USS Suwannee ( CVE - 27 ) USS " Suwannee " ( CVE - 27 ) ( originally an oiler AO - 33 , converted to an escort carrier AVG / ACV / CVE - 27 ) was laid down on 3 June 1938 at Kearny , New Jersey , by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company , under a Maritime Commission contract as Markay ( MC hull 5 ) ; launched on 4 March 1939 , sponsored by Mrs . Howard L . Vickery ; delivered to the Keystone Tankship Corporation and operated by that company until acquired by the United States Navy on 26 June 1941 ; renamed Suwannee ( AO - 33 ) ; and commissioned on 16 July 1941 , Commander Joseph R . Lannom in command . World War II . After operating for six months as an oiler with the Atlantic Fleet , " Suwannee " was redesignated AVG - 27 on 14 February 1942 and decommissioned on 21 February at Newport News , Virginia , for conversion to a . On 20 August , she was redesignated an auxiliary carrier , ACV - 27 , and was recommissioned as such on 24 September 1942 , Captain Joseph J . Clark in command . 1942 . Less than a month after commissioning , " Suwannee " was underway from Hampton Roads for the invasion of North Africa . She joined as the other carrier attached to the Center Attack Group whose specific objective was Casablanca itself , via Fedhala just to the north . Early in the morning of 8 November , she arrived off the coast of Morocco and , for the next few days , her F4F Wildcats maintained combat and anti - submarine air patrols , while her TBF Avenger s joined " Ranger " s in bombing missions . During the Naval Battle of Casablanca from 8 – 11 November , " Suwannee " sent up 255 air sorties and lost only five planes , three in combat and two to operational problems . On 11 November , off Fedhala Roads , her anti - submarine patrol sank what was reported to be a German U - boat , but which was later determined to have been one of the three French submarines which sortied from Casablanca on the day of the assault . She was the first escort carrier to score against the enemy undersea menace , and she helped to prove the usefulness of her type in anti - submarine warfare . " Suwannee " remained in North African waters until mid - November , then sailed , via Bermuda , for Norfolk . She arrived back at Hampton Roads on 24 November and stayed until 5 December , when she got underway for the South Pacific . 1943 . The auxiliary carrier transited the Panama Canal on 11 – 12 December and arrived at New Caledonia on 4 January 1943 . For the next seven months , she provided air escort for transports and supply ships replenishing and bolstering the marines on Guadalcanal , as well as for the forces occupying other islands in the Solomons group . During that span of time , she visited Guadalcanal , Efate and Espiritu Santo in addition to New Caledonia . She returned to the United States at San Diego in October , and by 5 November was back at Espiritu Santo . On 13 November , she departed to participate in the Gilbert Islands operation . From 19 – 23 November , she was a part of the Air Support Group of the Southern Attack Force , and her planes bombed Tarawa , while the ships in the Northern Attack Force engaged the enemy at Makin . Following the occupation of the Gilberts , the escort carrier returned to the U . S . , via Pearl Harbor , arriving in San Diego on 21 December . 1944 . She remained on the west coast for two weeks into the new year , then set a course for Lahaina Roads in the Hawaiian Islands . She departed Hawaii on 22 January 1944 and headed for the Marshalls . During that operation , " Suwannee " joined the Northern Attack Force , and her planes bombed and strafed Roi and Namur Islands , in the northern part of Kwajalein Atoll , and conducted antisubmarine patrols for the task force . She remained in the vicinity of Kwajalein for the first 15 days of February , then spent the next nine days helping out at Eniwetok . On 24 February , she headed east again and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 2 March for a two - week stay . By 30 March , she was in the vicinity of the Palau Islands as the 5th Fleet subjected those islands to two days of extensive bombing raids . A week later , she put into Espiritu Santo for four days . After short stops at Purvis Bay in the Solomons and at Seeadler Harbor , Manus , the escort carrier headed for New Guinea . For two weeks , she supported the Hollandia landings by shuttling replacement aircraft to the larger fleet carriers actually engaged in air support of the landings . She returned to Manus on 5 May . Following two voyages from Espiritu Santo , one to Tulagi and the other to Kwajalein , " Suwannee " arrived off Saipan in mid - June . For the next one and a half months , she supported the invasion of the Marianas , participating in the campaigns against Saipan and Guam . On 19 June , as the Battle of the Philippine Sea began to unfold , " Suwannee " was one of the first ships to draw enemy blood when one of her planes flying combat air patrol attacked and sank the Japanese submarine I - 184 . " Suwanee " s planes did not actually become engaged in the famous battle of naval aircraft , because they remained with the invasion forces in the Marianas providing anti - submarine and combat air patrols . On 4 August , she cleared the Marianas for Eniwetok and Seeadler Harbor , reaching the latter port on 13 August . Almost a month later , on 10 September , she put to sea to support the landings on Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies . Those landings went off without opposition on 15 September , and " Suwannee " returned to Seeadler Harbor to prepare for the invasion of the Philippines . On 12 October , the escort carrier got underway from Manus in Rear Admiral Thomas L . Sprague ' s Escort Carrier Group to provide air support for the landings at Leyte Gulf . She reached the Philippines several days later , and her planes began strikes on enemy installations in the Visayas until 25 October . She provided air support for the assault forces with antisubmarine and combat air patrols and strikes against Japanese installations ashore . On 24 – 25 October 1944 , the Japanese launched a major surface offensive from three directions to contest the landings at Leyte Gulf . While Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa ' s Mobile Force sailed south from Japan and drew the bulk of Admiral William Halsey ' s 3d Fleet off to the north , Admiral Shima ' s 2nd Striking Force , along with Admiral Shoji Nishimura ' s Force , attempted to force the Surigao Strait from the south . This drew Admiral Jesse B . Oldendorf ' s Bombardment Group south to meet that threat in the Battle of Surigao Strait . With Admiral Oldendorf ' s old battleships fighting in Surigao Strait and Halsey ' s 3rd Fleet scurrying north , " Suwannee " , with the other 15 escort carriers and 22 destroyer s and destroyer escort s , formed the only Allied naval force operating off Leyte Gulf when Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita ' s 1st Striking Force sneaked through the unguarded San Bernardino Strait into the Philippine Sea . Just before 07 : 00 on the 25th , one of ' s planes reported a Japanese force of four battleship s , eight cruiser s , and 11 destroyers . This force , Kurita ' s , immediately began a surface engagement with Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague ' s " Taffy 3 " , the northernmost group of escort carriers . " Suwannee " was much farther south as an element of Rear Admiral Thomas Sprague ' s " Taffy 1 " . Consequently , she did not participate in the running surface Battle off Samar . Her problems came from another quarter . At 07 : 40 on the 25th , " Taffy 1 " was jumped by land - based planes from Davao in the first deliberate suicide attack of the war . The first one crashed into ; and , 30 seconds later , " Suwannee " splashed a " kamikaze " during his run on . Her gunners soon shot down another enemy plane , then bore down on a third circling in the clouds at about . They hit the enemy , but he rolled over , dove at " Suwannee " and crashed into her at 0804 about forward of the after elevator , opening a hole in her flight deck . His bomb compounded the fracture when it exploded between the flight and hangar decks , tearing a gash in the latter and causing a number of casualties . Medical officer Lieutenant Walter B . Burwell wrote : Within two hours , her flight deck was sufficiently repaired to enable the escort carrier to resume air operations . " Suwanee " s group fought off two more air attacks before 13 : 00 ; then steamed in a northeasterly direction to join Taffy 3 and launch futile searches for Kurita ' s rapidly retiring force . Just after noon on 26 October , another group of " kamikazes " jumped Taffy 1 . A Zero crashed into " Suwanee " s flight deck at 1240 and careened into a torpedo bomber which had just been recovered . The two planes erupted upon contact as did nine other planes on her flight deck . The resulting fire burned for several hours , but was finally brought under control . The casualties for 25 – 26 October were 107 dead and 160 wounded . The escort carriers put into Kossol Roads in the Palaus on 28 October , then headed for Manus for upkeep on 1 November . 1945 . After five days in Seeadler Harbor , " Suwannee " got underway to return to the west coast for major repairs . She stopped at Pearl Harbor overnight on 19 – 20 November and arrived at Puget Sound Navy Yard on 26 November . Her repairs were completed by 31 January 1945 ; and , after brief stops at Hunter ' s Point and Alameda , California , she headed west and back into the war . The escort carrier stopped at Pearl Harbor from 16 – 23 February , at Tulagi from 4 – 14 March and at Ulithi from 21 – 27 March , before arriving off Okinawa on 1 April . Her first assignment was close air support for the invasion troops , but , within a few days , she settled down to a routine of pounding the " kamikaze " bases at Sakishima Gunto . For the major portion of the next 77 days , her planes continued to deny the enemy the use of those air bases . Periodically , she put into the anchorage at Kerama Retto to rearm and replenish but she spent the bulk of her time in air operations at sea . On 16 June , she headed for San Pedro Bay in Leyte Gulf . She remained there for a week , then returned to the Netherlands East Indies at Makassar Strait to support the landings at Balikpapan , Borneo . The carrier reentered San Pedro Bay on 6 July and spent the next month there . On 3 August , she got underway for Okinawa , arriving in Buckner Bay three days later . Hostilities ended on 15 August , but Suwannee remained at Okinawa for the next three weeks . On 7 September , stood out of Buckner Bay in company with Anthony ( DD - 515 ) , Wadsworth ( DD - 516 ) , Beale ( DD - 471 ) , and Ammen ( DD - 527 ) , as screen for the carriers Suwannee ( CVE - 27 ) , Chenango ( CVE - 28 ) , Cape Gloucester ( CVE - 109 ) , and Birmingham ( CL — 62 ) , bound for Japan and occupation duty in the erstwhile enemy ' s waters . For the week that followed , the group operated off the coast of Kyushu , southwest of Nagasaki , Japan , while aircraft from the carriers patrolled the island and coast and assisted in locating mines in the clearance operations paving the way for entry into the harbor at Nagasaki . The ships had entered Nagasaki Harbor by 15 September while Allied prisoners of war ( New Zealand ) were taken on board the hospital ship . The carriers were sent there because of their medical facilities and doctors . The Chenango left Nagasaki on the morning of 15 September with war prisoners . Crew members of the Suwannee were given shore leave during their stay and observed the devastation of ground zero first hand . The Suwannee and all the other ships in port experienced very difficult circumstances when a typhoon hit on 17 September . While moored between two buoys with two 1 ¼ inch steel cables and an eight inch hawser both bow and stern , she lost all contact with the stern buoy and moved dangerously close to shore . The bow cables and hawser held and she remained safely in place by turning the screws to maintain position . On 21 September the Suwannee departed Nagasaki and remained at sea until she made a quick seven - hour stop at the outer harbor of Nagasaki before heading toward Kobe . That stop was aborted because of a mine field on the path there , so they returned south to Wakayama on 27 September . On 2 October , Suwannee Capt . Charles C . McDonald and Rear Admiral William Sample ( https : / / en . wikipedia . org / wiki / William _ Sample ) who headed COMCARDIV 22 on board the Suwannee took off in a Martin PBM Mariner to maintain their flight qualifications and never returned . They were declared dead on 4 October . They and the seven members of the flight crew were discovered in the wreckage of the aircraft on 19 November 1948 , recovered , and returned to the United States to be interred together at Arlington National Cemetery on 17 May 1949 During this time the USS Suwannee was transferred from the U . S . 9th Fleet to the 5th Fleet . They remained at Wakayama until the morning of 4 October and again ran into a typhoon . They then spent a few days in the port of Kure just south of Hiroshima and then they returned near Wakayama on 10 October for “ typhoon anchorage ” as another storm was approaching . They once again anchored in Wakayama on the 13th for about two days and then headed north to Tokyo , arriving on the evening of 18 October . About this time the Suwannee received orders detaching them from the fleet and assigned them to Operation Magic Carpet . The ship reached Saipan around 1500 hrs on 28 October and stayed just long enough ( 15 hours ) to load stores and 400 troops . Then on to Guam , arriving at 1700 hrs on 29 October to load approximately 35 planes ( for a total complement of around 70 planes ) then on to Pearl Harbor . For their November participation in Operation Magic Carpet they were part of a much larger contingency of ships . In the Pacific , all the 1 , 430 , 000 Navy , Coast Guard and Marine personnel and the 1 , 360 , 000 Army people ( on 1 November ) except those in occupation units are scheduled to be returned by June . Engaged in the Pacific operations as of 10 November were 489 ships having space for slightly under 700 , 000 passengers . Included were : 6 battleships , 7 large carriers , 4 Independence - class carriers , 45 escort carriers , 21 light cruisers , 164 troopships , 165 assault transports , 30 hospital transports , 7 converted Liberties and 40 miscellaneous craft . ( http : / / www . scribd . com / doc / 71488175 / All - Hands - Naval - Bulletin - Dec - 1945 ) After a stop in Hawai ’ i , the Suwannee was sent to Long Beach and had a short dry - dock period . Then it was back to Operation Magic Carpet on 4 December . This trip was to be a non - stop return to Okinawa to pick up 1500 troops on an overnight stop , and then return to Seattle . Because of bad weather they did not arrive in Okinawa until 21 December . In mid - January the Suwannee unloaded many grateful troops in Los Angeles and then headed north . After a few days off San Francisco she headed for Pier 91 in Seattle and then on to Bremerton . On 28 October , the carrier was placed in a reserve status with the 16th Fleet at Boston and , just over two months later , on 8 January 1947 , she was placed out of commission . " Suwannee " remained in reserve at Boston for the next 12 years . She was redesignated an escort helicopter aircraft carrier , CVHE - 27 , on 12 June 1955 . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 1 March 1959 . Her hulk was sold to the Isbrantsen Steamship Company , of New York City on 30 November 1959 for conversion to merchant service . The project was subsequently canceled and , in May 1961 , her hulk was resold to the J . C . Berkwit Company , also of New York City . She was finally scrapped in Bilbao , Spain , in June 1962 . Awards . " Suwannee " earned 13 battle star s during World War II .