USS Casablanca

USS Casablanca underway at sea on 2 March 1945. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 12A.
History
United States
Name	Ameer (1942) Alazon Bay (1943) Casablanca (1943–1947)
Namesake	Emir (transliterated) Alazan Bay, Texas Naval Battle of Casablanca
Ordered	as a Type S4-S2-BB3 hull, MC hull 1092[2]
Awarded	18 June 1942
Builder	Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington
Cost	$6,033,429.05[3]
Yard number	301[2]
Way number	7[3]
Laid down	3 November 1942
Launched	5 April 1943
Sponsored by	Eleanor Roosevelt
Commissioned	8 July 1943
Decommissioned	10 June 1946
Renamed	Alazon Bay, 23 January 1943 Casablanca, 3 April 1943
Identification	Hull symbol: AVG-55 ACV-55 CVE-55 Code letters: NXMO [1]
Fate	Sold for scrap, 23 April 1947
General characteristics [4]
Class and type	Casablanca-class escort carrier
Displacement	8,188 long tons (8,319 t) (standard) 10,902 long tons (11,077 t) (full load)
Length	512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) (oa) 490 ft (150 m) (wl) 474 ft (144 m) (fd)
Beam	65 ft 2 in (19.86 m) 108 ft (33 m) (extreme width)
Draft	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) (max)
Installed power	4 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 9,000 shp (6,700 kW)
Propulsion	2 × Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines 2 × screws
Speed	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range	10,240 nmi (18,960 km; 11,780 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	Total: 910 – 916 officers and men Embarked Squadron: 50 – 56 Ship's Crew: 860
Armament	As designed: 1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal dual-purpose gun 8 × 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 12 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons Varied, ultimate armament: 1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal gun 8 × twin 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 30 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons
Aircraft carried	27
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult 2 × elevators
Service record
Part of:	United States Pacific Fleet (1943–1946) Atlantic Reserve Fleet (1946)

USS Casablanca (AVG/ACV/CVE-55) was the first of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after the Naval Battle of Casablanca, conducted as a part of the wider Operation Torch, which pitted the United States Navy against the remnants of the French Navy controlled by Vichy France. The American victory cleared the way for the seizure of the port of Casablanca as well as the Allied occupation of French Morocco. The ship was launched in April 1943, commissioned in July, and served as a training and transport carrier throughout the war. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating U.S. servicemen from throughout the Pacific. She was decommissioned in June 1946, when she was mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She was sold for scrap in April 1947.