USS Hoggatt Bay (CVE-75) was the twenty-first of fifty s built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after Hoggatt Bay, which was named in 1895 by Lieutenant commander E. K. Moore after Wilford Bacon Hoggatt, an ensign serving in Moore's party at the time. The bay is located within Baranof Island, part of the Alexander Archipelago, which at the time was a part of the Territory of Alaska. She was launched in December 1943, commissioned in January 1944, and she served in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf as a part of the Philippines campaign, as well as the Battle of Okinawa. Post-war, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating U.S. servicemen from around the Pacific. She was decommissioned in July 1946, being mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was broken up in 1960.
Design and description
Hoggatt Bay was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, the most numerous type of aircraft carriers ever built. Built to stem heavy losses during the Battle of the Atlantic, they came into service in late 1943, by which time the U-boat threat was already in retreat. Although some did see service in the Atlantic, the majority were utilized in the Pacific, ferrying aircraft, providing logistics support, and conducting close air support for the island-hopping campaigns. The Casablanca-class carriers were built on the standardized Type S4-S2-BB3 hull, a lengthened variant of the hull, and specifically designed to be mass-produced using welded prefabricated sections. This allowed them to be produced at unprecedented speeds: the final ship of her class, , was delivered to the Navy just 101 days after the laying of her keel.
Hoggatt Bay was long overall ( at the waterline), had a beam of , and a draft of . She displaced standard, which increased to with a full load. To carry out flight operations, the ship had a hangar deck and a flight deck. Her compact size necessitated the installation 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.
She was powered by four Babcock & Wilcox Express D boilers that raised of steam at . The steam generated by these boilers fed two Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines, delivering to two propeller shafts. This allowed her to reach speeds of , with a cruising range of at . For armament, one /38 caliber dual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. Additional anti-aircraft defense was provided by eight Bofors anti-aircraft guns in single mounts and twelve Oerlikon cannons mounted around the perimeter of the deck. By 1945, Casablanca-class carriers had been modified to carry twenty Oerlikon cannons and sixteen Bofors guns; the doubling of the latter was accomplished by putting them into twin mounts. Sensors onboard consisted of a SG surface-search radar and a SK air-search radar.
Although Casablanca-class escort carriers were intended to function with a crew of 860 and an embarked squadron of 50 to 56, the exigencies of wartime often necessitated the inflation of the crew count. They were designed to operate with 27 aircraft, but the hangar deck could accommodate much more during transport or training missions. During the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, she carried 16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters and 12 TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bombers for a total of 28 aircraft.
Construction Her construction was awarded to Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington under a Maritime Commission (MC) contract, on 18 June 1942. The escort carrier was laid down on 17 August 1943 under the name Hoggatt Bay, as part of a tradition which named escort carriers after bays or sounds in Alaska. She was laid down as MC hull 1112, the twenty-first of a series of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers. She received the classification symbol CVE-75, indicating that she was the seventy-fifth escort carrier to be commissioned into the United States Navy. She was launched on 4 December 1943 and sponsored by Mrs. Esther Irene Sundvik, the wife of a Victor Sundvik, a shipwright at the yard; transferred to the Navy and commissioned on the morning of 11 January 1944, with Captain William Vincent Saunders in command.
Service history
Upon being commissioned, Hoggatt Bay spent the month of January undergoing outfitting at U.S. Naval Ship Yard Tongue Point, Astoria, Oregon. She then underwent a shakedown cruise down the West Coast, heading to Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California. She arrived at San Diego on 23 February, and spent the early half of March conducting gunnery and air-defense drills off of the California coast. She left San Diego on 10 March, ferrying a complement of aircraft and passengers to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 16 March, returning to the West Coast on 25 March, where she took on her aircraft contingent, Composite Squadron (VC) 14, on 26 March. On 27 March, aircraft operations began, with Saunders making the first landing. She spent April undergoing an overhaul, heading westwards on 1 May to conduct antisubmarine operations around the vicinity of Emirau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago.
Marianas and Palau Islands campaign
Stopping at Pearl Harbor on 8 May, Hoggatt Bay then proceeded for Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 11 May, assigned to Escort Division (CortDiv) 39, otherwise known as Task Unit 16.14.6. En route, her aircraft spotted a possible submarine signature on 16 May, which they attacked with little apparent result. She moored at Majuro from 17 to 21 May, before departing on 22 May to be a part of an antisubmarine patrol, operating south of Truk Atoll of the Caroline Islands. Navy codebreakers had intercepted Japanese communications indicating the establishment of a seven submarine scouting line (referred to as the NA line), stationed approximately northeast in the Admiralty Islands in order to safeguard against a possible thrust towards the Palau Islands. By 26 May, when Hoggatt Bay rendezvoused with the division, it had already sunk five Japanese submarines, four of them from the NA line. With Hoggatt Bays escorting destroyers joining in, the group formed Task Group 30.4, a dedicated antisubmarine hunter-killer formation. On the early morning of 31 May, the claimed her sixth submarine kill in thirteen days.
On 3 June, Task Group 30.4 moored at Manus in the Admiralty Islands to restock and replenish. Putting back to sea on 4 June, the task group received an aerial contact of a surfaced submarine to the north of its search area on 8 June. Thus, the task group proceeded northwards, and on 10 June, one of Hoggatt Bays Wildcats sighted an oil slick approximately west of the escort carrier. The Fletcher-class destroyer was dispatched to investigate, and soon received a strong sonar contact, the . Taylor dropped two depth charges, and at 15:41, the submarine surfaced in front of the destroyer. It was quickly engaged by Taylors guns, with the submarine sustaining heavy damage before diving again at 15:46. After another round of depth charges, two large underwater explosions were heard at 15:58, with a large air bubble rising up to the surface afterwards, confirming the submarine's destruction.
On 19 June, Hoggatt Bay returned to Manus, before proceeding to Eniwetok in the Marshalls, staying there for a period of four days to replenish. On 1 July, the escort carrier set out to conduct another antisubmarine patrol. Shortly after midnight, on July 19, one of VC-14's aircraft spotted a surface signature, the . The (DE-38) and the Evarts-class (DE- 42) were dispatched to investigate, with Wyman receiving a clear sonar contact. As the destroyer escorts dropped their second round of depth charges, a large explosion was felt, shattering I-5, the force of which shattered the lights on Wyman as she went in for a third round.
After replenishing at Eniwetok from 22 to 25 July, Hoggatt Bay set out for her third antisubmarine patrol on 26 July. At 17:31 in the evening of 28 July, a lookout spotted a surfacing submarine, what was probably the , approximately to Hoggatt Bays starboard. The surfacing may have been accidental, or the submarine's crew may have been unaware of its position, as no personnel were observed manning the deck guns throughout the course of the engagement. Wyman and Reynolds were sent to intercept the submarine, with Wyman turning to fire its guns, shelling the submarine for a period of two minutes, whilst Reynolds charged in to drop depth charges, a procedure that was halted due to Wymans precise battery. As Reynolds approached and the submarine sank below the surface, a series of explosions were heard, and an oil slick formed at the surface.
After finishing her patrol, Hoggatt Bay was detached from Task Group 30.4 and spent August in replenishment at Eniwetok and Kwajalein, before arriving at Manus as a part of the newly formed antisubmarine Task Group 30.7, escorted by the Evarts-class destroyer escorts , , and , as well as the . The task group was assigned to antisubmarine operations protecting the various ships that were engaged in the Battle of Peleliu and the Battle of Angaur, a task which it conducted through September and October. At 03:11 in the early morning of 3 October, the radar operators of Hoggatt Bay detected a surface signature approximately away from the carrier. Samuel S. Miles was detached to investigate, and discovered it to be the . As the destroyer escort closed to within , the submarine dove, and thirteen minutes later, having established sonar contact, Samuel S. Miles fired her first volley using her Hedgehog mortars. Following the second run, a series of three large explosions rocked the destroyer escort, communicating the submarine's destruction.
Philippines campaign
Hoggatt Bay replenished at Manus from 9 to 12 October, before departing for Palau. She served as an escort for the and the , both of whom had been damaged by aerial torpedo hits during the Battle of Formosa. Hoggatt Bay and her escorts served as a deterrent against submarine attack, and was credited with thwarting at least one attempt to strike the damaged cruisers.
After spending the latter half of October and the beginning of November undergoing replenishment and maintenance at Ulithi, she spent November providing an air screen and conducting antisubmarine patrols for ships operating in support of the ongoing Battle of Leyte. On 29 November, whilst moored at Manus, VC-14 was rotated off the carrier, and Composite Squadron (VC) 88 came aboard the carrier. She spent December conducting amphibious exercises in Huon Gulf in preparation for the planned Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, a task assigned to Task Force 77, which Hoggatt Bay joined at Manus. On 22 December, Captain Josephus Asa Briggs assumed command of Hoggatt Bay whilst she was replenishing at Manus. On 27 December, Hoggatt Bay, as well as the rest of Task Force 77, left Manus for Luzon. Pausing at Kossol Roads on 31 December, the formation saw its first of many kamikaze attacks on 3 January 1945, with a plane shot down just from Hoggatt Bay.