Commissioning
The USS Santee was a member of the Sangamon class of escort aircraft carriers. The vessel was originally known as the Esso Seakay, a tanker built by the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. of Chester, Pa. for Standard Oil of New Jersey. The Esso Seakay was launched on March 4, 1939; she was purchased by the U.S. Navy on Oct. 18, 1940 and commissioned 12 days later as the AO-29, with Commander William G.B. Hatch in command.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Santee underwent a rapid reconstruction and was made into an escort carrier. Designated ACV-29, the Santee was commissioned a second time on Aug. 24, 1942, with Commander William Sample in command. The refitting of the Santee was done with such haste that workmen were still on board during her shakedown cruise. The first plane landed on the Santee on Sept. 24 and she joined Task Force 22.
Underway
After completing her shakedown cruise, the Santee was ordered to the coast of North Africa as part of the strike force for the upcoming Operation Torch. The Santee was en route to the region on Oct. 30, 1942, when an SBD Dauntless dive bomber that was preparing to launch accidentally released a depth bomb onto the flight deck. The bomb rolled off the deck and into the water, detonating close to the port bow. The explosion damaged the ship’s rangefinder and radar antennas, but did not cause for a diversion in course.
When the invasion of North Africa began on Nov. 8, 1942, the Santee was positioned off the coast of French Morocco. She launched aircraft in support of the invasion and re-fueled smaller ships until Nov. 13, when she weighed anchor and headed for Hampton Roads, Va.
The Santee would spend 1943 on duties across the Atlantic Ocean, with her primary missions being the destruction of enemy merchant shipping and anti-submarine warfare. She spent the first six weeks of the year in the South Atlantic, searching for enemy merchant shipping and U-boats.
In June, Santee returned to Morocco to escort a convoy of cargo ships back to the United States. On July 12, she left the convoy with several other ships to operate against German U-boats around the Azores. On July 25, Dauntlesses from the Santee attacked and destroyed seven surfaced U-boats, losing two of their own in the process. The Santee would make two more convoy runs to North Africa, she would provide air cover in November for the USS Iowa, which was carrying President Franklin Roosevelt to Casablanca for a summit with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
After ferrying new P-38 Lightning fighters across the Atlantic to Scotland in January 1944, the Santee was ordered through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific Theater. She arrived at San Diego on Feb. 28 and loaded 300 Marines and 31 aircraft for delivery at Pearl Harbor and 24 F4F Wildcat fighters and TBF Avenger attack planes for her own aircraft contingent.
After dropping off her cargo at Pearl Harbor on March 9, the Santee and the rest of newly formed Carrier Division 22 headed for the combat zone. By April 16, her aircraft were attacking Japanese airfields on New Guinea and were credited with the destruction of 100 enemy planes in just eight days before leaving the area.
From May 12 to June 1, the Santee substituted her older aircraft for the 81 F4U Corsairs and F6F of Marine Air Group 21. On August 4, the Corsairs and Hellcats became the first U.S. aircraft to operate from the newly re-taken island of Guam. Re-armed with her own aircraft, the Santee joined Task Force 77 in September ant took part in the aerial attack on Morotai in the Moluccas island chain. By Oct. 18, the Santee had entered the waters of the Philippines, enduring her first Japanese airstrike on Oct. 20. The Santee’s gunners shot down one Japanese plane while her fighters downed two more.
On Oct. 25, the Santee endured two blows from Japanese forces. She was struck by a kamikaze attack at 7:40 a.m. and hit by a torpedo from a submarine 16 minutes later. Even though the kamikaze crashed through the flight deck and the torpedo’s explosion flooded several compartments, emergency repairs were completed in less than two hours and the Santee remained in the action. She would leave the area for repairs two days later with 31 downed Japanese planes and a sunken 5,000 ton ammunition ship to her credit.
After returning to the U.S. for repairs and sea trials, the Santee returned to the Western Pacific by late March 1945 to provide air support for the invasion of Okinawa. Every day for six straight weeks after the April 1 invasion, the Santee’s aircraft flew missions over Okinawa. On June 16, she launched airstrikes against the Japanese home island of Kyushu.
On July 7, 1945, one of the Santee’s aircraft suffered a broken tailhook on landing and crashed into parked aircraft, starting a fire. The Santee lost a total of 12 aircraft and one pilot in the accident. She would not see any further action during the war, but would help transport prisoners of war from Formosa in September.
On Feb. 27, 1946, the Santee left San Diego and passed through the Panama Canal, arriving in Boston on March 25.
Decommissioning
The Santee was decommissioned when she was placed in reserve status on Oct. 21, 1946. She was reclassified as an escort helicopter carrier in June 1955. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on March 1, 1959 and sold for scrap on Dec. 5 of that same year.
Characteristics of the USS Santee (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Class and type: Sangamon-class escort carrier
Displacement: 6,534 long tons (6,639 t)
Length: 559 ft (170 m)
Beam: 75 ft (23 m);114 ft 3 in (34.8 m) extreme width
Draft: 32 ft 4 in (9.9 m)
Speed: 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Complement: 860 officers and men
Armament: • 2 × 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal. guns[1]
Aircraft carried: 31
Career:
Name: USS Santee
Acquired: 18 October 1940
Commissioned: 30 October 1940, as AO-29
Decommissioned: Early 1942
Recommissioned: 24 August 1942, as ACV-29
Decommissioned: 21 October 1946
Reclassified: CVHE-29, 12 June 1955
Struck: 1 March 1959
Fate: Sold, 5 December 1959
Scrapped in Hamburg in May, 1960.
Timeline:
October 1940: USS Santee purchased by the U.S. Navy
August 1942: USS Santee recommissioned as an escort carrier
November 1942: USS Santee provides air support for Operation Torch
April 1944: USS Santee’s aircraft attack Japanese airfields on New Guinea
October 18-27, 1944: USS Santee destroys more than 100 Japanese aircraft during combat operations in the Philippine Sea
October 25, 1944: USS Santee survives kamikaze attack and torpedo strike
April—May 1945: USS Santee provides air support for allied invasion of Okinawa
October 1946: USS Santee decommissioned
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Santee_(CVE-29)
http://navysite.de/crew.php?action=ship&ship=de_1024
