USS Core (CVE-13) was originally classified AVG-13, but was reclassified ACV-13, 20 August 1942; CVE-13, 15 July 1943; CVHE-13, 12 June 1955; CVU-13, 1 July 1958; and T-AKV-41, 7 May 1959. She was launched 15 May 1942 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding of Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. B. B. Smith, wife of Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

 Smith; acquired by the Navy, 1 May 1942; and commissioned 10 December 1942, Captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 M. R. Greer in command.

Service history

Clearing Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

 6 February 1943, Core qualified pilots in carrier operations off San Diego

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, then sailed on to the east coast, arriving at Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 11 April. She continued to train pilots in Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

 until 27 June when she sortied as the nucleus of TG 21.12, a hunter-killer group. Such groups, providing cover for the movement of convoys, made a contribution of great significance to winning the Battle of the Atlantic, and the innovation represented by their formation was a marked advance in antisubmarine warfare. Planes from Core worked in coordination with accompanying destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s scoring a number of successful attacks. Her planes sank U-487

German submarine U-487

German submarine U-487 was a Type XIV supply and replenishment U-boat of the of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II....

 on 13 July, at 27°15′N 34°18′W, and U-67 on 16 July at 30°05′N 44°17′W. One of her escorts, , sank U-613 on 23 July, at 35°32′N 28°36′W. Core returned to Norfolk 31 July from a most successful first patrol.

On Cores second hunter-killer patrol, from 16 August to 2 September 1943, her planes sank U-84

German submarine U-84 (1941)

German submarine U-84 was a Type VIIB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.U-84 was launched on 26 February 1941 and commissioned on 29 April 1941...

 on 24 August at 27°09′N 37°03′W, and U-185 the same day at 27°00′N 37°06′W. Putting to sea again 5 October in TG 21.15, Cores planes sank U-378 on 20 October at 47°40′N 28°27′W. She returned to Norfolk 19 November.

Following another hunter-killer patrol from 6 December 1943 to 18 January 1944, Core ferried 56 P-51s and other cargo to Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 from 6 February to 9 March. From 3 April to 29 May, she operated with TG 21.16 in the central and North Atlantic, then sailed from New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 24 June to ferry 85 Army aircraft to Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, returning to Norfolk 20 July. Returning to antisubmarine operations 8 August as CTG 22.4, Core conducted training exercises against newly revealed enemy submarine tactics off Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 until 8 October when she returned to Norfolk for an overhaul. After a period qualifying carrier pilots at Quonset Point, she sailed from Norfolk 24 January 1945 to lead her group against weather reporting submarines operating in the North Atlantic, but fog and rough weather prevented successful attacks. She sailed from Norfolk 3 April to join a large antisubmarine unit at Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...

 7 April. Operating in the central and North Atlantic as part of Operation Teardrop

Operation Teardrop

Operation Teardrop was a United States Navy operation of World War II conducted during April and May 1945 to sink German U-boats that were believed to be approaching the United States east coast armed with V-1 flying bombs. Two large U.S. Navy anti-submarine warfare task forces succeeded in...

, the escorts of this group combined to sink U-546

German submarine U-546

German submarine U-546 was a Type IXC/40 U-boat operated by the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. U-546 was responsible for the last combat sinking of a United States Navy vessel in the Atlantic Theatre, during Operation Teardrop, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Paul Just.-Service...

 on 24 April at 43°53′N 40°07′W, after the enemy submarine had torpedoed and sunk . Core returned to New York 11 May for repairs and replenishment.

Clearing Norfolk 13 June 1945, Core arrived at San Diego 25 June. She carried aircraft and aviation personnel to Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 and to Samar, returning 30 August. Until 20 October, she sailed between Alameda

Alameda, California

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...

 and Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 on transport duty then sailed for Yokosuka, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, on "Magic Carpet

Operation Magic Carpet (World War II)

Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II effort by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and CBI theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships, and troop transports began repatriating soldiers from...

" duty, to return homeward-bound servicemen. She made two such voyages from 20 October 1945 to 18 January 1946. Core was placed out of commission in reserve 4 October 1946 at Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...

.

The ship was redesignated as a helicopter escort carrier (CVHE-13) 12 June 1955, a utility carrier (CVU-13) 1 July 1958 and finally an aviation transport (T-AKV-41) 7 May 1959. She led a task force to South Vietnam

South Vietnam

South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...

in December 1961, carrying helicopter pilots and support crews to assist the South Vietnamese government.

Core was stricken for disposal on 15 September 1970 and sold for scrap in 1971.

Source

• JFK Day by Day by Terry Golway and Les Krantz (Running Press 2010)