Gilbert and Marshall Islands Coral Sea spent much of September 1943 being
fitted out 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 (VC) 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 along with 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. 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 killed four airmen and six deck personnel, as well as causing the loss of sixteen aircraft. 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,
Liscome Bay slipped beneath the waves.
Coral Seas war history describes her crew standing in "stunned silence", staring at the empty waters where Carrier Division 24's
flagship once was. 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, joining
Corregidor and , the new flagship of Carrier Division 24. 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 off Kwajalein on 31 January, the day of the landings. She conducted anti-submarine patrols, flew
combat air patrol, and conducted strikes in support of American forces. On 24 February, Carrier Division 24 set course to support
operations on
Eniwetok. En route on 25 February,
Coral Sea and
Corregidor were both recalled to Pearl Harbor.
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 after U.S submarines spotted the
1st Mobile Fleet as it sortied into the
Philippine Sea.
Coral Sea returned to Saipan on the afternoon of 17 June.
Admiral Shigetarō Shimada had put into motion 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, Admiral
Jisaburō Ozawa's 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 had drawn 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 qualification, 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 Ginga bombers took off from
Yap to strike Saipan. The Americans had picked up the raid on radar at 17:35, and the escort carriers scrambled a combined 46 fighters 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 targeted
Coral Sea, but its aim was off and the bomb fell to her starboard quarter. Shortly afterwards, the
Suisei went into the water behind the carrier. Two minutes later, a torpedo bomber approached from
Coral Sea port at an altitude of . Hit by a flak explosion, it broke apart and careened into the water from
Coral Sea. After a short lull, a disorganized attack was mounted by several remaining Japanese aircraft. Taken under fire by
Coral Seas gunners, another plane was shot down from her port quarter. The Japanese, having misidentified their targets as fleet carriers in the failing light, erroneously believed that they had sunk three or four carriers of the Fast Carrier Task Force. In reality, of the eleven escort carriers operating near Saipan, none had been sunk, although was forced to withdraw for repairs. 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 the success of
To-Go. These reports helped convince Ozawa to attempt to continue the battle on 21 June, even after his enormous losses in aircraft had become apparent. On 18 June, at 16:15, another group of an estimated 30–50 Japanese planes was detected by radar to the south of
Coral Sea. This time, the fighter screen proved to be more effective, with her planes claiming eight
Suiseis and two
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
Coral Seas flight deck, crashing short. Another was brought down from her port bow. One
Ginga dropped a torpedo at
Coral Sea from an estimated away, which missed. Alarmingly, another
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 , 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 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, and set 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, the crew of
Coral Sea received word that she was renamed to
Anzio, after the
eponymous battle, becoming the first ship to bear the name. This vacated her former name for the planned .
Typhoon Cobra tied onto the flight deck of
Anzio, 18 December 1944
Anzio held sea trials off the California coast before setting off for the western Pacific on 16 September with 71 aircraft and 200 passengers embarked. She reached Pearl Harbor on 23 September, beginning a series of
anti-submarine exercises on 8 October with her freshly embarked squadron, Composite Squadron (VC) 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 through 8 November for the fleet
tugboat which had
Reno under tow. 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, one of her
Avenger torpedo bombers 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 began firing their
Hedgehog anti-submarine mortars. At 06:24,
Lawrence C. Taylor fired her third Hedgehog barrage, which brough debris to the surface. By the next day, a wide oil slick covered the area. Early on 17 December,
Anzio was attached to
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 (978
mbar) in
pressure and encountered winds that reached an estimated . She rolled up to 39°, beyond her
theoretical angle of 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 were still swept away. Similar measures were taken within the hangar deck, but a
Wildcat broke free, smashing into a bulkhead. This incident incurred the lone casualty on
Anzio, a broken arm suffered in the rush to resecure 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 rest of Halsey's fleet had not fared as well, with the destroyers , , and all capsizing. The day after the storm, Admiral Halsey ordered
Anzio and to join three destroyers and two destroyer escorts in searching for and recovering survivors. When Halsey called off the search on 22 December, only 93 survivors had been rescued from the ocean, leaving 793 dead.
Anzio 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.
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,
Anzios pilots assumed extra work, taxing them heavily. Some pilots logged six to seven hours of flying on 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 the 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 its
Mark 24 "Fido" torpedo and two sonobuoys from an altitude of , 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.
Anzios 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 from
Anzio 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.
Anzio departed Iwo Jima on 8 March and entered
San Pedro Bay on 12 March. After embarking the veteran Composite Squadron (VC) 13 from , she sailed on 22 March to join the
invasion of
Okinawa.
Okinawa 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 anti-submarine 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 that 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" (rocket projectile) to "Bomb-Torpedo". On its second pass, 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 that same morning. The Fast Carrier Task Force (operating attached to the
Third Fleet as Task Force 38) 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 anti-submarine 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 concealed itself within the clouds and ambushed the submarine: it raked
I-13 with
.50 Browning machine gun fire and launched two sets of two rockets, one at and another at . One rocket impacted the submarine below the conning tower at the waterline, and the other three rockets hit short but still in line with the conning tower. Circling around, the Avenger dropped two
depth charges (which both missed) and a sonobuoy. It also attempted to drop its Mark 24 torpedo, but as the armament selector had not been switched, the torpedo remained on the aircraft. On a second go around, the Avenger released its Mark 24 torpedo 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 beacon 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 which destroyed
I-13.
Post-war , 1 December 1945.
Anzio continued her anti-submarine 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 (VC) 66. After a refit and some refresher training for her new squadron, the escort carrier headed for Okinawa, providing air cover and conducting anti-submarine 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, where she became the first American carrier to visit the port. 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. Her anchor was preserved, and is on display in front of the
National Museum of the United States Navy at the
Washington Navy Yard. She received nine
battle stars and a
Navy Unit Commendation for her World War II service. ==Squadron history==