USS Anzio (CVE-57)


USS Anzio , known as Coral Sea until September 1944, was the third of fifty s built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the first Navy vessel to be named after the Battle of the Coral Sea, a major naval engagement in the Pacific War and the Battle of Anzio, an amphibious landing in the Italian campaign.
In December 1942, she was laid down in Vancouver, Washington, by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company. In January 1943, she was named Alikula Bay, renamed Coral Sea in April, launched in May, and commissioned in August. She participated in the Battle of Makin, the Battle of Kwajalein, the Western New Guinea campaign, and the Battle of Saipan. While engaging in preparatory airstrikes for the Battle of Guam, her engines failed, forcing her to return to the West Coast for repairs. In September 1944, she was renamed Anzio, under which she took part in the Philippines campaign, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the Battle of Okinawa. As Anzio, she operated primarily in an antisubmarine role, contributing to the sinking of five Japanese submarines. Post-war, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating U.S. servicemen from around the Pacific. She was decommissioned in July 1946 and mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was sold for scrap in 1959.

Design and description

Anzio was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, the most numerous type of aircraft carriers ever built, and designed specifically to be mass-produced using prefabricated sections. Standardized with her sister ships, she was long overall, had a beam of, and a draft of. She displaced standard, with a full load. She had a long hangar deck and a long flight deck. She was powered by two Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines, which drove two shafts, providing, thus enabling her to make. The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of. 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.
One /38 caliber dual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. 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 the end of the war, Casablanca-class carriers had been modified to carry thirty Oerlikon cannons and sixteen Bofors guns; the doubling of the latter having been 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 carry 27 aircraft, but the hangar deck could accommodate more during transport or training missions.
OperationEmbarked SquadronFightersTorpedo bombersTotal
Battle of MakinComposite Squadron 3312 F4F-410 TBF-1C22
Battle of Kwajalein9 F4F-4, 5 FM-14 TBF-1, 2 TBM-1, 6 TBF-1C26
Western New Guinea campaign14 FM-27 TBF-1, 4 TBM-1C25
Battle of Saipan14 FM-22 TBF-1, 6 TBF-1C, 4 TBM-1C26
Philippines campaignComposite Squadron 8211 FM-216 TBM-1C27
Battle of Iwo Jima12 FM-214 TBM-1C26
Battle of OkinawaComposite Squadron 1312 FM-214 TBM-1C26

Construction

Her construction was awarded to the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company in Vancouver, Washington, under a Maritime Commission contract on 18 June 1942. She was laid down on 12 December 1942 as MCE hull 1094, the third of a series of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers. Her initial hull symbol ACV-57 designated her as an auxiliary aircraft carrier. On 22 January 1943, she received her initial name of Alikula Bay, but she was subsequently renamed Coral Sea on 3 April. She was launched on 1 May; sponsored by Martha Richards Fletcher, the wife of Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. On 15 July, the U.S. Navy revised the classification of their escort carriers to reflect their combatant status, providing Coral Sea with her wartime hull symbol of CVE-57. Problems with her boilers delayed her commissioning twice, but she was transferred to the Navy on 27 August.

Service history

Gilbert and Marshall Islands

Coral Sea spent much of September undergoing outfitting at U.S. Naval Ship Yard Tongue Point in Astoria, Oregon. She then underwent a shakedown cruise down the West Coast, heading to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California. En route, gunnery drills, crew training, and lecture classes were conducted. She arrived at San Diego on 8 October, taking on Composite Squadron 33 for a period of flight training off the California coast. On 25 October, she departed for Pearl Harbor to join Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix's Carrier Division 24, which consisted of Coral Sea, her sister ships and. The newly formed carrier division participated in training exercises and drills until early November. They were then assigned to support the 27th Infantry Division as it invaded Makin Island, as part of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. She sortied from Pearl Harbor for Makin on 10 November.
At 05:00 on 20 November, the bombardment of Makin began, commencing the first major U.S. thrust into the central Pacific. Just 76 hours later, Tarawa and Makin had both been captured. Coral Seas aircraft aided the operation, providing close air support and bombing Japanese positions. However, of their carrier support, the 27th Infantry found much to be desired. The inexperience of the aircrews was evident, with little of the air-ground coordination that would become a characteristic in later American amphibious operations. Furthermore, the three escort carriers of Carrier Division 24 were plagued by accidents that wrote off sixteen aircraft and killed four airmen and six deck personnel.
With the islands secured, U.S. naval forces began retiring, but Carrier Division 24 stayed behind to suppress pockets of resistance. On 24 November, the Japanese Kaidai-type cruiser submarine fired a set of four Type 95 torpedoes at the broadside of the unsuspecting task force. Two of the torpedoes narrowly missed Coral Sea, but one torpedo hit Liscome Bay at 05:10, setting off her munitions stores and blowing apart the entire stern of the carrier. The tremendous explosion sent debris hurtling onto the surrounding ships, including Coral Sea, which was off her port beam. Coral Seas navigation officer estimated that debris was shot up to high, while one of her sailors reported being hit by a fire extinguisher originating from Liscome Bay. 23 minutes later, her crew watched in "stunned silence" at the empty waters where Liscome Bay once was. 702 men, counting among them Rear Admiral Mullinix, were lost with Liscome Bay, which remains the deadliest sinking of a carrier in the history of the United States Navy.
On 28 November, Coral Sea left Makin. She reached Pearl Harbor on 5 December, where she took on passengers and aircraft to ferry back to the West Coast. She arrived at Alameda, California, on 14 December, where her aircraft were replenished. Leaving Alameda on 22 December, she entered Pearl Harbor on 28 December and rejoined Carrier Division 24, with replacing Liscome Bay. There, she prepared for the impending assault on Kwajalein.
Coral Sea was underway on 3 January 1944, conducting exercises off Hawaii through early January. After a final fitting out, she sailed out on 22 January in Task Group 52.9, arriving in Kwajalein on 31 January, two days after aircraft of the Fast Carrier Task Force had begun pounding airfields on the atoll. She provided direct and indirect air support for the amphibious landings. On 24 February, she set course for Eniwetok, but she was recalled en route to Pearl Harbor, where she exchanged her aircraft.

Solomon Islands and New Guinea

After a brief respite, Coral Sea got underway again on 11 March and proceeded to the Solomon Islands. She anchored at Tulagi on 21 March, refueling and resupplying before setting off on 30 March for Emirau Island alongside Corregidor. On 2 April, they relieved Manila Bay and, which had been supporting the 4th Marine Regiment as they landed on Emirau. Her time at Emirau was uneventful, save for a Mitsubishi G4M medium bomber shot down by two of her fighters on 6 April. She concluded her tour at Emirau on 11 April, returning to Tulagi on 15 April and leaving the next day to assist in the Western New Guinea campaign. On 19 April, she joined Task Group 78.2, which was formed to cover the landings at Aitape. Her aircraft commenced strikes on D-Day, 22 April, but found little opposition. Task Group 78.2 then relieved the Fast Carrier Task Force in supporting the landings at Tanahmerah Bay and Humboldt Bay, but they found similarly sparse resistance. With the beachhead secured, Coral Sea entered Seeadler Harbor on 4 May, where her engines were evaluated. She returned to Espiritu Santo on 7 May for extensive repairs to her forward main engine, involving the replacement of several broken piston rings. It was not until 2 June that she was deemed combat-ready again.

Mariana Islands

Following the completion of repairs, Coral Sea arrived at Kwajalein on 8 June, which served as the staging point for the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. The invasion fleet sortied out on 10 June, and on 15 June, she provided air support for the initial landings on Saipan by the 2nd Marine Division. On 16 June, she was briefly dispatched for the planned recapture of Guam. En route, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance indefinitely postponed the landings on Guam, acting upon intelligence transmitted from the submarines and, which had both spotted the 1st Mobile Fleet as it was sortieing into the Philippine Sea. She returned to Saipan on the afternoon of 17 June.
The Japanese had put into motion Admiral Shigetarō Shimada's Plan A-Go, which in accordance with Kantai Kessen, anticipated a decisive naval action that would destroy the American fleet. To the west of Coral Sea and her fellow escort carriers, the 1st Mobile Fleet would engage Spruance's Fifth Fleet from 19–20 June in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the largest carrier-to-carrier engagement in history. In conjunction with Plan A-Go, Shimada drew up Plan To-Go, which directed Vice Admiral Kakuji Kakuta's land-based aircraft of the 1st Air Fleet to destroy at least one-third of the American carriers prior to the decisive battle. Of the approximately 600 planes at hand for To-Go, 172 aircraft were based in the Mariana Islands, with the rest scattered throughout the Carolines–Philippines area, where the Japanese were expecting the next American campaign to take place. Although the 1st Air Fleet was well equipped with first-line aircraft, about half of its pilots were fresh from flight qualifications, having had no live-fire aerial gunnery or dogfighting training.
On 17 June, 31 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters, 17 Yokosuka D4Y Suisei dive bombers, and 2 Yokosuka P1Y Gingas took off from Yap to strike Saipan. The Americans had picked up the raid on radar at 17:35, and the escort carriers had scrambled 46 fighters between them in response. However, the fighter direction was inaccurate, and only 9 managed to intercept. At Saipan, the Japanese attacked ships unloading in Charan Kanoa, but the raid was generally unsuccessful. Turning around, the Japanese raid made contact with the escort carriers at 18:48, around sunset. At 18:51, a Suisei chose Coral Sea as its target, but its aim was off, dropping its bomb to her starboard quarter. Following the bomb was the Suisei, which splashed behind her. Two minutes later, a torpedo bomber approached from her port at an altitude of. Hit by a flak explosion, it broke apart and careened into the water from Coral Sea. Ten minutes later, another plane was shot down from her port quarter as it angled for an attack.
The Japanese, who at dusk had misidentified their targets as fleet carriers, believed that they had sunk three or four carriers of the Fast Carrier Task Force. Greatly encouraged by their perceived success, they resolved to make a further attack the next day. In Tinian, Vice Admiral Kakuta misled Admiral Ozawa with glowing reports about initial success of To-Go. These reports helped convince Ozawa to continue the battle on 21 June, even after their enormous losses had become apparent.
On 18 June, at 16:15, another group of an estimated 30–50 Japanese planes were detected by radar to the south of Coral Sea. This time, the fighter screen proved to be more effective, with her planes claiming eight Kawasaki Ki-61s and two Yokosuka P1Y Gingas shot down. Nonetheless, at 17:55, eight Gingas broke through the screen from the task group's starboard and made a run towards the escort carriers. One plane, hit by antiaircraft fire, appeared to veer for her flight deck, crashing short. Another was brought down from her port bow. A Ginga dropped a torpedo at Coral Sea from an estimated away, which missed. Alarmingly, one Ginga passed just above her flight deck, having prematurely dropped its bomb off her starboard beam. Under heavy fire from her antiaircraft guns, it crashed off her port quarter. By 17:58, the attack was over.
At 06:13 the next morning, four dive bombers were detected on radar from the task group. The Japanese formation, passing in-between two combat air patrols, made an attack run on the escort carriers at 06:19, just as Coral Sea was launching emergency fighters. Approaching from ahead and masked by the rising sun, one plane made for Coral Sea, releasing its bomb high and missing short of her bow. Two of the other planes dropped their bombs astern of Gambier Bay, while the last was driven off as it attempted to attack Corregidor. As the Japanese squadron attempted to escape, two were shot down by fighters.
Coral Sea replenished at Eniwetok on 28 June and rendezvoused on 4 July with Task Group 53.7 for the postponed landings on Guam. She arrived off Guam on 9 July, launching preparatory air strikes and softening positions. She returned to Eniwetok on 15 July to replenish, but immediately upon leaving port on 17 July, her "damnable" engines gave in, and she was ordered back to anchor. The repair ship assisted in fixing one of her maneuvering valves, but no replacement piston could be procured for the No.5 cylinder in her starboard main engine. Ultimately, she was sent back to the West Coast, setting off on 23 July. She stopped at Kwajalein on 25 July to unload her embarked squadron and munitions, transiting via Pearl Harbor and arriving at San Diego on 9 August. She entered drydock on 31 August for repairs and overhaul. On 15 September, Coral Sea received word that she was to be renamed to Anzio, clearing up the name for the planned .

Typhoon Cobra and Iwo Jima

Anzio held sea trials off the California coast before setting off for the western Pacific on 16 September with a load of 71 aircraft and 200 passengers. She reached Pearl Harbor on 23 September, beginning a series of antisubmarine exercises on 8 October with her freshly embarked squadron, Composite Squadron 82. She set out for Eniwetok on 16 October, where she became flagship of the hunter-killer group Task Group 30.7, which consisted of Anzio and five s. She proceeded to Ulithi, which she departed on 4 November, bound for the Philippine Sea. However, her orders were countermanded while she was barely out of port, as she was directed to assist the light cruiser, which had been torpedoed by the Type B2 submarine. She arrived the next day and provided air cover for the fleet tugboat which had Reno under tow until 8 November. She then linked up with Task Group 30.8, the At Sea Logistic Group, which was providing underway replenishment in the form of supplies, fuel, and replacement aircraft for the Fast Carrier Task Force as it covered the landings on Leyte. Anzios role for the following months was to provide a screen for the logistics force and to hunt down submarines.
Anzios aircraft found slim pickings until 18 November. Ultra signals intelligence had alerted Allied command to the presence of I-41, the same ship which had torpedoed Reno, within Anzios vicinity. In response, she was ordered to conduct a sweep over the area. At 03:29 in the morning, one of her Avengers made radar contact with I-41 and dropped flares, whereupon the contact was lost. A nearby Avenger was summoned to assist and together, they dropped float lights and sonobuoys near the contact, guiding and into position. The destroyer escorts arrived at the signature, and at 05:52 and 05:57, Lawrence C. Taylor made two Hedgehog attacks, without result. At 06:16, Melvin R. Nawman made an unsuccessful attack. At 06:24, Lawrence C. Taylor fired her third Hedgehog barrage, triggering three small explosions, followed by a large blast. Debris rose to the surface, and by the next day, a wide oil slick covered the area.
Early on 17 December, Anzio was attached with William Halsey Jr.'s Third Fleet, which was refueling and receiving replacement aircraft from the At Sea Logistic Group about east of Luzon. Unfortunately for Halsey's fleet, the rendezvous point was situated in the path of Typhoon Cobra. Accentuating the crisis, as the weather continued to deteriorate on 18 December, Admiral Halsey made a series of blunders that maneuvered his fleet directly into the typhoon's core.
At the height of the storm, Anzio recorded a reading of 28.88 inHg in pressure and encountered winds that reached an estimated. She rolled up to 39°, beyond her theoretical maximum righting moment of 37°. Waves crashed over her flight deck and sent water running down her port funnels. The aircraft on her flight deck had been rigorously secured, but two planes still broke free and were carried away from the carrier. Similar measures were taken within the hangar deck, but a Wildcat managed to escape its restraints, smashing into a bulkhead before being resecured. This incident incurred the lone casualty on Anzio, a broken arm suffered in the rush to corral the loose plane. She emerged from the storm having sustained minor damage. Her fore catwalks and lookout station had been mangled, she had lost several life rafts and one of her whaleboats, and some water had made it into the interior of the ship, but she was able to remain on station. The day after the storm, Admiral Halsey ordered Anzio and to join three destroyers and two destroyer escorts in searching for and rescuing survivors. She spent January conducting sweeps off Luzon in support of the landings on Lingayen Gulf and in February 1945, she headed to support the invasion of Iwo Jima.
Anzio resumed combat operations on 16 February, conducting strikes on Iwo Jima and providing air cover for the naval forces arrayed against it. On 21 February, her crew witnessed a kamikaze sink her sister. With the loss of Bismarck Sea, her pilots assumed extra work, taxing them heavily. Some pilots logged six to seven hours of flying for seven consecutive nights, and VC-82's crew voiced complaints that they were having trouble sleeping. Nonetheless, her aircraft found success in hunting submarines. On 25 February, the reported a sonar contact with a submarine. Anzio launched an Avenger to investigate Bennions sighting, and sent out another during the predawn hours of 26 February to continue the search. At 02:20, her Avenger picked up the radar signature of the Kaichū type submarine away. Passing over the contact, the distinctive whirl of a crash diving submarine could be discerned. At 02:25, her Avenger dropped from altitude its Mark 24 "Fido" torpedo and two sonobuoys, which landed in front of the whirl. As dawn broke, all that remained was an oil slick.
The next day, on 27 February, another one of her Avengers detected the surfaced Type D1 kaiten carrier on its radar at 03:04. Passing over and making visual contact at, the Avenger was unable to mount an attack, and by the time it had circled around, the submarine had dived. Her Avenger dropped a float light and sonobuoys around the location, and at 03:38, a conning tower was spotted breaching the surface near the float light. A Mark 24 torpedo was dropped in front of the crash-diving submarine, and an explosion which sent a plume of water into the air was observed. Another Avenger arrived, and together, they monitored the sonobuoys, over which unusual sounds could be discerned. Another Mark 24 torpedo was dropped, but no detonation was heard. However, soon afterwards, air bubbled to the surface, followed by an extensive oil slick. She departed Iwo Jima on 8 March and entered San Pedro Bay on 12 March. After embarking the veteran Composite Squadron 13 from, she sailed on 22 March to join the invasion of Okinawa.

Okinawa and post war

While underway, Anzio continued her patrols, screening for the landing forces. After the initial landings on 1 April, she performed both close air support and antisubmarine work. She entered Ulithi on 30 April for repairs to her rudder bearings. There, her embarked squadron had their TBM-1C Avengers replaced with TBM-3Es. These new planes had a more powerful engine, were equipped with improved radars, and had wing hardpoints which could mount rockets or drop tanks. On 21 May, she resumed operations off Okinawa, and on 28 May, she received word of a submarine contact from a minesweeper. She dispatched aircraft to the vicinity, but her aircraft found no leads until early on 31 May, when one of her Avengers detected a radar signature at 04:36. Investigating the blip, the Avenger found the Type D1 kaiten carrier fully surfaced. Approaching from the port beam, the Avenger fired four air-to-surface rockets, two impacting around the conning tower. Turning around, the Avenger found the submarine diving, and failed to drop its Mark 24 torpedo, as its pilot had neglected to switch the armament selector from "RP" to "Bomb-Torpedo". Hurrying around once more, the Avenger deployed its Mark 24 torpedo, along with all six sonobuoys via the emergency release. When the destroyer escorts and arrived, they found a large debris field and oil slick.
On 11 June, while Anzio was taking on aviation fuel from the Cimarron-class oiler, a pair of fuel tanks ruptured, sending aviation fuel running into her cofferdams. Further inspections over the following days would find major leakage, forcing her to withdraw early. In the meantime, she continued as planned a radio deception operation that had begun on the morning of 11 June. The Fast Carrier Task Force had been launching strikes on Okinawa and Kyushu but had retired for Leyte under radio silence on 10 June for replenishment. A radioman from Halsey's staff was sent over to Anzio, and from 11–17 June, when she herself headed to Leyte for repairs, radio traffic was fielded to mimic Halsey's fleet, providing the impression that it was still out at sea. Anzios ship's history records her crew's claim that she was the "only ship to relieve the entire Task Force 38."
Anzio left San Pedro Bay on 6 July and reached her operating area east of Tokyo on 14 July. She resumed her antisubmarine work covering Task Group 30.8, which was resupplying the Fast Carrier Task Force as it conducted strikes across Japan. At 07:37 on 16 July, an Avenger from Anzio detected the broadside radar signature of the Type A Mod.2 cruiser submarine away. The Avenger, concealing itself within the clouds, ambushed the submarine, raking I-13 with .50 Browning machine gun fire and firing two sets of two rockets, one at, and another at. One rocket impacted the submarine below the conning tower at the waterline, while the other three rockets hit short, but in line with the conning tower. Circling around, the Avenger dropped two depth charges, which both missed, a sonobuoy, and attempted to drop its Mark 24 torpedo near the diving submarine, but to no effect, as the armament selector had not been switched. On the second go around, the Mark 24 torpedo was released ahead of the wake left by the submarine. This damaged I-13, as oil soon began upwelling.
Anzios Avenger tracked the oil slick as it moved across the ocean. It was joined by another Avenger at 9:00, and by a third one at 9:20. More sonobuoys were dropped, tracking the sound of I-13s propellers. At 10:00, a Mark 24 torpedo was dropped in front of the slick, and an explosion followed by hissing was heard over the sonobuoys. Pieces of debris floated to the surface. Nonetheless, at 11:20, the oil slick began crawling eastwards again. By this point, the destroyer escorts Lawrence C. Taylor and were approaching the scene. A smokelight was dropped at the submarine's approximate location, and Lawrence C. Taylor, guided by the beacon and her sonar, let loose a full Hedgehog barrage at 11:40. This triggered two massive underwater explosions about below the surface that knocked out power to Lawrence C. Taylors sonar and caused her some engine room damage. Robert F. Keller followed this up with another Hedgehog barrage, but this proved to be unnecessary, as the former contents of I-13 surfaced.
She continued her antisubmarine patrols with no further incident until she received word of the Japanese surrender on 15 August. She sailed for Guam on 19 August, where she unloaded VC-13 and took on Composite Squadron 66. After a refit and some refresher training for her new squadron, the escort carrier headed for Okinawa, providing air cover and conducting antisubmarine patrols for transports carrying occupation troops to Korea. On 8 September, she anchored at Incheon, whence she provided air support for the landings of the occupation force. She left Korea on 13 September, returning to Okinawa. On 19 September, she headed to the West Coast to join the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, arriving at San Francisco on 30 September.
At San Francisco, Anzio was modified to provide maximum passenger accommodations. She made two trips to the western Pacific, one to Pearl Harbor and one to Shanghai, shuttling American troops home. She arrived in Seattle on 23 December, ending the year at that port. On 18 January 1946, she sailed for Norfolk, Virginia. She paused at San Francisco and transited the Panama Canal en route to the East Coast. She was decommissioned on 5 August and mothballed, joining the Norfolk group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. On 15 June 1955, she was redesignated as a helicopter aircraft carrier, receiving the hull symbol CVHE-57. She was struck from the Navy list on 1 March 1959 and sold to Master Metals Co. on 24 November 1959 for scrapping.

Awards and decorations

Anzio received nine battle stars and a Navy Unit Commendation for her World War II service.
2nd rowAmerican Campaign MedalAsiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal with nine battle starsWorld War II Victory Medal
3rd rowNavy Occupation Service Medal Philippine Republic Presidential Unit CitationPhilippine Liberation Medal with one service star

Online sources

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