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USS Marcus Island (CVE-77)
Encyclopedia
USS Marcus Island (CVE-77) was an Casablanca class
escort carrier
of the United States Navy
.
She was laid down as Kanalku Bay under Maritime Commission contract by Kaiser Co., Inc., Vancouver, Washington
on 15 September 1943; renamed Marcus Island
on 6 November 1943; launched on 16 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. S. L. La Hache; acquired by the Navy on 26 January 1944; and commissioned at Astoria, Oregon
on 26 January 1944, Captain
Charles F. Greber in command.
in the Solomon Islands
on 24 August to prepare for operations in the Palaus. As flagship for Rear Admiral
W. D. Sample's Carrier Division 27 (CarDiv 27), she began preinvasion strikes against Peleliu
and Angaur
on 12 September. She provided close air support as assault troops hit the beaches beginning the 15th, and until 2 October, she launched scores of sorties during embittered fighting on the rugged islands.
Marcus Island arrived at Manus
in the Admiralty Islands
on the 4th, and after completing preparations for the invasion of the Philippines
, she sortied with the Task Group 77.4 (TG 77.4) on 12 October for Leyte as part of the task unit known as "Taffy 2". Beginning on 18 October, she launched airstrikes against enemy positions and during the next week, her pilots flew 261 target and air cover missions.
The Battle for Leyte Gulf and the running fight of "Taffy 3" in the battle off Samar
on 25 October are well chronicled elsewhere; Marcus Islands war diary succinctly recorded the pace of action on the 25th - "A day of intense activity". During the heroic stand of "Taffy 3", fighters and bombers from Marcus Island struck hard at the Japanese force. One TBM Avenger
put a torpedo into the portside aft of a heavy cruiser, probably . Amidst intense antiaircraft fire, her fighters made repeated strafing runs against battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. Her planes joined in two strikes against the retreating Japanese ships that afternoon, and her pilots claimed 14 hits on enemy ships including a torpedo and six bomb hits on an Agato class cruiser. In addition, her fighters battled and shot down five Japanese planes. On the 26th, she sent 12 bombers and fighters to the Visayan Sea
where they helped sink and with repeated hits from bombs, rockets, and machine guns.
Marcus Island departed the Philippines 30 October but returned less than two weeks later as part of the escort for the Mindoro
attack group. Departing Kossol on 10 December, she transited Surigao Strait
on the 13th. Her patrolling aircraft shot down one enemy fighter on 14 October and shot down three more planes on the 15th. Marcus Island came under attack the morning of the Mindoro invasion, and from 0810-0930, enemy planes made three suicide runs and one bombing strike against the carrier. All the planes were shot down or deflected by intense antiaircraft fire, although two kamikaze
s crashed close off the bow to port and starboard causing minor damage and several casualties.
Between 16–23 December, Marcus Island returned to the Admiralties; on the 29th she departed once more for the western Philippines, steaming with units of the Luzon
Attack Force for operations in Lingayen Gulf
. As she steamed through the Mindanao Sea on 5 January 1945, one of her planes depth-bombed a Japanese midget submarine, which was subsequently rammed and sunk by . Three days later, her planes shot down four enemy aircraft in spirited dogfights. As the amphibious landings began the 9th, Marcus Island launched close support and strafing strikes over the Lingayen beaches. In addition they attacked and sank two small enemy coastal ships north of Lingayen Gulf along the Luzon coast that same day. Marcus Island continued to provide coordinated airstrikes in support of the Lingayen operations until steaming down the Luzon coast on 17 January. On the 29th, she furnished close air support during an unopposed landing at Zambales Province, Luzon, then she steamed to Ulithi
, arriving on 5 February.
Rear Admiral Sample hauled down his flag on 6 February, and on the 8th, Marcus Island became flagship of Rear Admiral Felix Stump
's CarDiv 24. The carrier debarked hard-hitting VC-21 on 14 February and embarked VC-87 the same day. After completing training out of Ulithi, she steamed to Leyte Gulf
on 4–7 March to conduct rehearsal exercises for the impending invasion of the Ryukyu Islands
.
Departing on 21 March, Marcus Island arrived south of Kerama Retto
on the 26th and began launching airstrikes. She provided close air support and air cover during operations in the Ryukyus. From 26 March-29 April, she operated primarily south and southeast of Okinawa while launching attack and spotter strikes. Composite Observation Squadron 1 (VCO-1) replaced VC-87 on 5 April. Planes of both the squadrons flew 1,085 sorties during this period and pounded enemy airfields, gun emplacements, supply dumps, and troop concentrations. Her pilots shot down 11 Japanese aircraft and destroyed another 13 on the ground.
, she sailed on 5 May for the United States, arriving San Diego on 22 May. She sailed west again on 10 July, carrying replacement troops and aircraft to Pearl Harbor and Guam before returning to Alameda, California
on V-J Day. Sailing once more via Pearl Harbor and Guam, she reached Okinawa on 28 September and embarked returning troops, arriving San Francisco on 24 October. By early-January 1946, she completed additional "Magic Carpet" runs to Guam and Pearl Harbor.
Departing San Diego on 12 January, Marcus Island sailed via the Panama Canal
and Norfolk, arriving Boston on 2 February. She remained at Boston
, decommissioned there on 12 December 1946, and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She reclassified to CVHE-77 on 12 June 1955 and to AKV-27 on 7 May 1959. She was sold at Boston to Comarket, Inc. on 29 February 1960.
Casablanca class escort carrier
The Casablanca class escort aircraft carriers were the greatest number of not only escort carriers, but also any size aircraft carrier ever built to a like-design by any nation at any time. Fifty were laid down, launched and commissioned within the space of less than two years - 3 November 1942...
escort carrier
Escort aircraft carrier
The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the USN or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft carrier used by the British Royal Navy , the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, and the...
of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
.
She was laid down as Kanalku Bay under Maritime Commission contract by Kaiser Co., Inc., Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
on 15 September 1943; renamed Marcus Island
Minami Torishima
or Marcus Island is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some SE of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line between Tokyo and Wake Island, which is east southeast...
on 6 November 1943; launched on 16 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. S. L. La Hache; acquired by the Navy on 26 January 1944; and commissioned at Astoria, Oregon
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...
on 26 January 1944, 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....
Charles F. Greber in command.
World War II
After shakedown and training along the West Coast, Marcus Island made a round trip aircraft ferry run to U.S. bases in the South Pacific from 19 May-1 July. Then she embarked Composite Squadron 21 (VC-21), departed San Diego on 20 July, and arrived TulagiTulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...
in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
on 24 August to prepare for operations in the Palaus. As flagship for Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
W. D. Sample's Carrier Division 27 (CarDiv 27), she began preinvasion strikes against Peleliu
Peleliu
Peleliu is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu forms, along with two small islands to its northeast, one of the sixteen states of Palau. It is located northeast of Angaur and southwest of Koror....
and Angaur
Angaur
Angaur or Ngeaur is an island in the island nation of Palau. The island, which forms its own state, has an area of 8 km² . Its population is 188 . State capital is the village of Ngeremasch on the western side...
on 12 September. She provided close air support as assault troops hit the beaches beginning the 15th, and until 2 October, she launched scores of sorties during embittered fighting on the rugged islands.
Marcus Island arrived at Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
in the Admiralty Islands
Admiralty Islands
The Admiralty Islands are a group of eighteen islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the south Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-covered islands form part of Manus Province, the smallest and...
on the 4th, and after completing preparations for the invasion of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, she sortied with the Task Group 77.4 (TG 77.4) on 12 October for Leyte as part of the task unit known as "Taffy 2". Beginning on 18 October, she launched airstrikes against enemy positions and during the next week, her pilots flew 261 target and air cover missions.
The Battle for Leyte Gulf and the running fight of "Taffy 3" in the battle off Samar
Battle off Samar
The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar Island, in the Philippines on 25 October 1944...
on 25 October are well chronicled elsewhere; Marcus Islands war diary succinctly recorded the pace of action on the 25th - "A day of intense activity". During the heroic stand of "Taffy 3", fighters and bombers from Marcus Island struck hard at the Japanese force. One TBM Avenger
TBF Avenger
The Grumman TBF Avenger was a torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air or naval arms around the world....
put a torpedo into the portside aft of a heavy cruiser, probably . Amidst intense antiaircraft fire, her fighters made repeated strafing runs against battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. Her planes joined in two strikes against the retreating Japanese ships that afternoon, and her pilots claimed 14 hits on enemy ships including a torpedo and six bomb hits on an Agato class cruiser. In addition, her fighters battled and shot down five Japanese planes. On the 26th, she sent 12 bombers and fighters to the Visayan Sea
Visayan Sea
The Visayan Sea is a sea in the Philippines, surrounded by the islands of the Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Western Visayas located to the east and west, while the Central Visayas is located to the south...
where they helped sink and with repeated hits from bombs, rockets, and machine guns.
Marcus Island departed the Philippines 30 October but returned less than two weeks later as part of the escort for the Mindoro
Mindoro
Mindoro is the seventh-largest island in the Philippines. It is located off the coast of Luzon, and northeast of Palawan. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea.-History:...
attack group. Departing Kossol on 10 December, she transited Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait is a body of water in the Philippines located between the islands of Mindanao and Leyte. This strait connects the Bohol Sea with Leyte Gulf and is regularly crossed by ferries that transport goods and people between Visayas and Mindanao...
on the 13th. Her patrolling aircraft shot down one enemy fighter on 14 October and shot down three more planes on the 15th. Marcus Island came under attack the morning of the Mindoro invasion, and from 0810-0930, enemy planes made three suicide runs and one bombing strike against the carrier. All the planes were shot down or deflected by intense antiaircraft fire, although two kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
s crashed close off the bow to port and starboard causing minor damage and several casualties.
Between 16–23 December, Marcus Island returned to the Admiralties; on the 29th she departed once more for the western Philippines, steaming with units of the Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
Attack Force for operations in Lingayen Gulf
Lingayen Gulf
The Lingayen Gulf is an extension of the South China Sea on Luzon in the Philippines stretching . It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central...
. As she steamed through the Mindanao Sea on 5 January 1945, one of her planes depth-bombed a Japanese midget submarine, which was subsequently rammed and sunk by . Three days later, her planes shot down four enemy aircraft in spirited dogfights. As the amphibious landings began the 9th, Marcus Island launched close support and strafing strikes over the Lingayen beaches. In addition they attacked and sank two small enemy coastal ships north of Lingayen Gulf along the Luzon coast that same day. Marcus Island continued to provide coordinated airstrikes in support of the Lingayen operations until steaming down the Luzon coast on 17 January. On the 29th, she furnished close air support during an unopposed landing at Zambales Province, Luzon, then she steamed to Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
, arriving on 5 February.
Rear Admiral Sample hauled down his flag on 6 February, and on the 8th, Marcus Island became flagship of Rear Admiral Felix Stump
Felix Stump
Felix Budwell Stump was an admiral in the United States Navy and Commander, United States Pacific Fleet from July 10, 1953 until July 31, 1958....
's CarDiv 24. The carrier debarked hard-hitting VC-21 on 14 February and embarked VC-87 the same day. After completing training out of Ulithi, she steamed to Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at . The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by...
on 4–7 March to conduct rehearsal exercises for the impending invasion of the Ryukyu Islands
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
.
Departing on 21 March, Marcus Island arrived south of Kerama Retto
Kerama Retto
The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....
on the 26th and began launching airstrikes. She provided close air support and air cover during operations in the Ryukyus. From 26 March-29 April, she operated primarily south and southeast of Okinawa while launching attack and spotter strikes. Composite Observation Squadron 1 (VCO-1) replaced VC-87 on 5 April. Planes of both the squadrons flew 1,085 sorties during this period and pounded enemy airfields, gun emplacements, supply dumps, and troop concentrations. Her pilots shot down 11 Japanese aircraft and destroyed another 13 on the ground.
Postwar
Marcus Island departed Okinawa on 29 April, and after loading damaged aircraft at GuamGuam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, she sailed on 5 May for the United States, arriving San Diego on 22 May. She sailed west again on 10 July, carrying replacement troops and aircraft to Pearl Harbor and Guam before returning to Alameda, California
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...
on V-J Day. Sailing once more via Pearl Harbor and Guam, she reached Okinawa on 28 September and embarked returning troops, arriving San Francisco on 24 October. By early-January 1946, she completed additional "Magic Carpet" runs to Guam and Pearl Harbor.
Departing San Diego on 12 January, Marcus Island sailed via the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and Norfolk, arriving Boston on 2 February. She remained at Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, decommissioned there on 12 December 1946, and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She reclassified to CVHE-77 on 12 June 1955 and to AKV-27 on 7 May 1959. She was sold at Boston to Comarket, Inc. on 29 February 1960.
External links
- Photo gallery at navsource.org