USS Liscome Bay

USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56), ferrying aircraft to San Diego, 20 September 1943, with a load of SBD Dauntlesses, TBF Avengers and F4F Wildcats.
History
United States
Name	Liscome Bay
Namesake	Liscome Bay, Alaska
Ordered	as a Type S4-S2-BB3 hull
Awarded	18 June 1942
Builder	Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington
Cost	$6,033,429.05[1]
Yard number	302
Way number	8[1]
Laid down	12 December 1942
Launched	19 April 1943
Sponsored by	Mrs. Ben Moreell
Commissioned	7 August 1943
Reclassified	CVE, 15 July 1943
Identification	Hull symbol: ACV-56 CVE-56
Honors and awards	1 Battle star
Fate	Torpedoed and sunk by I-175, 24 November 1943
General characteristics
Class and type	Casablanca-class escort carrier
Displacement	8,188 long tons (8,319 t) (standard) 10,902 long tons (11,077 t) (full load)
Length	512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) (oa) 490 ft (150 m) (wl) 474 ft (144 m) (fd)
Beam	65 ft 2 in (19.86 m) 108 ft (33 m) (extreme width)
Draft	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) (max)
Installed power	4 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 9,000 shp (6,700 kW)
Propulsion	2 × Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines 2 × screws
Speed	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range	10,240 nmi (18,960 km; 11,780 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	Total: 910–916 officers and sailors Embarked Squadron: 50–56 Ship's Crew: 860
Armament	As designed: 1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal dual-purpose gun 8 × 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 12 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons Varied, ultimate armament: 1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal gun 8 × twin 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 30 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons
Aircraft carried	27 aircraft
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult 2 × elevators
Service record
Part of:	United States Pacific Fleet (1943)
Commanders:	Captain I.D. Wiltsie[2]
Operations:	Gilbert Islands operation Makin Island (20–23 November 1943)

USS Liscome Bay (ACV/CVE-56) was the second of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers 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 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.^{[3][4][note 1]}

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