World War II Upon being commissioned,
Windham Bay underwent a
shakedown cruise down the West Coast to
San Diego, arriving on 6 June. She then briefly conducted air qualifications and catapult trials off the southern California coast, before taking on a load of aircraft and passengers bound for
Hawaii. On 12 June, she left port, arriving within
Pearl Harbor on 19 June, trading her cargo for another load, this time bound for the
Marshall Islands. She left Pearl Harbor on 25 June, arriving at
Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 2 July. She then sailed westwards to
Kwajalein Atoll, also within the Marshalls. There, she took on the aircraft and personnel of Marine Night Fighter Squadron 532 (VMF(N)-532), and steamed for the
Mariana Islands. The squadron arrived on
Saipan, which
had recently been secured, by flying off of her flight deck, and she put into
Garapan anchorage to unload the squadron's gear. Whilst in anchorage,
Windham Bay loaded up a squadron of captured Japanese aircraft, and proceeded back to Hawaii. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 July, and remained in port for fifteen days, before departing for the West Coast on 25 July. She returned to port in San Diego on 31 July, and she began overhaul at
San Pedro, where additional anti-aircraft armaments were retrofitted. This process took up the entire month of August, and
Windham Bay returned to sea on 1 September, with a load of aircraft bound for
Emirau and
Manus, of the
Admiralty Islands. She arrived at Emirau in mid-September, and at Manus on 18 September. After unloading her aircraft, she took on a load of passengers and steamed for
Espiritu Santo, of the
New Hebrides, and upon completing this task, she took on another load of aircraft, returning to Manus on 5 October. She then visited
Guadalcanal, of the
Solomon Islands, before heading back to the West Coast. Proceeding via Espiritu Santo, she arrived back in San Diego on 20 October. She then made another transport mission to the South Pacific in November, transporting aircraft to Manus and collecting about 350 casualties from the
Palau campaign at Guadalcanal on 24 November for transport back to San Diego. Upon returning to port in San Diego on 10 December,
Windham Bay remained inactive until 27 December, when she resumed transporting aircraft. During this stay,
Lieutenant (temporarily promoted to
Commander) Theophilus Horner Moore assumed temporary command of the carrier until it arrived at Pearl Harbor. Proceeding westwards, she transported a load of aircraft to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 2 January 1945 before taking on a load of
F4U Corsairs. There, Captain Maxwell Franklin Leslie took over permanent command of
Windham Bay. Leaving port on 5 January, she headed to
Midway Atoll in the
Hawaiian Islands, arriving on 9 January, where she unloaded her cargo. The following day, she left Midway, returning to Pearl Harbor on 13 January. She left port on 1 February, this time as a replenishment carrier, providing replacement aircraft, parts, and supplies for the frontline
Fast Carrier Task Force of the
Third Fleet, which at the time was preparing to provide support for the planned
invasion of
Iwo Jima. On her way out towards the Central Pacific,
Windham Bay stopped at
Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, before steaming for
Ulithi Atoll in the
Caroline Islands.
flying boats are stored upon her aft flight deck. Upon taking on board the cargo required to sustain her replenishment duties,
Windham Bay took to sea, as a part of Task Unit 50.8.4, the CVE Plane Transport Unit, along with her sister ships , , and . As a part of Task Group 50.8, the Logistics Support Group, the replenishment carriers were under the command of
Rear Admiral Donald B. Beary. En route, the carriers were screened by the destroyer escorts , , and . She arrived off Iwo Jima on 19 February, whereupon she began delivering replacement aircraft and crews to the fleet carriers conducting operations over the island, with the transferring aircraft being screened by the fighter contingents of and . Task Unit 50.8.4 first conducted deliveries to Task Groups 58.1, 58.4, and 58.5 on 19 February, conducted deliveries to Task Groups 58.2 and 58.3 the following day, and then deliveries to all the Task Groups excepting 58.5 on 21 February. Her main duties finished,
Windham Bay continued delivering a trickle of planes until 1 March, when her Task Group returned to replenish at Ulithi. In total, the four escort carriers had delivered 254 aircraft and 65 plane crews to the fleet carriers, the majority of which were transferred on the first three days. Later, upon having replenished, Task Group 50.8.4. took to sea again, and beginning on 1 April, in addition to resupplying the Fast Carrier Task Force, the escort carriers also shouldered the burden of providing replacement aircraft and supplies for the CVEs providing air cover for the
landings on
Okinawa. Taking advantage of the
Kerama Islands, which had been recently captured on 26 March, the escort carriers were able to quickly replenish on bombs and ammunition, minimizing the amount of time spent away from the frontline carriers. By the early morning of 5 June,
Windham Bay, along with the ships of Task Group 38.1 and Task Group 30.8, was trapped in the path of
Typhoon Connie, which was proceeding northwards, and on a course to the east of
Okinawa.
Admiral William Halsey Jr., which had already led the Third Fleet into the deadly
Typhoon Cobra in December 1944, now managed to lead the Third Fleet yet again into the
eyewall of another deadly storm, ignoring reports by Rear Admiral Beary, who was convinced that Halsey's eastwardly course would put his carriers into the storm. By the time this had become evident, the replenishment carriers had already found themselves navigating independently of each other. As
Windham Bay neared the center of the storm, at around 3:00, her crew began to witness the aircraft stored upon the flight deck work free of their restraints and slip into the sea. A few minutes later,
Windham Bay entered the eyewall. The carrier's wind-measuring system was quickly blown away by the gusts, but the crew estimated the winds to be gusting at around . In addition, waves estimated as towering some high broke over the carrier. Despite the fact that her forward aircraft elevator was up, water seeped through the edges of the elevator, flooding the elevator well with of water and temporarily taking it out of commission. At 3:55, as the carrier crested over a particularly high swell, the two forwardmost 40 mm Bofors guns, along with the forward lookout platform, were ejected off the ship. Simultaneously, the forwardmost of her flight deck collapsed onto her forecastle, damaging both her hangar deck and aircraft elevator. The damage sustained during the typhoon necessitated repairs, and
Windham Bay was therefore relieved of her replenishment duties. Heading eastwards, she stopped at the Marianas on 16 June on her way to Oahu, where quick repairs were made. In addition, she took on a load of F4U-2 Corsairs for transport. Stopping at Pearl Harbor from 25 June to 27 June, she entered port at San Diego on 11 July for extensive repairs, which took until late August to finish, after the
Japanese surrender had been announced. On 26 August, with her repairs having concluded,
Windham Bay left San Diego harbor, with Marine Fighter Squadron 312 (
VMF-312) on board, bound for Guam. Stopping briefly at Pearl Harbor, she arrived in
Apra Harbor on 15 September. Having unloaded her passengers and cargo, she steamed for
Samar and
Leyte, within the
Philippines, arriving on 19 September, taking on passengers, planes, and equipment for transport back to Hawaii. She departed Leyte on 24 September, stopped at Guam on 27 September, and arrived back at Oahu on 7 October. She left port on 8 October, and arrived back in San Diego harbor on 14 October. Whilst in port,
Windham Bay joined the
Operation Magic Carpet fleet, which repatriated U.S. servicemen from around the Pacific. On 19 October, the carrier left on her first run, a voyage which ended at
San Pedro. She left for another run on 13 November, arriving at Samar on 26 November, leaving on 28 November. Pausing at Pearl Harbor, she arrived in
Port Hueneme, California on 17 December. She then proceeded a short ways southward back to San Pedro port, where she remained until the New Year. On 8 January 1946,
Windham Bay departed San Pedro again, making a round trip to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 14 January. Leaving port on 15 January, she returned to California on 21 January. She then sailed north to
Tacoma, Washington, arriving on 25 January, where she was to be
mothballed as part of the
Pacific Reserve Fleet. Inactivation work began as soon as she arrived, and she was decommissioned on 23 August.
Korean War s on board her flight deck, along with a single
liaison aircraft. Notably, she is shown still carrying her SK-1 radar.
Windham Bay continued to be mothballed with the Pacific Reserve Fleet until the
Korean War broke out during the summer of 1950. With the United States intervening in the war, under the auspices of the
United Nations,
Windham Bay was recommissioned and reclassified as an aircraft transport with the
hull symbol T-CVE-92 on 28 October 1950 at
Bremerton, Washington, with Captain Charles E. Brunton in command. As an aircraft transport, she was operated by the
Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) with a civilian crew, but with a military command. On 20 November, she steamed south to California, stopping at
San Francisco on her way to San Diego, arriving on 2 December. She then sailed northwards, back to San Francisco, arriving on 13 December. There, she headed to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 19 December. Returning to California, she sailed into
Alameda, California on 2 January 1951, before heading back into the Pacific on 7 January, this time with a load of aircraft bound for Korea. She arrived at
Yokohama, Japan on 24 January, where she unloaded her cargo. She left Yokohama harbor on 26 January, proceeding southwards, where she visited
Saigon in
French Indochina. In doing this visit,
Windham Bay became the first large vessel to enter the Long Gam River since 1925. Whilst she was docked in Saigon, Vietnamese
rebels tossed seventeen
hand grenades at the carrier, albeit none exploded. After completing her visit, she headed to
Manila, the capital of the Philippines, before heading back to the West Coast.
Windham Bay sailed into the
San Francisco Bay on 24 February. For the next twenty months,
Windham Bay made nine round-trip transpacific resupply voyages, loading up at either San Francisco or San Diego, always unloading at
Yokosuka, and always returning to San Francisco. She broke this routine in October and November 1952, when she visited
Kaohsiung,
Taiwan, and
Bangkok,
Thailand, before returning via Japan to Alameda on 9 December.
Windham Bay continued her transpacific resupply voyages between the West Coast and Japan throughout 1953. As the Korean War wound down to an
armistice, her transport missions began to involve more stops and side trips, notably to Hawaii, the Philippines, and to other Japanese ports besides Yokosuka. French Indochina became a frequent destination, with
Windham Bay stopping at the capital of Saigon in May 1954, February 1955, and in March 1955, which by then had become part of the
Republic of Vietnam. On 12 June 1955, she was reclassified as a utility carrier, with the hull symbol
CVU-92. On 4 August 1956, she was severely damaged by a fire which broke out whilst she was docked in Alameda. In May 1957, she added
Naha, Okinawa to her list of ports of call, and in December 1957, she made another stop to Saigon. In all other respects,
Windham Bays career as a transport carrier during this period consisted solely of missions resupplying aircraft from the West Coast to Japan, conducted in support of the fast carriers assigned to cover the western Pacific.
Windham Bays career as a transport carrier lasted until the end of 1958, during a time in which the navy evaluated the
Casablanca-class escort carriers to be less economical and less desirable as transport carriers as compared to the older s. Therefore, she was yet again decommissioned and mothballed in January 1959, this time as part of the San Francisco Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. She was struck from the
Navy list on 1 February 1959, and subsequently sold for
scrapping to the Hugo Neu Steel Products Corp., of
New York City. The ship was ultimately scrapped in Japan throughout February 1961.
Windham Bay received three
battle stars for her World War II service. ==References==