Figure 1: USS Bairoko (CVE-115) photographed during the later 1940s or early 1950s, off San Diego, California. This photograph was received by the Naval Photographic Center in December 1959, many years after it was taken. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: "The 10,900-ton escort aircraft carrier USS Bairoko (CVE-115) is shown as she arrived at Pearl Harbor Thursday evening, July 28, 1949, from San Diego, California, with 30 officers and 150 enlisted personnel from Composite Squadron 25, which will receive six weeks' training with Fleet All Weather Training Unit at Barber's Point Naval Air Station, Oahu, Hawaii. Bairoko is commanded by Captain S. Gazze, USN, of Coronado, California." Quoted from the original picture caption, released by 14th Naval District Public Information Office on 29 July 1949. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: "Escort carrier the USS Bairoko (CVE-115), part of the Air Support Group under the command of Rear Admiral M.R. Greer, USN, steams past snow covered mountains of Kodiak, Alaska, while recovering Marine support aircraft during a training exercise.” Quoted from the original picture caption. This view was taken by a USS Boxer (CV-21) photographer on 10 February 1949. A US Marine Corps F4U Corsair aircraft is flying over the carrier and other F4Us are parked on her flight deck, forward. Kodiak Island is in the background. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: Aerial view of USS Bairoko (CVE-115) underway. This photograph is dated 20 April 1950, but was probably taken during the second half of 1949, as Bairoko reported to San Francisco Naval Shipyard at San Francisco, California, for pre-inactivation maintenance on 15 December 1949 and was placed out of commission and in reserve on 14 April 1950. US Navy and Marine Corps/Naval Aviation Museum photograph, from the Robert L. Lawson Photograph Collection. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after a
small harbor on the northern coast of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands, the
24,275-ton USS Bairoko (CVE-115) was
a Commencement Bay class escort
aircraft carrier that was built by the Todd-Pacific Shipyard at Tacoma,
Washington, and was commissioned on 16 July 1945. The ship was approximately
557 feet long and 75 feet wide, had a top speed of 19 knots, and had a crew of
1,066 officers and men. Bairoko was
armed with two 5-inch guns, 36 40-mm guns, and 20 20-mm guns, and could carry
33 aircraft.
After being
commissioned, Bairoko served in the
Pacific throughout her career. She was deployed to the Far East after the end
of the war in October 1945 and remained there until January 1946. The ship
returned to the United States in January 1946 and in February steamed to
Tacoma, Washington, for three weeks of modifications designed to allow her to
operate jet aircraft. After spending over a year ferrying aircraft to Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, and to Tsingtao, China, Bairoko
returned to the west coast of the United States.
On 7 January
1948, Bairoko went to Terminal Island
at San Pedro, California, to prepare for an unusual assignment. She was given the task of supporting
Operation Sandstone, which was a three-detonation series of atmospheric nuclear
tests that were held at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Bairoko was equipped with an instrument
repair laboratory and a decontamination center on her hanger deck. The ship
left San Pedro on 15 February and was loaded with reconnaissance aircraft,
helicopters, and a radiological safety group of scientists.
Bairoko arrived at Eniwetok Atoll on 17 March
1948 and joined 27 other Navy ships supporting the nuclear weapon tests. Bairoko carried six helicopters for
scientific use and served as the radiological operations center during the
three small tests held on 15 April, 1 May, and 15 May. As the escort carrier
remained in the lagoon during each nuclear explosion, observers on deck were
only 8.5 miles away from the 15 May eight-kiloton blast, close enough to look
up through the bottom of the mushroom cloud. Following each detonation,
helicopter and LCVP small boat crews from Bairoko
took radiation readings in the lagoon and collected film and soil samples from
the blast area. After her crew helped decontaminate aircraft and equipment, Bairoko returned to the United States in
early June and arrived at San Diego, California, later that month.
Bairoko spent the next five months conducting
pilot qualification operations, antisubmarine warfare exercises, and other
battle drills off the coast of southern California. On 15 December 1948, owing
to rapidly dwindling defense spending, Bairoko
was sent to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, California, for
pre-inactivation maintenance. After the preservation measures were completed, Bairoko was placed out of commission and
in reserve on 14 April 1950.
Bairoko’s inactivation a short one because
North Korean communist troops invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950. Two days
later, under United Nations (UN) auspices, the United States entered the
conflict. Because of the urgent need for warships and aircraft carriers in
particular, Bairoko was
re-commissioned on 12 September 1950.
After fitting
out with aircraft, supplies, ammunition, and a full crew, Bairoko left Alameda, California, on 14 November and arrived at
Yokosuka, Japan, on 29 November. For the next five months, Bairoko and her aircraft participated in numerous antisubmarine
exercises which were designed to locate and track Soviet submarines, just in
case the Soviet Union entered the Korean War.
These
operations, though, came to an abrupt halt on 10 May 1951, when Bairoko suffered an explosion and flash
fire while in port at Yokosuka. The fire broke out in the flight hanger and
spread into the engine room. Five men died before the flames were extinguished.
The fire also damaged bulkheads and burned out numerous ventilation and
electrical systems. Repairs were started immediately and, after they were
completed in late June, the escort carrier resumed training operations off the
coast of Japan on 3 July.
With her tour
of duty completed on 30 July 1951, Bairoko
sailed to the United States on 4 August and arrived at San Diego 11 days later.
The escort carrier remained in port until 10 September and began ten weeks of
routine flight operations while based at San Diego. On 1 December, Bairoko once again left for the Far East
and arrived at Yokosuka on 16 December.
Bairoko left Yokosuka on 28 December and was
heading for Okinawa when, as she was leaving port, the ship struck a mooring
buoy. Two propeller blades were bent in the accident and the damage forced Bairoko into dry dock for repairs. After
being repaired, the escort carrier left for combat operations off the coast of
Korea, arriving there on 16 February 1952.
For the next
nine days, Bairoko launched fighters
for patrol sweeps and targets-of-opportunity air strikes against communist
positions between the Yesong and Taedong Rivers in Korea. Although modified to
accommodate jet aircraft, Bairoko
carried only piston-engine propeller-driven planes. During the 121 combat
sorties flown in this period, Bairoko’s
aircraft bombed and strafed communist-held bridges, enemy gun positions, and
supply vehicles. Bairoko returned to
Japan and arrived at the port of Sasebo on 25 February for fuel, ammunition,
and provisions.
In March 1952,
Bairoko conducted two more combat missions
in the Yellow Sea, one between 5 and 13 March, and the other between 23 March
and 1 April. Although 139 combat sorties were flown against communist targets,
five planes were shot down during these attacks on heavily defended enemy
positions, such as the Chinnampo rail yards and the Amgak Peninsula. One pilot
was killed, two were taken off of ice floes in the sea and rescued by
helicopters, a fourth was found by boat crews from the British frigate HMS Cardigan Bay (F.630), and the last pilot
dramatically jumped on board an American rescue helicopter just in time to
avoid capture by North Korean troops. Two other pilots were wounded by shrapnel
during this period, but both were able to make emergency landings on board the
ship without incident.
After loading
fuel and supplies at Sasebo during the first week of April 1952, Bairoko resumed combat operations along
the west coast of Korea on 9 April. Over the next eight days, the ship’s
aircraft flew 165 combat missions against communist targets in western Korea.
These were primarily air strikes against buildings, North Korean garrisons, and
the occasional train. Although 20 planes were damaged by small arms and
antiaircraft fire, only two planes were lost in these operations. The first
crashed on 11 April during a landing attempt on the carrier, leaving the pilot
uninjured, and the second plane was severely damaged during a strafing run on a
North Korean target on 14 April. The pilot managed to glide his stricken World
War II-vintage F4U Corsair attack fighter over a beach and ditch the plane
offshore. He was rescued 15 minutes later by a flying boat.
Bairoko was relieved by the British light
carrier HMS Glory on 18 April 1952
and returned to Japan for some minor repairs. After participating in
antisubmarine warfare training exercises, Bairoko
left for the United States on 26 May. She arrived at San Diego on 10 June and,
two weeks later, entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard at Long Beach,
California, for repairs to machinery and equipment worn out during her long
deployment in the Far East.
After
completing her overhaul and participating in several training exercises, Bairoko returned to the west coast of
Korea and resumed combat operations on 14 May 1953. The escort carrier’s
aircraft were assigned to enforce a blockade along the west coast of North
Korea. Despite bad weather, Bairoko’s
F4U Corsairs flew 183 combat air patrol, photo reconnaissance, and strike missions
against communist positions. Her Corsairs also few close air support during an
Army raid south of the Taedong estuary. After returning briefly to Sasebo on 22
May, Bairoko carried out four more
patrols in the Yellow Sea between 30 May and 27 July 1953. Throughout this
period, Bairoko’s aircraft cooperated
with friendly Korean partisan infantry regiments in harassing communist troop movements
and bridge reconstruction efforts. Between 17 and 26 June, Bairoko’s planes also covered the evacuation of partisan regiments
and their families from the islands they had held off the coast of North Korea.
Bairoko’s final combat tour of duty,
marked by numerous air strikes against enemy logistic movements in northwest
Korea, ended on the evening of 27 July 1953, the night the Korean armistice
took effect.
Bairoko returned to San Diego on 24 August
1953. After completing an overhaul at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Bairoko participated in yet another
nuclear bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. After the tests were
completed, Bairoko sailed back to the
United States and was eventually sent to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard for
inactivation. Bairoko was
decommissioned on 18 February 1955 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at
San Francisco. Although re-classified an aircraft ferry and re-designated
AKV-15 on 7 April 1959, the ship was never re-commissioned. USS Bairoko was sold for scrapping on 10
August 1960.
