , " Chatelain " detected as it was returning to its base in Brest , France after an 80 - day commerce - destroying raid in the Gulf of Guinea . The destroyer loosed one depth charge attack and , guided in for a more accurate drop by circling TBF Avenger s from " Guadalcanal " , she soon made a second . This pattern blew relief valves all over the boat and cracked pipes in the engine room of the submarine , and rolled the U - boat on its beam ends . Shouts of panic from the engine room led Oberleutnant Harald Lange , making his first patrol as her captain , to believe his boat was mortally wounded . He blew his tanks and surfaced , barely 700 yards from the USS Chatelain in an attempt to save his crew . The destroyer fired a torpedo , which missed , and the surfaced submarine then came under the combined fire of the escorts and aircraft , forcing her crew to abandon ship . Captain Gallery had been waiting and planning for such an opportunity , and having already trained and equipped his boarding parties , ordered " Pillsbury " s boat to make for the German sub and board her . Under the command of Lieutenant , junior grade Albert David , the party leaped onto the slowly circling submarine and found her abandoned . David and his men quickly captured all important papers , code books and the boat ' s Enigma machine while closing valves and stopping leaks . As " Pillsbury " attempted to get a tow - line on her the party managed to stop her engines . By this time a larger salvage group from " Guadalcanal " led by Commander Earl Trosino , " Guadalcanal ' s " Chief Engineer , arrived , and began the work of preparing " U - 505 " to be towed . After securing the towline and picking up the German survivors from the sea , " Guadalcanal " started for Bermuda with her priceless prize in tow . " Abnaki " rendezvoused with the task group and took over towing duties , the group arriving in Bermuda on 19 June after a 2 , 500 - mile tow . Gallery later apologized to Trosino , a pre - war Merchant Marine chief engineer by training who had long since figured out the U - Boat ' s propulsion system , for not allowing him as prize captain to bring her in under her own power . " U - 505 " was the first enemy warship captured on the high seas by the U . S . Navy since 1815 . For their daring and skillful teamwork in this remarkable capture , " Guadalcanal " and her escorts shared in a Presidential Unit Citation . Lieutenant David received the Medal of Honor for leading the boarding party , and Captain Gallery received the Legion of Merit for conceiving the operation that led to " U - 505 ' s " capture . The captured submarine proved to be of inestimable value to American intelligence ( for the remainder of the war she was operated by the U . S . Navy as the USS " Nemo " to learn the secrets of German U - boats ) , and its true fate was kept secret from the Germans until the end of the war . " U - 505 " is the submarine exhibited in the Museum of Science and Industry ( Chicago ) . Arriving in Norfolk on 22 June 1944 , " Guadalcanal " spent only a short time in port before setting out again on patrol . She departed Norfolk on 15 July and from then until 1 December , she made three anti - submarine cruises in the Western Atlantic . She sailed on 1 December for a training period in waters off Bermuda and Cuba that included refresher landings for pilots of her new squadron , gunnery practice , and anti - submarine warfare drills with Italian submarine " R - 9 " . " Guadalcanal " arrived Mayport , Fla . , for carrier qualifications on 15 December and subsequently engaged in further training in Cuban water until 13 February 1945 , when she arrived back in Norfolk . After another short training cruise to the Caribbean , she steamed into Mayport on 15 March for a tour of duty as carrier qualification ship , later moving to Pensacola , Florida for similar operations . After qualifying nearly 4 , 000 pilots , " Guadalcanal " returned to Norfolk , Va . , and decommissioned there on 15 July 1946 . " Guadalcanal " entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Norfolk and was redesignated CVU - 60 on 15 July 1955 , while still in reserve . She was finally stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 27 May 1958 and she was sold for scrap to the Hugo Neu Corp . of New York on 30 April 1959 . She was in the process of being towed to Japan for scrapping , when Capt . Gallery also made the very last landing and take off from the ship , using a helicopter , off Guantanamo , Cuba . First Person Accounts . Howard Sherer , one of the many men who served on the carrier , chronicled his experiences on the USS " Guadalcanal " in his book " My Navy Career . " Captain Daniel Gallery wrote of the carrier ' s accomplishments in his books " U - 505 , " and " Eight Bells and All ' s Well " . Awards . " Guadalcanal " was awarded three battle star s and a Presidential Unit Citation for service in World War II . Her Presidential Unit Citation was personally ordered by Admiral Ernest J . King , Chief of Naval Operations .