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CVE-75 USS Hoggatt Bay

  • Casablanca class Escort Carrier:
  • Displacement: 7,800 tons
  • Length: 512'3"
  • Beam: 108'
  • Draft: 22'4"
  • Speed: 19 kts.
  • Armament: 1 5"/38, 28 planes
  • Complement: 860
  • Reciprocating engines
  • Built at Kaiser S.B. Co., Vancouver, and commissioned 11 Jan 1944
  • Maritime Commission S4-S2-BB3 type

HOGGATT BAY (CVE-75) was launched under Maritime Commission contract by  Kaiser Co., Inc., Vancouver, Wash., 4 December 1943. Originally 
classified AVG-75, she had been reclassified ACV-75, 2 August 1942. Sponsored by Mrs. Victor Sundrik, she was reclassified again to CVE 75, 
15 July 1943 and commissioned at Astoria, Oreg., 11 January 1944,  Captain W. V. Saunders in command.

After intensive training off the California coast, HOGGATT BAY  transported aircraft and crews to Pearl Harbor 10-25 March 1944. Upon  her return and further training in antisubmarine work, she sailed 1 May  for Pearl Harbor and Majuro. The combination of escort carriers and  destroyers had proven itself effective against submarines in the Battle  of the Atlantic, and was now to be used in the Pacific against the  Japanese. HOGGATT BAY and a group of destroyers and destroyer escorts  patrolled in the southwest Pacific 26 May-19 June with notable success.  Intrepid ENGLAND scored a kill on RO-105 31 May and TAYLOR sank RO-111  with depth charges and gunfire 11 June. These operations and those of  other groups did much to reduce Japanese submarine interference with the  invasion of the Marianas.

Returning to the patrol area a brief stay at Eniwetok, HOGGATT BAY's group provided air support and cover for the Marianas operation 5 July-9 August, after which the ships returned to Manus. Next on the timetable  of Pacific conquest was Peleliu, a valuable air base for further  advances, and HOGGATT BAY sortied 1 September to furnish antisubmarine  protection and search planes for the invasion. For nearly 2 months the  escort carrier cruised these seas south and west of the Marianas in  support of American operations. SAMUEL S. MILES, a member of her group,  sank I-177 3 October, and later in the month planes from HOGGATT BAY  helped provide air cover for crippled HOUSTON as she struggled toward  Ulithi.


The ship arrived Ulithi 28 October, and sailed 10 November to provide  air support for the developing campaign in the Philippines. This was  followed by amphibious exercises in Huon Gulf, New Guinea, in  preparation for the Lingayen Gulf operations. Arriving Manus 20 December  1944, HOGGATT BAY joined the great task force which departed from that  and other staging bases in late December for Lingayen Gulf. The voyage  through the Philippines was a perilous one, as the Japanese attacked  with their last desperate weapon, the suicide plane. Crewmen on HOGGATT  BAY and the other ships fought continuously after 3 January, downing  many of the attackers, but OMMANEY BAY was lost and other ships damaged. 


Arriving Lingayen Gulf 6 January, HOGGATT BAY sent her carrier planes in 
to support the landings and destroy strong points despite suicide  attacks; this vital work continued until 17 January, when the ship set  course for Ulithi, and then San Diego.

The veteran escort carrier returned to San Diego 15 February 1945, and  after much-needed repairs sailed 6 April to join the vast fleet arrayed off Okinawa in support of the invasion. She arrived Okinawa 8 May via Pearl Harbor and Ulithi and immediately took station south of the island  to lend her aircraft to the carrier air forces engaged in the operation.  Her planes flew direct support missions, photographic flights, and  supply drops during the period 8 May-24 June.

HOGGATT BAY arrived Leyte Gulf 27 June 1945 and after a month of  training sailed 28 July for Adak, Alaska. The surrender came while the  carrier was en route, however and the planned operation was replaced by  occupation plans. After her arrival 18 August, HOGGATT BAY sailed for  Ominato. She arrived September and supported the occupation of Hokkaido  and northern Honshu. During this period aircraft from the ship  discovered many Japanese prison camps, and the ship had the pleasure of evacuating Lieutenant Colonel Devereux, Marine Commander at Wake Island when captured by the Japanese. 

HOGGATT BAY also participated in the  occupation of Aomori before anchoring in Tokyo Bay 27 September. 

The escort carrier departed Tokyo 30 September and after brief service  with the "Magic Carpet" fleet returned to Boston and decommissioned 20 July 1946. Placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Boston, the ship was re-classified CVHE-75, 12 June 1955 and AKV-25, 7 May 1959. She was sold 
for scrap 31 March 1960.

HOGGATT BAY received five battle stars for World War II service.