NavSource Online: Escort Carrier
Photo Archive
USS TULAGI (CVE-72)
Flag
Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - Whiskey - Romeo
http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=Tulagi+CVE+72&d=4821475724034488&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=EZydUURre0CQjad5uc7cRySIeZer919B
http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/072.htm |
(Ex- FORTALEZA
BAY)
CLASS - CASABLANCA
Displacement 7,800 Tons, Dimensions, 512' 3" (oa) x 65'
2" x 22' 4" (Max)
Armament 1 x 5"/38AA 8 x 40mm, 12 x 20mm, 27 Aircraft.
Machinery, 9,000 IHP; 2 Skinner, Uniflow engines, 2 screws
Speed, 19 Knots, Crew 860.
Fate: Stricken, 8 May 1946 (Navy Dept.
Bulletin, 46-970, p. 24).
Click On Image
For Full Size Image |
Size |
Image Description |
Contributed
By And/Or Copyright |
Construction
|
NS0307204 |
12k |
Tulagi
was sponsored by Mrs. James Duke Barner, wife of the
commanding officer of the Astoria Naval Station.
(From "Bo's'n's Whistle," Vol. 3,
No. 22; November 25, 1943; page 7.)
|
Courtesy of Ron Gough,
Bea Dee, Ltd.,
Kaiser
Vancouver / Swan Island & Oregon Shipyards
website |
World
War II
|
NS0307201 |
74k |
Good overhead, showing starboard side AA armament.
Painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 4A (thanks
to Aryeh Wetherhorn.)
|
USN |
NS0307202 |
67k |
Underway, aircraft on deck.
|
USN |
NS0307208 |
103k |
USS Tulagi
(CVE-72)
enroute from New York to Casablanca with a deck cargo of
U.S. Army P-38s and P-47s. This photo is dated 31 May
1944.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections
of the National Archives (# 80-G-364576).
|
Courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com |
NS0307207 |
120k |
USS Tulagi
(CVE-72)
enroute from New York to Casablanca with a deck cargo of
U.S. Army P-38s and P-47s, 2 June 1944. USS Marsh
(DE-699) is alongside. Photographed from USS Mission
Bay (CVE-59).
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections
of the National Archives (# 80-G-364378).
|
Naval History & Heritage Command, via
Robert Hurst |
NS0307205 |
223k |
S Division, USS Tulagi
(CVE-72).
Grand Harbour, Valletta, Island of Malta, August 5,
1944.
|
Mark Hauth |
NS0307203 |
131k |
Grumman F6F Hellcats aboard
USS Tulagi
(CVE-72)
en-route to Operation Dragoon, August 1944. USS Kasaan
Bay (CVE-69)
is behind her, and a British-manned escort carrier
leaves the convoy (left) presumably to operate aircraft
for CAP.
|
Robert Hurst |
NS0307209 |
271k |
Steward's Mate Second Class Miles Davis King carries
a loaded magazine for a 20mm machine gun, as USS Tulagi
(CVE-72)
steams through the Mediterranean Sea en route to the
invasion of Southern France. Photographed a few days
prior to 15 August 1944.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections
of the National Archives (# 80-G-417623).
|
Courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com |
NS0307206 |
174k |
An F6F-5 Hellcat of VOF-1 takes a waveoff from
LSO during a landing attempt aboard USS Tulagi
(CVE-72),
following an air-support mission over Southern France on
D-Day for Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944.
USN photo, courtesy Russ Egnor.
Photo and text from "Carrier Air War In
Original WWII Color" by Robert Lawson and
Barrett Tillman.
|
Robert Hurst |
NS0307210 |
166k |
Unidentified Tulagi's
crew members, sometime in 1945.
|
Scott Wood, for his father, Thomas B. Wood,
RdM3c(T), USS Massachusetts
(BB-59), USS North
Carolina (BB-55), and USS Tulagi
(CVE-72)
in both the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters |
USS TULAGI
CVE-72
History
View This Vessels DANFS
History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The
Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)
Crew
Contact and Reunion Information |
Date: |
|
Place: |
|
Contact: |
Bill Rochford |
Address: |
31 Lambourne Rd. Unit 507 —
Baltimore, Maryland 21204 |
Phone: |
410 825 0093 |
E-mail: |
usstulagi@netscape.net |
Web site: |
|
Remarks: |
|
|
Additional Resources
Hazegray
& Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew
Toppan.
Official
U.S. Navy Carrier Website
Escort Carrier
Sailors & Airmen Association
|
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
Naval History Division • Washington
http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=Tulagi+CVE+72&d=4683774777426359&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=k14wUX0oXT5R7wmRNXVabF4yczySHGMF
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs/CVE/cve72.html |
USS Tulagi
(CVE-72)
(CVE-72:
dp. 7,800; l. 512'3"; b. 65'; ew. 108'1"; dr.
22'6"; s. 19 k.; cpl. 860; a. 1 5", 16 40mm., 20
20mm.; cl. Casablanca; T. S4-S2-BB3)
Tulagi
(CVE-72)
was laid down on 7 June 1943 at Vancouver, Wash., by the
Kaiser Co., Inc., as Fortazela Bay (ACV-72);
and redesignated CVE-72
on 15 July 1943. However, her name was corrected to read Fortaleza
Bay on 19 October 1943, and the ship was renamed Tulagi
on 6 November 1943; launched on 15 November 1943; sponsored by
Mrs. James Duke Barner and commissioned on 21 December 1943,
Capt. Joseph Campbell Cronin in command.
The new escort carrier got underway from Seattle on 17
January 1944 bound for San Francisco where she was immediately
pressed into service ferrying stores, airplanes, and military
personnel to Hawaii. She departed Pearl Harbor for the
homeward voyage on 29 January and arrived at San Diego with
her load of passengers on 4 February. Throughout most of
February, she participated in training exercises out of San
Diego before steaming, via the Canal Zone, for Hampton Roads,
Va. Following her arrival at Norfolk on 17 March, Tulagi
underwent overhaul and carrier qualification tests.
Tulagi
embarked a load of Army Air Forces planes late in May and
departed New York on the 28th in convoy with two other
carriers and their screen. On 6 June, Tulagi
entered her first foreign port as she steamed the swept
channel approach to Casablanca. After disembarking her cargo,
the carrier took on passengers, including a group of 35
prisoners of war and then headed home.
After arriving at Norfolk on 17 June 1944, Tulagi
got underway late in June for Quonset Point, R.I. where she
embarked personnel, planes, and equipment. On the last day of
the month, she departed Narragansett Bay with Rear Admiral
Calvin T. Durgin on board as Commander, Task Group 27.7, and
steamed eastward conducting squadron and battery training en
route to Oran, Algeria. Tulagi
visited Malta on 26 July and then spent the following weeks
conducting exercises which included a dress rehearsal out of
African and Italian ports for the coming Operation
"Dragoon," the invasion of southern France.
On D-day, Tulagi
steamed in formation 45 miles off the invasion beach; and, at
0546, she launched her first flight of Hellcats. In the next
week, aircraft from Tulagi
flew a total of 68 missions and 276 sorties, inflicting
considerable damage on the enemy. Weather was generally good
as carrier-based planes conducted spotting missions and made
strikes at various targets ashore, including gun emplacements
and railway facilities. On 21 August, Tulagi's
last day in support of Operation "Dragoon," German
forces were in retreat before the Allied thrust. Tulagi's
fliers conducted a devastating attack along the line of march
of a German convoy which snarled the roads for miles around
Remouline and crowned her achievements of the day by downing
three German Ju-52s.
After taking on supplies and fuel at Oran, she got underway
for home on 6 September. Following a quick overhaul at
Norfolk, the escort carrier set her course for Panama;
transited the Canal; and arrived at San Diego on 26 October.
There, she embarked two air squadrons for transportation to
Hawaii and departed the west coast on 29 October 1944.
Following her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 5 November, the
carrier participated in antisubmarine warfare and gunnery
exercises. On the 24th, she got underway in company with a
special antisubmarine task group which conducted sweeps as it
steamed, via the Marshalls and Ulithi, for Saipan. Throughout
December, Tulagi
continued antisubmarine activities in the Palaus and the
southern Marianas.
On the first day of the new year, 1945, Tulagi
got underway for Lingayen Gulf and the impending invasion of
Luzon. Meanwhile, the Japanese in the Philippines had assigned
more than 100 suicide planes for a concerted attack on Tulagi's
task force. The convoy passed through Surigao Strait into the
Mindanao Sea on 3 January. In the following three days, the
kamikazes took their toll. On the 4th, reports of enemy
aircraft in the area became more frequent; and, late in the
afternoon, a suicide plane splashed while trying to dive into Lunga
Point (CVE-94).
Moments later, observers on Tulagi
saw the conflagration which marked the death throes of Ommaney
Bay (CVE-79),
the victim of another kamikaze. On the morning of 5 January,
enemy air attackers continued to menace the convoy as it
steamed through Mindoro Strait and into the South China Sea.
Although fighters from the carrier splashed two "Zekes,"
three enemy aircraft succeeded in penetrating the defenses of
the convoy. Two were splashed, but one managed to crash into
cruiser Louisville (CA-28), a member of the convoy's
screen.
When landing began at Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945, Tulagi
launched her planes for air strikes on land targets,
anti-snooper patrols, and air cover for American vessels. On
12 January, Tulagi
supplied air support for the Lingayen Gulf beachhead, and, the
next day, her port battery shot down a suicide plane which had
singled out the carrier for destruction. Before it splashed,
the attacker, deflected from Tulagi
by withering antiaircraft fire, crossed astern and to
starboard of the escort carrier and vainly attempted to dive
into an alternate target. On 17 January, the Army Air Forces
assumed responsibility for direct air support of American
operations in Lingayen Gulf, and Tulagi's
fliers turned their attention toward the Zambales coast where
they provided cover for support and protection of forces near
San Narcisco. On 5 February, Tulagi
arrived at Ulithi after a grueling period of sustained flight
operations, during which her planes had been in the air for
all but two of 32 days.
Tulagi
departed Guam on 21 February to conduct hunter-killer
exercises in support of the assault on Iwo Jima before joining
a task unit in area Varnish, west of Iwo Jima on 1 March. She
supplied air support and antisubmarine patrols until departing
the area on 11 March, bound for Ulithi. Arriving there on 14
March, she prepared for the invasion of the Ryukyus.
Assigned alternately to antisubmarine and direct support
activities, Tulagi
operated continuously off the coast of Okinawa from the end of
March until early June. On 3 April, four "Zekes"
attacked her formation, and all were splashed. On the 6th,
while Tulagi
was anchored at Kerama Retto for rearming, a Japanese air
attack penetrated air space over the harbor. The carrier took
one of her attackers under fire at 4,000 yards, but the
Japanese plane came harrowingly close before turning aside to
dive into a nearby LST, which burst into flames 200 feet high.
Minutes later, Tulagi
splashed another attacker and chased off a third with her
accurate fire. The next day, Tulagi
resumed her station off Okinawa, providing planes for air
strikes called in by ground observers and for running
photoreconnaissance and patrol missions. On the 13th, after
she launched a special strike against the airfields of Miyako
Jima, she began antisubmarine operations along the shipping
lanes approaching Okinawa.
Following this long and arduous tour, Tulagi
arrived at Guam on 6 June 1945. The carrier departed the
Marianas on the 8th, bound for San Diego. She remained on the
west coast throughout the summer undergoing overhaul, trials,
and training. Peace came while she was at San Diego, but she
departed the west coast again on 4 September and steamed, via
Hawaii, for the Philippines. At Samar, she embarked planes for
transportation back to the United States and reached Pearl
Harbor in October. After returning to San Diego in January
1946, the veteran escort carrier reported to the 19th Fleet at
Port Angeles, Wash., on 2 February 1946 for inactivation. She
was decommissioned on 30 April 1946 and struck from the Navy
list on 8 May 1946.
Tulagi
received four battle stars for World War II service.
|
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL
CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t9/tulagi.htm |
Tulagi
An
island of the south central Solomons in the southwestern
Pacific. Located south of Florida Island and north of
Guadalcanal, Tulagi was the scene of the beginning
of the struggle for the Solomons when Japanese forces
occupied the island on 3 May 1942. It was
captured by United States Marines later that year when
they landed there on 7 August and wrested control of
the island from the Japanese.
(CVE-72:
dp. 7,800; 1. 512'3"; b. 65'; ew. 108'1"; dr. 22'6";
s. 19 k.; cpl. 860; a. 1 5", 16 40mm., 20 20mm.;
cl. Casablanca; T. SA-S2-BB3)
Tulagi
(CVE-72) was
laid down on 7 June 1943 at Vancouver,
Wash., by the Kaiser Co., Inc., as Fortazela Bay
(ACV-72); and
redesignated CVE-72 on 15 July 1943.
However, her name was corrected to read Fortaleza
Bay on 19
October 1943, and the ship was renamed
Tulagi on 6 November 1943; launched on 15 November
1943; sponsored by Mrs. James Duke Earner; and
commissioned on 21 December 1943, Capt. Joseph Campbell
Cronin in command.
The
new escort carrier got underway from Seattle on 17 January
1944 bound for San Francisco where she was immediately pressed
into service ferrying stores, airplanes, and military
personnel to Hawaii. She
departed Pearl Harbor for the homeward voyage on 29
January and arrived at San Diego with her load of
passengers on 4 February. Throughout most of February,
she participated in training exercises out of San Diego
before steaming, via the Canal Zone, for Hampton
Roads, Va. Following her arrival at Norfolk on
17 March, Tulagi underwent overhaul and carrier qualification
tests.
Tulagi
embarked a
load of Army Air Forces planes late
in May and departed New York on the 28th in convoy
with two other carriers and their screen. On 6
June, Tulagi entered her first foreign port as she steamed
the swept channel approach to Casablanca. After disembarking
her cargo, the carrier took on passengers
including a group of 35 prisoners of war and
then headed home.
After
arriving at Norfolk on 17 June 1944, Tulagi got
underway late in June for Quonset Point, R.I., where
she embarked personnel, planes, and equipment. On
the last day of the month, she departed Narragan-sett
Bay with Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin on board as
Commander, Task Group 27.7, and steamed eastward conducting
squadron and battery training en route to Oran,
Algeria. Tulagi visited Malta on 26 July and then
spent the following weeks conducting exercises, which
included a dress rehearsal out of African and Italian
ports for the coming Operation "Dragoon," the invasion
of southern France.
On D-day, Tulagi steamed in
formation 45 miles off the
invasion beach; and, at 0546, she launched her first flight
of Hellcats. In the next week, aircraft from Tulagi
flew a total
of 68 missions and 276 sorties, inflicting
considerable damage on the enemy. Weather was
generally good as carrier-based planes conducted spotting
missions and made strikes at various targets ashore,
including gun emplacements and railway facilities.
On 21 August, Tulagi's last day in support of Operation
"Dragoon," German forces were in retreat before
the Allied thrust. Tulagi's fliers conducted a devastating
attack along the line of march of a German convoy
which snarled the roads for miles around Remouline
and crowned her achievements of the day by downing
three German Ju 52's.
After taking on supplies and fuel at
Oran, she got underway
for home on 6 September. Following a quick overhaul
at Norfolk, the escort carrier set her course for Panama;
transited the Canal; and arrived at San Diego on 26
October. There, she embarked two air squadrons
for transportation to Hawaii and departed the
west coast on 29 October 1944.
Following
her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 5 November, the
carrier participated in antisubmarine warfare and gunnery
exercises. On the 24th, she got underway in company
with a special antisubmarine task group which
conducted sweeps as it steamed via the Mar-shalls
and Ulithi for Saipan. Throughout December, Tulagi continued
antisubmarine activities in the Palaus and
the southern Marianas.
On
the first day of the new year, 1945, Tulagi got underway
for Lingayen Gulf and the impending invasion
of Luzon. Meanwhile, the Japanese in the Philippines
had assigned more than 100 suicide planes for a
concerted attack on Tulagi's task force. The convoy passed
through Surigao Strait into the Mindanao Sea on
3 January. In the following three days, the kamikazes took
their toll. On the 4th, reports of enemy aircraft in the
area became more frequent; and, late in the afternoon,
a suicide plane splashed while trying to dive into Lunga
Point (CVE-19).
Moments later, observers on Tulagi saw the
conflagration which marked the death throes
of Ommaney Bay (CVE-79), the victim of another
kamikaze. On the morning of 5 January, enemy air
attackers continued to menace the convoy as it steamed through
Mindoro Strait and into the South China Sea. Although
fighters from the carrier splashed two
"Zekes," three enemy aircraft succeeded in penetrating
the defenses of the convoy. Two were splashed, but
one managed to crash into cruiser Louisville (CA-28),
a member of the convoy's screen.
When landing began at Lingayen Gulf on 9
January 1945, Tulagi launched her planes for air
strikes on land targets,
anti-snooper patrols, and air coyer for American
vessels. On 12 January, Tulagi supplied air support for
the Lingayen Gulf beachhead; and, the next day, her
port battery shot down a suicide plane which had singled
out the carrier for destruction. Before it splashed,
the attacker, deflected from Tulagi by withering
antiaircraft fire, crossed astern and to starboard of
the escort carrier and vainly attempted to dive into an
alternate target. On 17 January, the Army Air Forces
assumed responsibility for direct air support of American
operations in Lingayen Gulf; and Tulagi's fliers
turned their attention toward the Zambales coast where
they provided cover for support and protection of forces near
San Narcisco. On 5 February, Tulagi arrived at Ulithi
after a grueling period of sustained flight
operations during which her planes had been in the
air for all but two of 32 days.
Tulagi
departed
Guam on 21 February to conduct hunter-killer
exercises in support of the assault on Iwo
Jima before joining a task unit in area Varnish west of
Iwo Jima on 1 March. She supplied air support and
antisubmarine patrols until departing the area on 11
March, bound for Ulithi. Arriving there on 14 March,
she prepared for the invasion of the Ryukyus.
Assigned
alternately to antisubmarine and direct support
activities, Tulagi operated continuously off the coast
of Okinawa from the end of March until early June. On 3
April, four "Zekes" attacked her formation, and all
were splashed. On the 6th, while Tulagi was anchored
at Kerama Retto for rearming, a Japanese air
attack penetrated air space over the harbor. The carrier
took one of her attackers under fire at 4,000 yards,
but the Japanese plane came harrowingly close before turning
aside to dive into a nearby LST which burst into flames
200 feet high. Minutes later, Tulagi splashed
another attacker and chased off a third with her accurate
fire. The next day, Tulagi resumed her station off
Okinawa, providing planes for air strikes called
in by ground observers and for running photo-reconnaissance
and patrol missions. On the 13th, after she
launched a special strike against the airfields of Miyako
Jima, she began antisubmarine operations along
the shipping lanes approaching Okinawa.
Following
this long and arduous tour, Tulagi arrived at
Guam on 6 June 1945. The carrier departed the Marianas on the
8th, bound for San Diego. She remained
on the west coast throughput the summer undergoing
overhaul, trials, and training. Peace came while she
was at San Diego, but she departed the west coast again on 4
September and steamed via Hawaii for the Philippines.
At Samar, she embarked planes for transportation back
to the United States and reached Pearl Harbor
in October. After returning to San Diego in January
1946, the veteran escort carrier reported to the 19th
Fleet at Port Angeles, Wash., on 2 February 1946 for
inactivation. She was decomissioned on 30 April 1946 and
struck from the Navy list on 8 May 1946.
Tulagi
received four
battle stars for World War II service.
|
USS
Tulagi (CVE-72)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tulagi_(CVE-72) |
USS
Tulagi (CVE-72) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the
United States Navy.
She
was laid down on 7 June 1943 at Vancouver, Washington, United
States, by the Kaiser Company, Inc., as Fortazela Bay
(ACV-72); and redesignated CVE-72 on 15 July 1943. However,
her name was corrected to read Fortaleza Bay on 19 October
1943, and the ship was renamed Tulagi on 6 November 1943;
launched on 15 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. James Duke
Earner; and commissioned on 21 December 1943, Capt. Joseph
Campbell Cronin in command.
Service
history
The
new escort carrier got underway from Seattle on 17 January
1944 bound for San Francisco where she was immediately pressed
into service ferrying stores, airplanes, and military
personnel to Hawaii. She departed Pearl Harbor for the
homeward voyage on 29 January and arrived at San Diego with
her load of passengers on 4 February. Throughout most of
February, she participated in training exercises out of San
Diego before steaming, via the Canal Zone, for Hampton Roads,
Virginia. Following her arrival at Norfolk on 17 March, Tulagi
underwent overhaul and carrier qualification tests.
Tulagi
embarked a load of Army Air Forces planes late in May and
departed New York on the 28th in convoy with two other
carriers and their screen. On 6 June, Tulagi entered her first
foreign port as she steamed the swept channel approach to
Casablanca. After disembarking her cargo, the carrier took on
passengers including a group of 35 prisoners of war and then
headed home.
After
arriving at Norfolk on 17 June 1944, Tulagi got underway late
in June for Quonset Point, Rhode Island, where she embarked
personnel, planes, and equipment. On the last day of the
month, she departed Narragansett Bay with Rear Admiral Calvin
T. Durgin on board as Commander, Task Group 27.7, and steamed
eastward conducting squadron and battery training en route to
Oran, Algeria. Tulagi visited Malta on 26 July and then spent
the following weeks conducting exercises, which included a
dress rehearsal out of African and Italian ports for the
coming Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.
On
D-Day, Tulagi steamed in formation 45 miles off the invasion
beach; and, at 0546, she launched her first flight of F6F
Hellcats. In the next week, aircraft from Tulagi flew a total
of 68 missions and 276 sorties, inflicting considerable damage
on the enemy. Weather was generally good as carrier-based
planes conducted spotting missions and made strikes at various
targets ashore, including gun emplacements and railway
facilities. On 21 August, Tulagi's last day in support of
Operation "Dragoon", German forces were in retreat
before the Allied thrust. Tulagi's fliers conducted a
devastating attack along the line of march of a German convoy
which snarled the roads for miles around Remoulins and crowned
her achievements of the day by downing three German Junkers Ju
52s.
After
taking on supplies and fuel at Oran, she got underway for home
on 6 September. Following a quick overhaul at Norfolk, the
escort carrier set her course for Panama; transited the Canal;
and arrived at San Diego on 26 October. There, she embarked
two air squadrons for transportation to Hawaii and departed
the west coast on 29 October 1944.
Following
her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 5 November, the carrier
participated in antisubmarine warfare and gunnery exercises.
On the 24th, she got underway in company with a special
antisubmarine task group which conducted sweeps as it steamed
via the Marshalls and Ulithi for Saipan. Throughout December,
Tulagi continued antisubmarine activities in the Palaus and
the southern Marianas.
On
the first day of the new year, 1945, Tulagi got underway for
Lingayen Gulf and the impending invasion of Luzon. Meanwhile,
the Japanese in the Philippines had assigned more than 100
suicide planes for a concerted attack on Tulagi's task force.
The convoy passed through Surigao Strait into the Mindanao Sea
on 3 January. In the following three days, the kamikazes took
their toll. On the 4th, reports of enemy aircraft in the area
became more frequent; and, late in the afternoon, a suicide
plane crashed while trying to dive into Lunga Point. Moments
later, observers on Tulagi saw the conflagration which marked
the death throes of Ommaney Bay, the victim of another
kamikaze. On the morning of 5 January, enemy air attackers
continued to menace the convoy as it steamed through Mindoro
Strait and into the South China Sea. Although fighters from
the carrier shot down two Mitsubishi A6M Zeros, three enemy
aircraft succeeded in penetrating the defenses of the convoy.
Two were shot down, but one managed to crash into Louisville,
a member of the convoy's screen.
When
landing began at Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945, Tulagi
launched her planes for air strikes on land targets,
anti-snooper patrols, and air cover for American vessels. On
12 January, Tulagi supplied air support for the Lingayen Gulf
beachhead; and, the next day, her port battery shot down a
suicide plane which had singled out the carrier for
destruction. Before it crashed, the attacker, deflected from
Tulagi by withering anti-aircraft fire, crossed astern and to
starboard of the escort carrier and vainly attempted to dive
into an alternate target. On 17 January, the Army Air Force
assumed responsibility for direct air support of American
operations in Lingayen Gulf; and Tulagi's fliers turned their
attention toward the Zambales coast where they provided cover
for support and protection of forces near San Narcisco. On 5
February, Tulagi arrived at Ulithi after a grueling period of
sustained flight operations during which her planes had been
in the air for all but two of 32 days.
Tulagi
departed Guam on 21 February to conduct hunter-killer
exercises in support of the assault on Iwo Jima before joining
a task unit in "area Varnish" west of Iwo Jima on 1
March. She supplied air support and antisubmarine patrols
until departing the area on 11 March, bound for Ulithi.
Arriving there on 14 March, she prepared for the invasion of
the Ryukyus.
Assigned
alternately to antisubmarine and direct support activities,
Tulagi operated continuously off the coast of Okinawa from the
end of March until early June. On 3 April, four Zeros attacked
her formation, and all were shot down. On the 6th, while
Tulagi was anchored at Kerama Retto for rearming, a Japanese
air attack penetrated air space over the harbor. The carrier
took one of her attackers under fire at 4,000 yards, but the
Japanese plane came harrowingly close before turning aside to
dive into a nearby LST which burst into flames 200 feet high.
Minutes later, Tulagi shot down another attacker and chased
off a third with her accurate fire. The next day, Tulagi
resumed her station off Okinawa, providing planes for air
strikes called in by ground observers and for running
photo-reconnaissance and patrol missions. On the 13th, after
she launched a special strike against the airfields of Miyako
Jima, she began antisubmarine operations along the shipping
lanes approaching Okinawa.
Following
this long and arduous tour, Tulagi arrived at Guam on 6 June
1945. The carrier departed the Marianas on the 8th, bound for
San Diego. She remained on the west coast throughout the
summer undergoing overhaul, trials, and training. Peace came
while she was at San Diego, but she departed the west coast
again on 4 September and steamed via Hawaii for the
Philippines. At Samar, she embarked planes for transportation
back to the United States and reached Pearl Harbor in October.
After returning to San Diego in January 1946, the veteran
escort carrier reported to the 19th Fleet at Port Angeles,
Washington, on 2 February 1946 for inactivation. She was
decommissioned on 30 April 1946 and struck from the Navy List
on 8 May 1946.
Awards
Tulagi
received four battle stars for World War II service.
Career
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Name:
USS Tulagi
Namesake:
The Battle of Tulagi, 7–8 August 1942
Ordered:
as Fortazela Bay
Builder:
Kaiser Company
Laid
down: 7 June 1943
Launched:
15 November 1943
Commissioned:
21 December 1943
Decommissioned:
30 April 1946
Struck:
8 May 1946
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General characteristics
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Class
& type: Casablanca-class escort carrier
Displacement:
7,800 tons
Length:
512 ft 3 in (156.13 m)
Beam:
65 ft (20 m)
108
ft (33 m) maximum width
Draft:
22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Speed:
19 knots (35 km/h)
Complement:
860
Armament:
1 × 5-inch/38 cal. DP gun
16
× 40 mm AA cannon in 8 twin mounts
20
× 20 mm AA machine guns in single
mounts
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Service record |
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