USS Sangamon (CVE-26)

USS Sangamon
History
United States
Name	Esso Trenton
Owner	Standard Oil Company
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down	13 March 1939
Launched	4 November 1939
Sponsored by	Mrs. Clara Esselborn
Fate	Purchased by the US Navy
U.S. Navy
Name	USS Sangamon
Namesake	Sangamon River in Illinois
Acquired	22 October 1940
Commissioned	23 October 1940, as (AO-28) fleet oiler
Decommissioned	25 February 1942
Reclassified	AVG-26, 14 February 1942
Refit	Converted to escort carrier
Recommissioned	25 August 1942
Decommissioned	24 October 1945
Reclassified	ACV-26, 20 August 1942 CVE-26, 15 July 1943
Stricken	1 November 1945
Fate	Sold, 11 February 1948, Scrapped in Osaka, Japan, August 1960
General characteristics as escort carrier
Class and type	Sangamon-class escort carrier
Displacement	11,400 long tons (11,583 t) standard, 24,275 long tons (24,665 t) full
Length	553 ft (169 m)
Beam	114 ft 3 in (34.82 m)
Draft	32 ft 4 in (9.86 m)
Propulsion	2 × steam turbines 2 × shafts
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	830 officers and men
Sensors and processing systems	SG Radar[1]
Armament	2 × 127 mm/51 cal guns (2×1) 8 × 40 mm anti-aircraft guns (4×2) 12 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons (12×1)
Aircraft carried	25
Aviation facilities	2 × elevators
Service record
Operations:	World War II
Awards:	8 battle stars. Her three air groups were each awarded the Presidential Unit Citation

USS Sangamon (CVE-26) was a US Navy escort carrier of World War II.

Originally Esso Trenton, a T3 tanker oiler, built by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, it was operated by Standard Oil of New Jersey on runs from gulf coast ports to the east coast. After entering service in the early part of the war in the Navy as a tanker, Sangamon was converted into an aircraft carrier.

After conversion Sangamon was at the Allied invasion of French North Africa in 1943 before moving to the war in the Pacific. Post war it was sold into civilian ownership and scrapped in 1960.