CVE-98 USS Kwajalein  
CVE-98 USS Kwajalein

Class

Casablanca Class

Builder

Kaiser Shipbuilding Co. Inc.

Vancouver WA

Laid down

19. February 1944 

Launched

4. May 1944

Commissioned

7. June 1944

Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign

NKZR

Camouflage

-

.
NS San Diego CA
.
June 1944 - July 1944
Shakedown
? ? 0
last update 4. November 2010
.
NS San Pedro
.

19 July 1944 - September 1944

Operations as replenishment carrier

Espiritu Santo, Guam, San Diego

last update 1. August 2011
.
NS San Diego CA
.

7. October 1944 - 9. March 1945

Operations as replenishment carrier

Manus, Eniwetok, Ulithi, (Task Force 38), San Diego

last update 1. August 2011
.
NS San Diego CA
.

March 1945 - August 1945

Operations as replenishment carrier

San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Ulithi

last update 1. August 2011
.

August 1945 - 2 February 1946

Magic Carpet operations

San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Ulithi

last update 1. August 2011
.

Decommissioned

16. August 1946

 

History (short)

After shakedown along the West Coast, Kwajalein cleared San Pedro, California on 19 July 1944, bound for Espiritu Santo with passengers and a cargo of fuel and planes. Arriving on 3 August, she sailed 4 days later to transport aircraft to Guam and pick up salvaged Japanese equipment for intelligence studies in the United States.
Following repairs at San Diego, Kwajalein got underway on 7 October for operations as replenishment carrier. She loaded combat-ready aircraft at Manus Island and sailed for Eniwetok on 5 November to replenish the carriers of Task Force 38 (TF 38) as they prepared for raids on Manila and the Visayas. Continuing operations from Ulithi, Kwajalein furnished the big carriers with the planes needed to drive the Japanese out of the Philippines. In January 1945, replacement aircraft roared from her decks to TF 38 flat tops for strikes on enemy air bases on Formosa and the China coast. Kwajalein returned San Diego on 23 February for overhaul and additional aircraft before resuming operations on 9 March.
From March-August Kwajalein carried aircraft on three cruises from Pearl Harbor to the western Pacific keeping carrier-based air groups at full strength for the massive carrier raids on the Japanese home islands. With the cessation of hostilities on 14 August 1945, the carrier was assigned the task of returning Pacific veterans to the United States. She made four cruises to the Pacific Islands before arriving San Pedro on 2 February 1946, from her final "Magic-Carpet" mission. On 23 April, Kwajalein cleared San Pablo Bay for Mukilteo, Wash., arriving there 3 days later. She decommissioned at Tacoma, Washington on 16 August, and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 April 1960, and she was scrapped in Japan the following year.


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