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USS Liscome Bay

{{short description|Casablanca-class escort carrier of the US Navy}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}

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|Ship image=USS Liscome Bay CVE56.jpg

|Ship caption=USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56), ferrying aircraft to San Diego, 20 September 1943, with a load of SBD Dauntlesses, TBF Avengers and F4F Wildcats.

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{{Infobox ship career

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|Ship country=United States

|Ship flag={{USN flag|1943}}

|Ship name= Liscome Bay

|Ship namesake= Liscome Bay, Alaska

|Ship ordered=as a Type S4-S2-BB3 hull

|Ship original cost= $6,033,429.05{{sfn|MARCOM}}

|Ship awarded= 18 June 1942

|Ship builder= Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington

|Ship yard number=302

|Ship way number=8{{sfn|MARCOM}}

|Ship laid down=12 December 1942

|Ship launched=19 April 1943

|Ship sponsor= Mrs. Ben Moreell

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|Ship completed=

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|Ship commissioned=7 August 1943

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|Ship renamed=

|Ship reclassified= CVE, 15 July 1943

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|Ship homeport=

|Ship identification=*Hull symbol: ACV-56

  • CVE-56

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|Ship nickname=

|Ship honors=1 Battle star

|Ship captured=

|Ship fate=Torpedoed and sunk by I-175, 24 November 1943

|Ship notes=

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{{Infobox ship characteristics

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|Ship class={{sclass|Casablanca|escort carrier}}

|Ship type=

|Ship displacement={{Casablanca class displacement}}

|Ship length={{Casablanca class length}}

|Ship beam={{Casablanca class beam}}

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|Ship draft={{Casablanca class draft}}

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|Ship power={{Casablanca class power}}

|Ship propulsion={{Casablanca class propulsion}}

|Ship speed={{Casablanca class speed}}

|Ship range={{cvt|10240|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|15|kn}}

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|Ship complement=

  • Total: 910–916 officers and sailors
  • Embarked Squadron: 50–56
  • Ship's Crew: 860

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|Ship armament={{Casablanca class armament}}

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|Ship aircraft=27 aircraft

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{{infobox service record

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|partof=United States Pacific Fleet (1943)

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|commanders=Captain I.D. Wiltsie{{harvnb|Y'Blood|2014|p=39}}

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USS Liscome Bay (ACV/CVE-56) was the second of fifty {{sclass|Casablanca|escort carrier}}s built to serve the United States Navy during World War II. Launched in April 1943 and commissioned the following August, she was named for Liscome Bay in Dall Island in the Alexander Archipelago of Alaska. On 24 November 1943, her munitions were catastrophically detonated by a torpedo attack by the {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-175}} while she was acting as the flagship of Carrier Division 24, which was supporting operations on Makin. She quickly sank with the loss of 702 officers and sailors. Her loss is the deadliest sinking of a carrier in the history of the United States Navy.{{citation |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/w/war-damage-reports/uss-liscome-bay-cve56-war-damage-report-no-45.html |title=U.S.S. Liscome Bay (CVE56) Loss in Action |author=Naval History And Heritage Command |date=24 November 1943 |publisher=Naval History And Heritage Command |accessdate=1 May 2025}}{{citation |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-025/h-025-1.html |title=Operation Galvanic—Tarawa and Makin Islands, November 1943 |author=Naval History And Heritage Command |date=7 December 2021 |publisher=Naval History And Heritage Command |accessdate=1 May 2025}}{{refn|The bomb strike on the fleet carrier {{USS|Franklin|CV-13|2}} was deadlier, with 807 killed, but she did not sink, and was later repaired.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=xxi}}|group = note}}

Design and description

{{main|Casablanca-class escort carrier}}

File:Inboard and outboard profiles of a Casablanca-class escort carrier, 1946.png

Liscome Bay was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, the most numerous type of aircraft carriers ever built,{{harvnb|Chesneau|Gardiner|1980|p=109}} and designed specifically to be mass-produced using prefabricated sections, in order to replace heavy early war losses. Standardized with her sister ships, she was {{convert|512|ft|3|in|abbr=on}} long overall, had a beam of {{convert|65|ft|2|in|abbr=on}}, and a draft of {{convert|20|ft|9|in|abbr=on}}. She displaced {{cvt|8188|LT|lk=on}} standard, {{cvt|10902|LT}} with a full load. She had a {{convert|257|ft|abbr=on}} long hangar deck and a {{convert|477|ft|abbr=on}} long flight deck. She was powered by two Uniflow reciprocating steam engines which drove two shafts, providing {{convert|9000|hp|lk=in}} and enabling her to make {{Casablanca class speed}}. The ship had a cruising range of {{convert|10240|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|15|kn}}. Her compact size necessitated the installment of an aircraft catapult at her bow, and there were two aircraft elevators to facilitate movement of aircraft between the flight and hangar deck: one each fore and aft.{{harvnb|Y'Blood|2014|pp=34–35}}{{sfn|Hazegray|1998}}

One 5"/38 caliber gun caliber dual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by eight Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 in single mounts, as well as 12 Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, which were mounted around the perimeter of the deck.{{sfn|Hazegray|1998}} Casablanca-class escort carriers were designed to carry 27 aircraft, but the hangar deck could accommodate more. For example, during her only combat deployment, Operation Kourbash, she carried 11 FM-1 and five F4F-4 fighters, as well as nine TBM-1 and three TBM-1C torpedo bombers, for a total of 28 aircraft.

Construction

She was laid down on 12 December 1942, under a Maritime Commission contract, MCE hull 1137, by Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington. She was launched on 19 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Clara Klinksick, wife of Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, the Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks. Originally, she was intended to be sent to the British Royal Navy under the name HMS Ameer. However, a change in plans resulted in the {{sclass|Bogue|escort carrier|1}} USS Baffins being redesignated as Ameer in Liscome Bay{{'}}s place. She was named Liscome Bay on 28 June 1943, as part of tradition which named escort carriers after bays or sounds in Alaska. The vessel was assigned the hull classification symbol CVE-56 on 15 July 1943,{{harvnb|Noles|2010|pp=10–11}} and was commissioned on 7 August 1943. Captain Irving D. Wiltsie was the ship's first commander,{{sfn|DANFS|2015}} and her crew was derived from the Bogue-class escort carrier USS Glacier, which had been ordered in July 1942 but was sent to the Royal Navy as part of the Lend-Lease program.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=17}}

Service history

After being commissioned, Liscome Bay proceeded southwards towards San Diego, California, picking up and ferrying 60 aircraft from San Francisco on the way, arriving on 22 September 1943.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=37}} For the next month, she engaged in training operations off the Southern California coast. On 11 October, she was designated as the flagship of Carrier Division 24, under the command of Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=40}} On 14 October, she received her aircraft contingent, and on 21 October, she departed for Pearl Harbor, arriving a week later, on 27 October. She then conducted additional drills and training exercises off of Hawaii until early November, when she was assigned to the invasion fleet assembling for Operation Kourbash.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=58}} As a member of Carrier Division 24, she departed from Pearl Harbor on 10 November as part of Task Force 52 commanded by Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner, bound for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. It was to be her first and last mission.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}}{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=60}}

Liscome Bay was assigned to the naval forces supporting the invasion of Makin.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=62}} The invasion bombardment announcing the first major U.S. naval thrust into the central Pacific began on 20 November at 5 a.m. Just 76 hours later, Tarawa and Makin Islands were both captured. Liscome Bay{{'}}s aircraft had played a vital role in the capture of Makin, providing close air support and bombing Japanese positions.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=77}} In total, 2,278 sorties were conducted by the carrier task group in support of Operation Galvanic, which neutralized enemy airbases, supported U.S. Army landings and ground operations with bombing and strafing missions, and intercepted enemy aircraft. With the islands secured, U.S. naval forces began retiring.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}} However, Liscome Bay stayed with the rest of her task force as Marines mopped up resistance on Butaritari Island.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=83}}

=Sinking=

The invasion of the Gilbert Islands had caught the Japanese command by surprise. Admiral Mineichi Koga, in desperation, issued orders to recall four Japanese submarines southwest of Hawaii and five submarines near Truk and Rabaul to converge on the Gilberts.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=99}} Of the nine Japanese submarines sent to sortie against the U.S. forces in the Gilberts, six were lost.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=210}}

On 23 November, however, the submarine {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-175||2}}, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Sunao Tabata, arrived off Makin.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=102}} The U.S. task group, built around Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix's three escort carriers, was steaming {{cvt|20|mi}} southwest of Butaritari Island at 15 knots.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}} The task group was traveling in a circular formation, with seven destroyers, the cruiser {{USS|Baltimore|CA-68|2}}, the battleships {{USS|Pennsylvania|BB-38|2}}, {{USS|New Mexico|BB-40|2}}, and {{USS|Mississippi|BB-41|2}}, and Liscome Bay{{'}}s two sister ships, {{USS|Corregidor|CVE-58|2}} and {{USS|Coral Sea|CVE-57|2}}, surrounding her. Liscome Bay, as the guide for the group, was located dead center between the other ships. As collisions were deemed to be a greater risk to the ships than a potential submarine attack, the ships were not zig-zagging.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=104}}

At 04:30 on 24 November, reveille was sounded in Liscome Bay. On 04:34, the destroyer {{USS|Franks|DD-554|2}} left to investigate a signal beacon, likely dropped from a Japanese plane.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=106}} This resulted in a gap within Liscome Bay{{'}}s screen. At 04:36, the radar operators on New Mexico spotted a short-lived blip, which may have represented I-175 diving into position. Flight quarters was sounded at 04:50. The crew went to routine general quarters at 05:05, when flight crews prepared their planes for dawn launching. Thirteen planes, including one forward on the catapult, had been readied on the flight deck. These had all been fueled and armed. There were an additional seven planes in the hangar that were not fueled or armed. She had a large amount of munitions on board, stored below-decks.{{sfn|War Damage Report No. 45|1944}} Meanwhile, the task group executed a turn to the northeast, which brought Liscome Bay to a course presenting her side to I-175. The Japanese submarine fired a spread of at least three Type 95 torpedoes towards the task force.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=113}}

At about 05:10, a lookout on the starboard (right) side of Liscome Bay reported seeing a torpedo headed for the ship.{{sfn|War Damage Report No. 45|1944}} The torpedo struck behind the aft engine room,{{sfn|DANFS|2015}} as Liscome Bay was conducting its turn, and detonated the bomb magazine, causing a devastating explosion that engulfed the ship and sent shrapnel flying as far as {{convert|5,000|yd|m}} away.{{sfn|Hornfischer|p=67}} Considerable debris fell on the battleship New Mexico about {{convert|1,500|yd|m}} off, while a sailor on board the escort carrier Coral Sea was reportedly hit by a fire extinguisher from Liscome Bay.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=116}} The entire task force was rocked by the explosion, but no other ships were significantly damaged. A mushroom cloud erupted, rising thousands of feet above the wreck of Liscome Bay.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=115}}

The detonation sheared off nearly the entire stern of the carrier, killing everyone behind the forward bulkhead of the aft engine room. Seawater quickly rushed into the gap, mixing with oil released from the hull.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=156}} Both the hangar and flight decks were heavily damaged. Parts of the superstructure, including the radar antenna, collapsed onto the deck. The forward part of the hangar was immediately engulfed in flames, igniting the few remaining planes on the flight deck. Planes fell off the carrier's deck. Steam, compressed air, and fire-main pressure were lost throughout the ship. Fires on the flight deck caused ammunition within the burning aircraft and anti-aircraft guns to detonate, further complicating matters.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=163}} The gasoline coated water surrounding Liscome Bay caught fire, hampering efforts by survivors to escape.{{sfn|War Damage Report No. 45|1944}}{{harvnb|Noles|2010|pp=115–116}}

{{Quote box|quote = It didn't look like a ship at all, we thought it was an ammunition dump... She just went whoom – an orange ball of flame.{{sfn|Hornfischer|p=67}} |author = Lieutenant John Dix, communications officer on the destroyer {{USS|Hoel|DD-533|2}}|width = 50%

|align = right}}

At 05:33, only 23 minutes after the explosion, Liscome Bay listed to starboard and sank; 54 officers and 648 sailors were killed, including Captain Irving Wiltsie, Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix and Doris Miller.{{sfn|DANFS|2015}} 12 Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, 7 Grumman FM-1 Wildcat fighters, and 4 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters went down with Liscome Bay.{{cite web |url=https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/USN/LLNov43.htm |title=USN Overseas Aircraft Loss List November 1943 |website=www.aviationarchaeology.com |access-date=28 December 2021 |archive-date=23 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123051422/https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/USN/LLNov43.htm |url-status=dead }}

=Rescue=

When Liscome Bay detonated, the rest of the task group immediately conducted evasive maneuvers, scattering from her wreck.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=181}} At 05:40, the destroyers {{USS|Morris|DD-417|2}}, {{USS|Hughes|DD-410|2}} and {{USS|Hull|DD-350|2}} arrived at the oil slick to rescue survivors, but many of the sailors hauled up were dead or dying. At 06:10, the destroyer {{USS|Maury|DD-401|2}} spotted two torpedo wakes, one just {{convert|15|yd|m}} from the destroyer's hull.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=184}} A radar operator on New Mexico detected an echo, and Hull was recalled to join {{USS|Gridley|DD-380|2}} in dropping depth charges. {{USS|Macdonough|DD-351|2}} took Hull{{'}}s place in picking up survivors. At 08:00, the search operation was concluded.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=189}} Of the 916{{refn|The crew figures for Liscome Bay vary widely, owing to transferred crew and the ship's status as the flagship for Carrier Division 24. In the ship's official navy history, the crew count is listed as 911, whilst in Lieutenant Commander Oliver Ames's action report, the crew count is listed as 948. For the purposes of this article, the crew count is listed as 916, in correspondence with DANFS.|group = note}} crewmen aboard Liscome Bay, 644, including Wiltsie, Mullinnix, and Miller (Cook 3rd Class Doris Miller, see "Notable crew" below), went down with the ship, whilst 272 survived. Many of the survivors died of wounds soon afterwards for a total of 702 killed from Liscome Bay. Including those lost on Liscome Bay, U.S. casualties in the assault on Makin Island exceeded the strength of the entire Japanese garrison.

Aftermath

File:Sea burial.jpg

The survivors were transferred at Makin Lagoon from the destroyers onto the attack transports {{USS|Leonard Wood|APA-12|2}} and {{USS|Neville|APA-9|2}}.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=194}} On Thanksgiving night, two of the survivors died, and were buried at sea.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=197}} On 2 December, the navy announced that Liscome Bay had been sunk off Makin Island.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=200}}

Over two months later, on 4 February 1944, I-175 was detected and sunk by the destroyer {{USS|Charrette|DD-581|2}} and the destroyer escort {{USS|Fair|DE-35|2}}, using their Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar.

=Legacy=

In the Chapel of St. Cornelius, located within Valley Forge Military Academy and College, two stained-glass windows, installed in 1965, act as a memorial to Liscome Bay. On the museum ship {{USS|Yorktown|CV-10|2}}, a memorial plaque was installed in 1990 to the ship.{{harvnb|Noles|2010|p=213}}

Notable crew

See also

Notes

{{reflist|group=note}}

Citations

{{Reflist|20em}}

General sources

=Online sources=

{{refbegin}}

  • {{cite web|url= http://usmaritimecommission.de/query.php?datalist=1&typeofquery=Name%20of%20Ship&valueofquery=Liscome%20Bay&code=A1093a|title= Liscome Bay Statistics|publisher= United States Maritime Commission|access-date= 18 December 2018|ref= {{sfnRef|MARCOM}}|archive-date= 18 December 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181218193426/http://usmaritimecommission.de/query.php?datalist=1&typeofquery=Name%20of%20Ship&valueofquery=Liscome%20Bay&code=A1093a|url-status= live}}
  • {{cite DANFS | url = https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/l/liscome-bay.html| title = Liscome Bay| publisher = Naval History and Heritage Command | date = 29 July 2015| access-date = 2 August 2017| ref = {{sfnRef|DANFS|2015}}}}
  • {{cite web| url = http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/kvancouver.htm| title = Kaiser Vancouver, Vancouver WA| work = www.ShipbuildingHistory.com| date = 27 November 2010| access-date = 2 August 2017| ref = {{sfnRef|Kaiser Vancouver|2010}}| archive-date = 16 June 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190616103407/http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/kvancouver.htm| url-status = live}}
  • {{cite web| url= http://www.navsource.net/archives/03/056.htm| title= USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56)|website=NavSource| date= 30 September 2018| access-date= 2 August 2017| ref= {{sfnRef|Navsource|2018}}}}
  • {{cite news|last= Hevesi|first= Dennis|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/obituaries/04keeton.html?ex=1343880000&en=7d463fcdda136743&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|title= "Robert E. Keeton, 87, Author of Influential Law Treatises, Is Dead."|work= The New York Times|date= 4 August 2007|access-date= 18 December 2018|archive-date= 24 November 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181124220329/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/obituaries/04keeton.html?ex=1343880000&en=7d463fcdda136743&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|url-status= live}}
  • {{cite web| url= https://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/us_esc2.htm| title= World Aircraft Carriers List: US Escort Carriers, S4 Hulls| publisher= Hazegray.org| date= 14 December 1998| access-date= 1 July 2019| ref= {{sfnRef|Hazegray|1998}}| archive-date= 19 November 2021| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211119084210/https://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/us_esc2.htm| url-status= live}}
  • {{cite news |url=https://news.usni.org/2020/01/18/next-ford-class-carrier-to-be-named-after-pearl-harbor-hero-doris-miller |title=Next Ford-class Carrier to be Named After Pearl Harbor Hero Doris Miller |first=Sam |last=LaGrone |website=USNI News |date=January 18, 2020 |access-date=January 18, 2020 |archive-date=16 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216103122/https://news.usni.org/2020/01/18/next-ford-class-carrier-to-be-named-after-pearl-harbor-hero-doris-miller |url-status=live }}

{{refend}}

=Bibliography=

{{refbegin}}

  • {{citation|last1= Chesneau|first1= Robert|last2= Gardiner|first2 = Robert|title= Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|year= 1980 |publisher= Naval Institute Press |location= Annapolis, Maryland|isbn= 9780870219139}}
  • {{cite book|first= J.D.|last= Hornfischer|title=The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors|page=67}}
  • {{cite book|title= War Damage Report No. 45|url= https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/w/war-damage-reports/uss-liscome-bay-cve56-war-damage-report-no-45.html|publisher= U.S. Hydrographic Office|date= 10 March 1944|access-date= 2 August 2017|ref= {{sfnRef|War Damage Report No. 45|1944}}|archive-date= 30 April 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170430172747/https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/w/war-damage-reports/uss-liscome-bay-cve56-war-damage-report-no-45.html|url-status= live}}
  • {{citation|last= Noles |first= James|title= Twenty-Three Minutes to Eternity: The Final Voyage of the Escort Carrier USS Liscome Bay |year= 2010 |publisher= University of Alabama Press |location= Tuscaloosa, Alabama |isbn= 978-0817356033}}
  • {{citation|last= Y'Blood|first= William|title= The Little Giants: U.S. Escort Carriers Against Japan|year= 2014 |publisher= Naval Institute Press |location= Annapolis, Maryland|isbn= 9781612512471}}

{{refend}}

Further reading

  • Beasley, James C. "Get the hell off this ship!": Memoir of a USS Liscome Bay Survivor in World War II, Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2018. {{ISBN|978-1-47663-236-0}}.
  • Fahey, James J. Pacific War Diary: 1942–1945, The Secret Diary of an American Sailor, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. {{ISBN|0-395-64022-9}}.

External links

{{Commons category|USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56)}}

  • {{navsource|03/056|USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56)}}

{{Casablanca class escort carrier}}

{{Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard}}

{{November 1943 shipwrecks}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Liscome Bay (Cve-56)}}

Category:1943 ships

Category:Casablanca-class escort carriers

Category:Maritime incidents in November 1943

Category:Ships built in Vancouver, Washington

Category:Ships sunk by Japanese submarines

Category:World War II escort aircraft carriers of the United States

Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean

Category:S4-S2-BB3 ships

Category:Naval magazine explosions