USS Suwannee (CVE-27)

USS Suwannee underway, after repairs from the kamikaze attacks of October 1944.
History
Name	Markay
Owner	Keystone Tankship Corporation
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down	3 June 1938
Launched	4 March 1939
Sponsored by	Mrs. Howard L. Vickery
Fate	Purchased by the US Navy, 26 June 1941
United States
Name	Suwannee
Namesake	Suwannee River in Georgia and Florida
Acquired	26 June 1941
Commissioned	16 July 1941
Decommissioned	21 February 1942
Reclassified	Fleet Oiler (AO), 26 June 1941
Identification	AO-33
Recommissioned	24 September 1942
Decommissioned	8 January 1947
Reclassified	Aircraft Escort Vessel (AVG), 14 February 1942 Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier (ACV), 20 August 1942 Escort Carrier (CVE), 15 July 1943 Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier (CVHE), 12 June 1955
Stricken	1 March 1959
Identification	AVG-27 ACV-27 CVE-27 CVHE-27
Fate	Sold 30 November 1959 Scrapped in Bilbao, Spain, June 1962
General characteristics (1942 as converted)[1]
Class and type	Sangamon-class escort carrier
Displacement	11,400 long tons (11,600 t) (standard load) 24,275 long tons (24,665 t) (full load)
Length	525 ft (160 m) wl 553 ft (169 m) oa 502 ft (153 m) fd
Beam	75 ft (23 m) 114 ft (35 m) extreme width
Draft	32 ft (9.8 m)
Installed power	13,500 shp (10,067 kW)
Propulsion	4 × Boilers (450 psi (3,100 kPa) 2 × Steam turbines 2 × screws
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	860-1080 officers and men
Armament	2 × Single 127 mm (5.0 in)/51 caliber guns 4 × Twin 40 mm (1.57 in)/56 caliber Bofors 40 guns 12 × Single 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons Additional 20 & 40 mm guns later added
Aircraft carried	25-32 Grumman F4F Wildcat & Grumman TBF Avenger or Douglas SBD Dauntless
Aviation facilities	1 × Catapult (One additional catapult added later) 2 × Elevators
Service record
Commanders:	Joseph J. Clark (1942–43)
Operations:	World War II
Awards:	13 battle stars

USS Suwannee (CVE-27), was built as the civilian oiler Markay, in 1939, before being acquired by the US Navy, in 1941, and renamed Suwannee (AO-33), after the tradition of naming fleet oilers after rivers. In 1942, she was converted to a Sangamon-class escort carrier. Originally classified as an "Aircraft Escort Vessel", AVG-27, on 14 February 1942, she was reclassified an "Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier", ACV-27, 20 August 1942, before finally being classified as an "Escort Carrier", CVE-27, 15 July 1943. After the war, she was later classified an "Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier" and again redesignated, CVHE-27, 12 June 1955.