USS Long Island (CVE-1)

USS Long Island (CVE-1)
Public domain · source
Ship name	USS Long Island (CVE-1)
Ship class	Long Island-class escort carrier
Ship displacement	8,800 tons (full load)
Ship length	459 ft
Ship beam	69 ft
Ship draught	25 ft
Ship propulsion	Steam turbines
Ship speed	16.5 knots
Ship complement	~860 officers and enlisted
Ship aircraft	~20 aircraft
Ship builder	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Ship launched	11 March 1940
Ship commissioned	2 June 1941
Ship decommissioned	28 October 1946
Ship honor	First U.S. escort carrier commissioned

USS Long Island (CVE-1) was the first escort carrier commissioned by the United States Navy and served as a pioneering example of converted merchant ship hulls adapted for naval aviation during World War II. Built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation for commercial service and acquired by the Navy, she operated in the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean theaters, performing convoy escort, antisubmarine patrols, pilot training, and close air support missions. Her career intersected with major wartime institutions and events, reflecting transitions in Naval aviation, convoy tactics, and amphibious operations.

Design and construction

Converted from the C3-class ship hull originally ordered by American Mail Line, Long Island was completed under contract at Seattle, Washington by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation. The conversion program drew on design work from Murray and Tregurtha, Gibbs & Cox, and naval architects experienced with warship retrofits. Her flight deck, hangar, aircraft elevators, arresting gear, and catapult installations were integrated into a cargo hull similar to conversions undertaken at Bethlehem Steel, Newport News Shipbuilding, and Todd Shipyards for other escort carriers. Machinery derived from commercial steam propulsion plants gave her a maximum speed comparable to contemporaneous Liberty ship escorts; displacement, beam, and stability considerations were addressed with ballast and hull stiffening, consistent with standards promulgated by the Bureau of Ships.

Service history

After commissioning in June 1941 under the command of Captain Francis H. Dean, Long Island conducted shakedown and carrier qualification operations out of San Diego, California and San Pedro, California. She participated in Neutrality Patrol-era convoy exercises and provided aircraft to test deck-landing procedures for Grumman F4F Wildcat and Curtiss SBC Helldiver type aircraft. Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor she was assigned to Atlantic convoy duty with Atlantic Fleet escort groups and later reassigned to the Pacific Fleet to support operations in the South Pacific.

Long Island’s operational highlights included the first combat submarine-sighted convoy air cover, participation in Operation Torch-style doctrine development with United States Army amphibious staffs, and air support missions for carrier groups operating near Solomon Islands and around Guadalcanal. She worked alongside ships such as USS Yorktown (CV-5), USS Enterprise (CV-6), HMS Audacity, and escort vessels from Royal Navy escort formations. Aircrews operating from Long Island engaged in antisubmarine warfare against German U-boat and Imperial Japanese Navy submarine threats while cooperating with Task Force 11 and Task Force 16 in early carrier group experiments.

Aircraft and air group

Long Island embarked a variety of naval aircraft types sourced from manufacturers and naval aviation units including Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Vought, Curtiss-Wright, and Douglas Aircraft Company. Typical complements included Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, Douglas SBD Dauntless scouts/dive bombers adapted for escort work, and Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers when available. Her air group included pilots and ground crew drawn from Naval Air Stations such as NAS North Island, NAS Alameda, and NAS Kaneohe Bay, with reserve and Marine Corps aviators training aboard. Long Island pioneered deck-landing qualifications that informed procedures used by Fleet Air Arm counterparts and by carrier training centers at Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas.

Modifications and conversions

Throughout her career Long Island underwent multiple modifications reflecting evolving operational needs and lessons from carrier action in the Battle of the Coral Sea, Battle of Midway, and Guadalcanal Campaign. Additions included upgraded radar suites provided by research at Naval Research Laboratory, enhanced anti-aircraft armament pioneered in refits shared with Independence-class and Bogue-class escort carriers, and strengthened flight-deck structure based on recommendations from Admiral Ernest J. King and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz staff boards. Hangar reconfiguration, aircraft handling improvements, and augmented aviation supply stores allowed her to operate increased sortie rates in support of amphibious assault rehearsals and pilot ferry missions for Naval Air Transport Service and Air Transport Command coordination.

Decommissioning and fate

Following the end of hostilities after Surrender of Japan, Long Island was decommissioned and placed in reserve as part of the United States Navy reserve fleet drawn down under the Naval Vessel Disposal programs and postwar demobilization overseen by the Office of Ship Disposal. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register and sold into civilian service where she reverted to mercantile configurations under owners connected to United States Maritime Commission dispositions. Final disposition saw her scrapped after service life attrition similar to contemporaries processed at shipbreaking facilities influenced by contracts with Moore-McCormack Lines, Marine Ship Corporation, and yards operating under the War Shipping Administration.

Category:Escorts of the United States Navy Category:World War II escort carriers of the United States Category:Ships built in Seattle