USS Liscome Bay ( CVE - 56 ) USS " Liscome Bay " ( CVE - 56 ) , a during World War II , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Liscome Bay in Dall Island in the Alexander Archipelago of Alaska . She was lost to a submarine attack during Operation Galvanic , with a catastrophic loss of life , on 24 November 1943 . Her keel was laid down on 9 December 1942 by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company of Vancouver , Washington , under a United States Maritime Commission contract . She was originally to have been given to the Royal Navy under the terms of Lend - Lease as HMS " Ameer " , but was appropriated by the U . S . Navy while still being built . She was launched on 19 April 1943 sponsored by Mrs . Ben Moreell , wife of the Chief of the Navy ' s Bureau of Yards & Docks . She was named Liscome Bay on 28 June 1943 and assigned the hull classification symbol CVE - 56 on 15 July 1943 . She was acquired by the Navy and commissioned on 7 August 1943 , Captain Irving D . Wiltsie in command . Service history . Operation Galvanic . After training operations along the West Coast , the " Liscome Bay " departed San Diego , California , on 21 October 1943 , arriving at Pearl Harbor one week later . Once additional drills and operational exercises were completed , the escort carrier set off on what was to be her first and last battle mission . As a member of Carrier Division 24 ( CarDiv 24 ) , she departed Pearl Harbor on 10 November attached to TF 52 , Northern Attack Force , under Rear Admiral Richmond K . Turner , bound for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands . The invasion bombardment announcing the United States ' s first major thrust into the central Pacific began on 20 November at 05 : 00 . Just 76 hours later , Tarawa Atoll and Makin A were both captured . " Liscome Bay " s aircraft took part in the 2 , 278 action sorties by carrier - based planes , which neutralized enemy airbases , supported U . S . Army landings and ground operations in bombing - strafing missions , and intercepted enemy raids . With the islands secured , U . S . naval forces began retiring . Sinking . On 23 November , the Japanese submarine I - 175 arrived off Makin . A temporary task group , built around Rear Admiral Henry M . Mullinnix three escorts - " Liscome Bay " , and - was steaming 20 miles southwest of Butaritari Island at 15 knots . At 04 : 30 on 24 November , reveille was sounded in " Liscome Bay " . The crew went to routine general quarters at 05 : 05 , when flight crews prepared their planes for dawn launchings . At about 05 : 10 , a lookout shouted , " Here comes a torpedo ! " The torpedo struck abaft the after engine room and detonated the aircraft bomb stockpile , causing a major explosion which engulfed the ship and sent shrapnel flying as far as 5 , 000 yards . " It didn ' t look like a ship at all " , wrote Lieutenant John C . W . Dix , communications officer on , " We thought it was an ammunition dump . . . She just went " whoom " — an orange ball of flame . " At 05 : 33 , " Liscome Bay " listed to starboard and then sank , carrying 53 officers and 591 enlisted men — including Admiral Mullinix , Captain Wiltsie , and famous Pearl Harbor hero Ship ' s Cook Third Class Doris Miller - down with her . Of the 916 crewmen , only 272 were rescued by , and . The survivors had reached the deck soon after the initial torpedo impact . The bombs in storage exploded minutes later , possibly due to a second torpedo . Including the sailors lost on the " Lisome Bay " , American casualties in the assault on Makin Island exceeded the strength of the entire Japanese garrison . Future legal scholar Robert Keeton , then a Navy lieutenant , survived the attack . Awards . " Liscome Bay " received one battle star for her World War II service . The ship is briefly mentioned in a clandestine diary kept by sailor James Fahey during the war . His brother John Fahey was an injured survivor and his ordeal and recovery are described .