![]() USS Suwannee underway, after repairs from the kamikaze attacks of October 1944.
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History | |
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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 |
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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 |
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Stricken | 1 March 1959 |
Identification |
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Fate |
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General characteristics (1942 as converted)[1] | |
Class and type | Sangamon-class escort carrier |
Displacement | |
Length | |
Beam |
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Draft | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
Installed power | 13,500 shp (10,067 kW) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Complement | 860-1080 officers and men |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 25-32 Grumman F4F Wildcat & Grumman TBF Avenger or Douglas SBD Dauntless |
Aviation facilities | |
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.