&sq=&lang=&file=File:USS_Block_Island_(CVE-106)_underway_on_13_January_1945.jpg) USS Block Island on 13 January 1945
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Block Island |
| Namesake | Block Island Sound |
| Builder | Todd Pacific Shipyards |
| Laid down | 25 October 1943 |
| Launched | 10 June 1944 |
| Commissioned | 30 December 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 27 August 1954 |
| Stricken | 1 July 1959 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 23 February 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Commencement Bay-class escort carrier |
| Displacement | 21,397 long tons (21,740 t) |
| Length | 557 ft 1 in (169.80 m) loa |
| Beam | 75 ft (23 m) |
| Draft | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Complement | 1,066 |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | 33 |
| Aviation facilities | 2 × aircraft catapults |
USS Block Island was a Commencement Bay-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. The Commencement Bay class were built during World War II, and were an improvement over the earlier Sangamon class, which were converted from oil tankers. They were capable of carrying an air group of 33 planes and were armed with an anti-aircraft battery of 5 in (127 mm), 40 mm (1.6 in), and 20 mm (0.8 in) guns. The ships were capable of a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), and due to their origin as tankers, had extensive fuel storage.
She was launched on 10 June 1944 as Sunset Bay by Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc. Tacoma, Washington; sponsored by Mrs. E. J. (Grace) Hallenbeck (mother of Major Pappy Boyington, then a Prisoner of War of the Japanese), and commissioned as Block Island on 30 December 1944.