The sixth of the line of
Commencement Bay class escort carriers with improvements dictated by
that class's operating experience, Salerno Bay embarked her first
air group, MCVEG-5, at the end of June. With that group, comprising
Marine Fighter Squadron 514 (VMF-514) and Marine Torpedo Bombing
Squadron 144 (VTMB-144), she trained off southern California. Two
days after Japan's mid-August capitulation, she sailed west with
Composite Squadron 68 (VC-68) embarked as passengers. She conducted
further training operations, including night qualification of her
Marine air group, in Hawaiian waters, then continued west. On 21
September, she anchored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa. Later shifting to
the Hagushi anchorage, she put to sea in early October to ride out a
typhoon. On the 12th, she returned to Hagushi only to depart again
on the 14th to support the mid-month occupation of Formosa by troops
of the Chinese Army. From that island, the CVE headed east, to
Saipan. She remained at Saipan for three weeks; then, detached from
the 7th Fleet, she shifted to Guam; embarked veterans as passengers;
and set a course for Pearl Harbor and San Diego. She arrived at the
latter in early December. At mid-month, she proceeded to the Panama
Canal Zone, whence she continued on to Norfolk, Va., arriving on the
23rd.
Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and engaged primarily in qualifying
carrier pilots, Salerno Bay operated along the eastern seaboard and
in the Caribbean into 1947. In the spring of that year, she was
ordered inactivated; and, in June, she sailed north, from Norfolk to
Boston, to prepare for decommissioning and mothballing.
Decommissioned on 4 October, she remained in the reserve fleet until
recommissioned on 20 June 1951. Shakedown training followed; and, in
October, she commenced operations with Carrier Division 18. During
November and early December, she conducted exercises off the
Virginia Capes and in the Caribbean. On 18 December, she returned to
Norfolk. On 7 January 1952, she again sailed south for operations in
the Caribbean. Back at Norfolk in early February, she operated off
Puerto Rico in March and off the Virginia and Carolina coasts from
April to July. She then prepared for European deployment. On 26
August, she departed Norfolk; joined TF 173 en route; and, during
September, participated in NATO exercises off Norway. In early
October, she proceeded to Gibraltar, thence sailed into the
Mediterranean for operations with the 6th Fleet. At the end of
November, she retransited the Strait of Gibraltar; and, on 7
December, she arrived back at Norfolk to resume local, western
Atlantic, and Caribbean exercises, which she continued into 1953.
In the spring of that year, as the war in Korea moved toward a truce,
the CVE was again ordered inactivated. On 8 June, she returned to
Boston, where she was decommissioned a second time on 16 February
1954. Reclassified AKV-10 in 1959, Salerno Bay remained in the
Atlantic Reserve Fleet until struck from the Navy list on 1 June
1961. She was sold on 30 October to Revalorizacion de Materiales,
S.A., through their agent Jacq. Pierot, Jr., and Sons, New York, and
removed from Naval custody on 14 December 1961. |