The mighty 21,000-ton dreadnought, USS Florida (Battleship No. 30), gives Naval Academy Midshipmen a taste of salt water on their annual cruise during the early 1920s. She is followed by USS Delaware (BB-28) and USS North Dakota (BB-29).
NARA photo 19-N-12607. National Archives Identifier 496081005
According to DANFS, Florida was familiar to the Mids, having often carried them as part of the Practice Squadron to sea during her career. This included a tour of European ports of call, including Copenhagen, Denmark; Greenock, Scotland; Lisbon, Portugal; and Gibraltar in 1923; as well as regular summer cruises in both 1912 and 1913 then 1927 through 1930, ranging from Nova Scotia to the Panama Canal. She also conducted coastal cruises for Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) students from Harvard, Yale, and Georgia Tech.
Her summer trip to Europe, her decks teeming with Mids, would be her last.
USS Florida (BB-30) at Kiel, Germany, 7 July 1930, during a Midshipman’s training cruise. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-1025114
Decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 16 February 1931, Florida was authorized on 1 April to be placed on the list of Navy vessels to be disposed of by salvage in accordance with the London Naval Treaty of 1930. Consequently, Florida was stricken from the Navy Register on 6 April 1931, and her final scrapping, including all shipments of materials sold or reserved, was completed on 30 September 1932.
Never underestimate the ability of a moto mural. Nice to see they are still popping up around the fleet.
Bulkheads: a Sailor’s canvas!
Showcasing the mural art of Quartermaster 2nd Class Carson Betancourt, from Jenks, Oklahoma, assigned to the 25,000-ton Pascagoula-built San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, USS San Diego (LPD 22). Included is one telling the epic tale of Chief Boatswain’s Mate George “Sandy” Sanderson, complete with his 11 gold hashmarks.
BZ QM2 Betancourt!
(U.S. Navy Photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sade’ Anita Wallace).
A cluster of Great War-era Wickes (Lumberton) class four-piper flush deck destroyers seen out of commission, in mothballs at San Diego, 4 April 1939. The converted fast minelayers USS Montgomery (DM-17) and USS Gamble (DM-15) are present in the foreground, although they still wear their original greyhound hull numbers (DD-121 and DD-123, respectively), but are ornamented with the Mine Force “meatball” insignia on the bow.
Those masts are close enough that Tarzan could swing from one to the other and never touch the deck!
Reactivated to join Mine Division Two in time for Pearl Harbor,Montgomery would be irreparably damaged by a mine in Ngulu Lagoon, Caroline Islands, 17 October 1944, with the death of four of her crew, knocking her out of the war. She was stricken and sold for scrap in 1946.
Likewise, Gamble was also knocked out by Japanese bombs in February 1945 while off Iwo Jima and never repaired.
Between just these two unsung “tin cans,” they earned 11 battle stars in the Pacific, the only way that small boys can: the hard way.
U.S. Navy Lt. F.A.W. Franke takes off in an early McDonnell F3H-2M Demon (BuNo 137003) of Fighter Squadron VF-61 “Jolly Rogers” from aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) during carrier qualifications, 10 April 1957.
U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2011.003.287.024
Of note, with the adoption of the Martin-Baker 0/0 ejection seat still a minute down the road, cats and traps at this time were done with the canopy open.
Deactivating warships tied up at Pier 91, Seattle, Washington, in a photo dated April 1946. On the near side of the pier are the carriers Essex (CV-9), Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), and Bunker Hill (CV-17), closer to the camera. On the far side of the pier is the carrier Ticonderoga (CV-14) and the battleships Indiana (BB-58) and Alabama (BB-60). NARA 80-G-373247.
Some 80 years ago, in January 1946, USS Essex (CV-9) rested at Puget Sound Navy Shipyard’s Pier 91 in Bremerton, having arrived there in mid-September 1945 just after her last of four wartime air groups, CVG-83, flew off.
Defueled and with her ammunition offloaded, her engines were cold, she was taking shore power, while at the same time her crew was thinning out due to transfers and discharges with few replacements. The word had passed that the carrier, rushed to completion and urgently needed when she was commissioned in December 1942, was destined for mothballs after just three years of service.
She was hard-used, having steamed 233,419.75 nautical miles since commissioning, fired 333,377 rounds of ammunition (all 20mm and higher), and logged 22,260 combat sorties during the war.
When commissioned, five of the eight pre-WWII U.S. carriers had been lost in combat, and the other three were either too small to fight in the Pacific (Ranger) or suffering from damage (Saratoga and Enterprise), making Essex worth her weight in gold.
Her first air group, CVG-9, came aboard in August 1943 and would remain until replaced by CVG-15 in May 1944. CVG-4 tapped in on 22 November 1944 and was removed a few days later after Essex suffered a kamikaze hit that left her extensively damaged. Her last group, CVG-83 (augmented by two Marine Corsair units, VMF-124 and VMF-213), shipped out with her at the end of 1944 after she was repaired and resumed operations.
Essex, the first of her legendary class of modern fast fleet carriers, earned the Presidential Unit Citation and 13 battle stars for World War II service. When it comes to WWII carriers, only the Enterprise had more stars (20).
Some statistics from her WWII service:
Slowly made ready to deactivate throughout 1946, Essex decommissioned on 9 January 1947.
By that time, the Navy hardly missed her as they would do the same thing with 13 of her newer sisters by February 1948 (USS Yorktown, Intrepid, Franklin, Ticonderoga, Randolph, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Wasp, Hancock, Bennington, Bon Homme Richard, Shangri-La, and Lake Champlain) and canceled two others, the planned Reprisal and Iwo Jima. Even with this, the Navy still had nine pristine long-hulled improved Essex-class flattops– five of them commissioned after WWII– and three brand-new 60,000-ton Midway-class super carriers on active service.
The only time in history that a fleet had over a dozen modern fleet carriers laid up.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, probably on 23 April 1948. Bremerton Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. The six “mothballed” carriers are, front to back: Essex (CV-9), Ticonderoga (CV-14), Yorktown (CV-10), Lexington (CV‑16), Bunker Hill (CV-17), and Bon Homme Richard (CV-31, in the background). At left and in the distance are battleships and cruisers. Note the “igloo” domes over the 40mm and 5-inch singles. NARA 80-G-428458
Essex would, however, rejoin the fleet, completing a SCB-27A conversion to operate jets, and was recommissioned in January 1951– just in time to see extensive combat in Korea. Essex was the first carrier to launch F2H Banshee twin-jet fighters on combat missions on 23 August 1951.
She saw a more exaggerated SCB-125 angled deck/hurricane bow conversion in 1955-56 and spent her last 13 years in Cold War service in the Atlantic, including some shenanigans during the Bay of Pigs invasion, tense times in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and being the primary recovery ship for Apollo 7.
The last three remaining American pre-WWII flattops, the famed USS Saratoga (CV-3), Ranger (CV-4), and Enterprise (CV-6), were decommissioned shortly after VJ-Day. With the Prohibition-era “Sister Sara” sunk in A Bomb tests in ’46, Ranger scrapped in 1947, and “The Big E” stricken in 1956, Essex became the oldest American WWII-veteran carrier. She held that title for 17 years until 1973, when she was stricken and sold for scrap.
“Lady” Lexington (CVT/AVT-16), commissioned six weeks after Essex, would pick up that torch and carry it to November 1991.
You could almost mistake her for a slimmed-down Iowa-class battleship at first. That was easy to do with a ship that had a full-load displacement of some 17,000 tons, ran nearly 700 feet long, had a very similar 3+3+3 main gun layout, two funnels, and up to eight inches of armor.
“Aerial of the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser USS Columbus (CA 74)moored to Berth 8, Grand Harbor, Valeta, Malta, altitude 100 feet, S.E. direction.”
Photograph released January 1951. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-426894
The above was during Columbus’s 12 June 1950 to 5 October 1951 stint as flagship for Commander-in-Chief, Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean (CINCNELM), ADM Robert B. Carney (USNA 1916).
Too late to see combat in WWII, Columbus was still a “war baby,” commissioned 8 June 1945.
Joining the Pacific Fleet five months after VJ Day, she reached the old German China colony of Tsingtao on 13 January 1946 for occupation duty, serving off and on as the cruiser flagship in Chinese waters through June 1947.
Transferring to the Atlantic Fleet in 1948, she often served as a flagship for the 6th Fleet, as seen above. I mean, why wouldn’t she? She was a beautiful ship worthy of an admiral’s flag.
USS Columbus (CA 74) 3 November 1952 Mediterranean Sea USN 482321
After another spin in the Pacific from 1955-1959, she began a three-year reconstruction conversion from an all-gun cruiser to a huge guided missile cruiser, recommissioning as CG-12 in December 1962 to serve for another 14 years as a Cold War sentinel in the Atlantic and Med.
She decommissioned on 31 January 1975, capping just a few months under 30 years of faithful service, but never fired a shot in anger other than her work during the Road’s End scuttling of 24 captured ex-IJN submarines on April Fool’s Day 1946 off Goto-Retto.
Sometimes all you have to do is look mean to get the word across.
Some 35 years ago today. 17 January 1991. The morning that Desert Shield switched to Desert Storm.
USS Paul Foster (DD-964), USS Missouri (BB-63), and USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) on the horizon at 3 in the morning fire off the first missiles in the opening round of the Iraqi war. Described by one of the junior officers, “It looked like a Roman candle going off on the horizon as the missiles arced over on their way to Iraq.”
Painting, Watercolor on Paper; by John Charles Roach; 1991; Framed Dimensions 34H X 39W. NHHC Accession #: 92-007-J
As for the TLAM slingers, the WWII VJ Day host Missouri decommissioned for the final time in March 1992, just 14 months after her third war, and is a museum on Battleship Row in Pearl within sight of the old Arizona.
Bunker Hill decommissioned in September 2023, capping 37 years of naval service.
Foster?
Foster decommissioned on 14 March 2003 and was turned over before the end of the month to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, as the U.S. Navy’s new Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS). Ex-Foster still carries her hull number and recently just underwent a shoestring refurb to keep her in service another five years. She is the only ship of her class, the cursed Sprucans, still in existence.
Perhaps, when the Navy is finished with her, she will become a museum.
As seen against the backdrop of the Los Padres National Forest, the Self Defense Test Ship, formerly USS Paul F. Foster (DD-964), supports self-defense engineering, testing, and evaluation for the U.S. Navy. She is homeported at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, located at Naval Base Ventura County in Southern California. (U.S. Navy photo by Eric Parsons/Released)
Happy National Send a Handwritten Letter Day, observed on 17 January, is dedicated to the practice of sending handwritten letters, citing Benjamin Franklin’s birthday as the reason for the date, as he was the first postmaster general.
Official period caption, circa October 1987, Persian Gulf: “A yeoman reads a letter from his wife while standing starboard lookout watch at an M2 .50-caliber machine gun station aboard the dock landing ship USS Mount Vernon (LSD 39).”
PH2 (Sw) Jeffrey Elliott. 330-CFD-DN-ST-88-03593
Note the talker set over his head and neck (the Mk II talker helmet is on the deck), the classic Navy dungaree cutoffs, and the sandbagged M60 GPMG on the bow. The Eastland boat shoes– a must-have in the 80s!– are most likely unauthorized while the Ma Deuce is probably older than the lookout.
If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”
Warship Wednesday 14 January 2026: ‘A Complete Shambles’
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog # 80-G-K—11242 (Color).
Above we see a great period Kodachrome showing the flight deck of the Commencement Bay-class “deluxe” jeep carrier USS Palau (CVE 122), looking forward past her tiny island, while operating in rough seas off the Florida Coast, 27 February 1950. The jumble of aircraft includes (left to right): a TBM-3S Avenger, an HO3S-1 helicopter (probably Bu #122528), and an “Able Dog” AD-3W radar picket Skyraider conversion.
While Palau was a war baby, commissioned some 80 years ago this week, she didn’t have a chance to earn any battle stars.
Nonetheless, this unsung little “jeep carrier” played an important role in naval, Marine, and aviation history and deserves more than a footnote– which is why we are here today.
The C-Bays
Of the 130 U.S./RN escort carriers– merchant ships hulls given a hangar, magazine, and flight deck– built during WWII, the late-war Commencement Bay class was by far the Cadillac of the design slope. Using lessons learned from the earlier Long Island, Avenger, Sangamon, Bogue, and Casablanca-class ships.
Like the hard-hitting Sangamon class, they were based on Maritime Commission T3 class tanker hulls (which they shared with the roomy replenishment oilers of the Chiwawa, Cimarron, and Ashtabula classes). From the keel up, these were made into flattops.
Pushing some 25,000 tons at full load, they could make 19 knots, which was faster than a lot of submarines looking to plug them. A decent suite of about 60 AAA guns spread across 5-inch, 40mm, and 20mm fittings could put as much flying lead in the air as a light cruiser of the day when enemy aircraft came calling.
Finally, they could carry a 30-40 aircraft airwing of single-engine fighter bombers and torpedo planes ready for a fight, or about twice that many planes if being used as a delivery ship.
Sounds good, right?
Of course, had the war run into 1946-47, the 33 planned vessels of the Commencement Bay class would have no doubt fought kamikazes, midget subs, and suicide boats tooth and nail just off the coast of the Japanese Home Islands.
However, the war ended in Sept. 1945 with only nine of the class barely in commission– most of those still on shake-down cruises. Just two, Block Island and Gilbert Islands, saw significant combat at Okinawa and Balikpapan, winning two and three battle stars, respectively. Kula Gulf and Cape Gloucester picked up a single battle star.
With the war over, some of the class, such as USS Rabaul and USS Tinian, though complete, were never commissioned and simply laid up in mothballs, never being brought to life. Four other ships were canceled before launching, just after the bomb on Nagasaki was dropped. In all, just 19 of the planned 33 were commissioned.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Meet Palau
Our subject was the first (and only as of 2026) U.S. Navy warship named for the island group in the Carolines, some 850 miles east of Mindanao, which was the focus of the Operation Stalemate II landings in September 1944. The ensuing nine-week campaign for the islands was an Allied victory, but at a hard cost of over 10,000 casualties. Palau today is part of the Federated States of Micronesia, linked to the U.S. since 1986 via the Compact of Free Association.
Invasion of Angaur, Palau Islands, September 1944. Two amphibious tanks with gunners race toward the flaming shore of Anguar during the invasion of this island in the Palaus by the 81st Army Division. U.S. Coast Guard Photograph. NHHC Photograph Collection, L-File, Wars & Events.
Laid down on 9 February 1945 at Todd Pacific Shipyards, Tacoma, as Yard No. 78, Palau was built alongside sisters USS Rabaul (Yard No. 77, CVE-121) and Tinian (Yard No. 78, CVE-123), which likewise broke the class’s “Bay” naming convention and were instead named for Pacific Island battles.
The future USS Palau slid down the ways– just a week before the Japanese signaled they would quit the war– after being launched on 6 August 1945, sponsored by Mrs. J. P. Whitney, the wife of Capt. John Perry Whitney (USNA 1922). Of note, Whitney earned a Navy Cross as skipper of the escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) of Taffy 3 fame during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944.
Launching of the USS Palau (CVE122) at the Tacoma Pacific Shipyards, Tacoma, Wash. L-R: Mrs. Charlotte Bridget Matron of honor; Capt. John P. Whitney, USN, and Mrs. John P. Whitney sponsor. 80-G-326722
80-G-326720
USS Palau (CVE-122) Going Down the Ways After Launching at Todd Pacific Shipyards Inc., Tacoma, Washington. August 6, 1945. 80-G-326721
With the pressure off Todd to rush Palau to completion post VJ-Day, she only commissioned on 15 January 1946.
Starboard broadside of the USS Palau (CVE-122), likely shortly after she commissioned. 19-N-91598
CVE-122 at sea, likely on trials. 19-N-91599.
Palau’s first skipper was Capt. Willis Everett Cleaves (USNA 1924), who retired six months after she was commissioned and moved to the Retired List as a rear admiral, capping 22 years in service, his last task was to complete the new carrier’s shakedown cruise off California with the Corsairs of VMF-461 aboard, and deployment to the Atlantic Fleet via the Panama Canal. Cleaves had previously earned a Silver Star during the Aleutians campaign as commander of the seaplane tender USS Casco.
USS Palau, CVE-122, shake down cruise
Following post-shakedown shipyard availability, Palau was laid up, still in commission but with just a skeleton crew, at Norfolk in March 1946.
West Africa
Reactivated on 22 May 1947, Palau was deployed for carrier landing quals in the Gulf and Caribbean, then picked for a special assignment.
Our little carrier represented the U.S. at the Liberian Centennial Ceremonies at Monrovia, Liberia, in the last week of July 1947, sailing to West Africa via Recife. This included a visit by Liberian dignitaries and civilians, and attending events ashore. She steamed into Monrovia with a big Liberian flag on her mast and her band playing the Liberian national anthem.
USS Palau (CVE 122) at Monrovia, Liberia. Photograph released July 25, 1947, with the one-star red-white-and-blue Liberian flag atop her mast. Although Palau was inactive from June 1946 to May 1947, she still wears her wartime Camouflage Measure 21.80-G-399807
The band learned the anthem by ear in an unusual way– hearing U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. sang it to them as they crossed the Atlantic. Davis had previously served as military attaché in Liberia from 1909 to 1911, taking a break from his company in the 9th Cavalry, and was requested by the Liberian government to represent the U.S. in the ceremony. At the time, Davis was in his 49th year in uniform, having volunteered to fight Spain in 1898.
USS Palau (CVE-122) at anchor, with F4U Corsair fighters parked on her flight deck. The original photograph is dated July 1947. NH 106720
USS Palau (CVE 122) with American Minister Lanier onboard at Monrovia, Liberia. Photograph released July 25, 1947. 80-G-399800/ President William V.S. Tubman delivers an address at Civic Center. Photograph released July 26, 1947 80-G-399830
Palau returned to the east coast on 16 August and, after another yard availability at Boston, was again laid up at Norfolk through March 1948.
Reactivated for a second time, she was prepped for a 3 June to 7 August 1948 deployment to the Mediterranean, schlepping a load of aircraft (surplus ex-USAF Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan trainers) to Turkey as deck cargo.
The first successful heavier-than-air powered vehicle, which took off briefly in 1903, had been in England since 1928, and was at the time on exhibit at the Kingston Science Museum in London, where an estimated 10 million visitors had filed past it. Its place in London was filled by a 1:1 replica; the original was shipped back across the Atlantic, carefully disassembled and stored in three crates for permanent exhibition in the U.S. National Museum (the Smithsonian)
Handed over to the custody of Livingston Lord Satterthwait, the American Civil Air Attaché in London, on 18 October 1948, the crates made it to Halifax aboard the liner Mauretania, riding in style. The director of the Smithsonian’s National Air Museum, Paul E. Garber, met the aircraft in Nova Scotia and oversaw its transfer to the bluejackets aboard Palau on 16 November in what became a Navy operation.
Palau had been part of a two-week amphibious assault exercise in the North Atlantic with the destroyer USS Hobson (DMS-26), and ‘phibs USS Colonial (LSD-18) and Donner (LSD-20). After being open to the public for tours, she received the Wright Flyer with orders to repatriate the aircraft to the U.S., arriving two days later at New York NSY in Bayonne.
While aboard the carrier, the crates were guarded by two armed Marines the entire time, and during the transfer ceremony at Bayonne, an honor guard of six Sailors, six Marines, and an officer of each service was in attendance.
19 November 1948 The original Wright Brothers’ aeroplane, the 1903 “Kitty Hawk”, 1 of 3 crates being unloaded from the USS Palau (CVE-122) at the New York Naval Shipyard annex in Bayonne, NJ on November 19, 1948 on Operation Homecoming, enroute from London, England to Washington DC, for permanent exhibition in the US National Museum (the Smithsonian). Two of the 3 crates were reported to have been originally built by Orville Wright himself.
Trucked to DC from Bayonne, the guard was more than just ceremonial; they remained with the aircraft until it arrived at the Smithsonian on 22 November, under the command of LT (j.g.) Arthur E. Grabill, USN.
The reassembled Wright Flyer has been on display since December 1948.
Marine One
On 1 December 1947, the first experimental Marine Corps helicopter squadron, HMX-1, was activated at Quantico. The Nighthawks started small, with only 7 officers and 3 enlisted men, then quickly grew to 18 pilots and 81 enlisted. In the spring of 1948, the squadron received its first helicopters, five Sikorsky HO3S-1s– aircraft able to carry just a pilot and three Marine passengers– then commenced pilot training and qualifications.
MCB Quantico, VA – Inventor Igor Sikorsky, the father of American helicopters, visits HMX-1 at Marine Corps Air Station Quantico, Virginia. In the background is an HO3S-1 helicopter, one of the first two “Whirlybirds” assigned to the U. S. Marine Corps. Photo By: National Archives Photo (USMC) 127-N-A322389
As detailed in the squadron history, the first Marine helicopter operational deployment occurred in May 1948 when five HMX-1 “pinwheels” flying off Palau conducted 35 flights to land 66 men and several hundred pounds of communications equipment at Camp Lejeune during Packard II, an amphibious command post exercise.
One of five Sikorsky HO3S-1s from HMX-l prepares to land on USS Palau (CVE 122) during Operation Packard II in May 1948. USMC Photo
The squadron’s commanding officer, Colonel Edward C. Dyer, described the initial 18 May fly-on as “a complete shambles. There were sailors running all over the place in mortal danger of walking into tail rotors, and the Marines were totally disorganized as well. It was complete bedlam; there was no organization and no real system developed.”
Dyer and his pilots, working with Navy LSOs and Palau’s crew, hammered out procedures to be able to safely conduct simultaneous rotor-wing operations from the baby flattop, and five days later made history.
On 23 May 1948, the first airborne ship-to-shore movement began at Onslow Beach, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The first wave of the assault commenced with all five HO3S-1s taking off from Palau and arriving 30 minutes later in the landing zone. HMX-1 pilots made continuous flights, putting 66 Marines in the right place at the right time.
Fast forward a year later, and HMX-1, working again with Palau, had its act together with Packard III.
In May 1949, HMX-1 participated in another exercise, deploying eight Piasecki HRPs, three Sikorsky HO3Ss, and a single Bell HTL-2. The squadron and aircraft performed beyond expectations. Flying over choppy seas that swamped several landing craft, the HRPs—known as “Flying Bananas”—quickly put 230 troops and 14,000 pounds of cargo in the designated landing zone.
USS Palau (CVE-122) with Piasecki HRP-1 helicopters on deck.
It was thought that Packard III vetted the concept of 184 HRPs, operating from six CVEs, could lift a complete Marine regimental combat team ashore. Of course, only 28 HRPs existed, so there was that.
This would be repeated in Packard IV in May 1950, which led to the largest single helicopter formation to that time, taking place when six HRPs, six HO3Ss, and one HTL flew by a reviewing stand at Quantico.
An HRP “Flying Banana” troop-carrying helicopter takes off from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Palau (CVE 122), during exercise Packard IV conducted in the Potomac River near Quantico, Virginia, on 8 May 1950. An HO3S-1 observation helicopter hovers in the background.
This paid off in the real world in very short order.
On 13 September 1951, HMR-161, using more advanced Sikorsky HRS-1s carried to Korea aboard the escort carrier USS Sitkoh Bay, conducted operation Windmill I, history’s first mass helicopter resupply mission, lifting an 18,848 pounds of combat gear seven miles to a Marine battalion on the front lines, then evacuating 74 casualties to the rear. They followed that up with Operation Bumblebee in October when a dozen HRS-1s flew 958 Marines of the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, in 156 sorties over 15 miles from their base to the crest of a mountain on the front lines to relieve another battalion in a little more than six hours.
“Operation Bumblebee marked an important point in the development of Marine Corps aviation, showing that helicopters could carry enough troops in the first wave of an amphibious operation to achieve mass on an objective in a relatively brief period of time.”
But back to our girl…
Other than Marine missions
Grumman TBM-3W Avenger early warning aircraft of Composite Squadron VC-12 on the deck of the escort carrier USS Palau (CV-122), off New York, between September 1948 and July 1950. Note the “potbelly” AN/APS-20 S-band search radar. NNAM 1996.253.1211
Project Skyhook involved the use of polyethylene balloons carrying instrument packages to altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet (30,480+ meters); these balloons provided a stable vehicle for long-duration observations and offered the opportunity of collecting highly specialized information and photographs.
November 1949 Project Skyhook balloon being prepared for launch aboard USS Palau (CVE-122). Corsairs parked aft belong to Marine Fighter Squadron 212 (VMF-212).
On 8 March 1950, Operation Portrex began on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. The exercise was the first use of airborne troops in support of an amphibious landing. The two-week-long exercise evaluates joint service doctrine for the combined operation. Among the brass in attendance were SECNAV Francis P. Matthews, SECDEF Louis Johnson, and Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations.
Palau was front and center, hosting the brass and the umpire group.
USS Palau (CVE 122) operating in rough seas off the Florida coast on her way to participate in Operation Portrex, 27 February 1950. Planes parked aft include AD-3W and TBM-3S types. National Archives photograph, 80-G-K-11249 (Color).
Douglas AD-3W Skyraider Radar Picket Aircraft ready for catapulting on USS Palau (CVE 122) during Operation Portrex, March 1950. National Archives photograph, 80-G-K-11718 (Color).
Douglas AD-3W Radar Picket Aircraft on the flight deck of USS Palau (CVE 122) during Operation Portrex, March 1950. National Archives photograph, 80-G-K-11721 (Color).
Grumman TBM-3S Avenger ready for catapulting on USS Palau (CVE 122) during Operation Portrex, March 1950. National Archives photograph, 80-G-K-11699 (Color).
Sikorski HO3S-1 Helicopter (probably Bu #122528) after landing on board USS Palau (CVE 122) during Operation Portrex, March 1950. National Archives photograph, 80-G-K-11715 (Color).
USS Palau (CVE 122) ZP2K Navy blimp takes off from the after flight deck, past TBM-3S airplanes, during Operation Portrex, March 1950. National Archives photograph, 80-G-K-11706 (Color).
USS Palau (CVE-122) underway, 10 May 1950. Note the anti-submarine Grumman TBM-3E Avengers on deck. Photo # CVE-122-554-(L)-5-10-50.
It was in June 1950 that a young BM3 shipped aboard Palau, serving as a Motor Whaleboat Coxswain in the carrier’s Deck Division until the next November, when he left for USS Tripoli (CVE-64) and dive school. That young coxswain was the future BMCM(MDV) Carl Maxie Brashear, USN.
She also made four short deployments as an active ASW carrier out of Norfolk during 1951-52, backfilling larger fleet carriers that were parked off Korea, providing close support to troops fighting the Chinese. During these cruises, she carried a sub-busting squadron of Avengers or Guardians, augmented with an HO3S-1 helicopter det from HU-2.
One of the largest single-engine aircraft in Naval service, the AF-2W Guardian usually flew as part of a two-plane “hunter-killer” team, its role being the search for submarines (note the large radome) while the depth charge/rocket-carrying AF-2S Guardian attacked. With an 11-ton max takeoff weight, they had a 60-foot wingspan and 43-foot length. They were replaced by the “all-in-one” S-2 Tracker in 1955.
These deployments included a January- June 1951 cruise to the North Atlantic under 2nd Fleet orders with VS-32 aboard, and a follow-on deployment with VS-24.
A TBM-3W Avenger (BuNo 69476) from Anti-Submarine Squadron 32 (VS-32) “Norsemen” aboard the escort carrier USS Palau (CVE-122) in June 1951.
Palau in 1952 saw two short cruises to the Mediterranean to operate with the 6th Fleet: 19 April to 28 June with VS-31, and August to September with VS-27.
USS Palau (CVE-122) at anchor in Augusta Bay, Sicily (Italy), between 14 and 19 May 1952. The submarines USS Chivo (SS-341) and USS Burrfish (SSR-312) are visible alongside. Palau, with assigned AF-2W/AF-2S Guardians of Air Anti-Submarine Squadron 31 (VS-31) “Topcats” was deployed to the Mediterranean from 19 April to 28 June 1952.
Palau, designated for inactivation in early 1953, was retained in commission to perform one final ferry assignment, carrying planes to Yokosuka, Japan (8 August – 22 October). On her return, she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, decommissioningon 15 June 1954.
The rest of her class soon joined her on red lead row.
The Commencement Bay class listing in Janes, 1954
The Commencement Bay class listing in Janes, 1960, by which time they had been redesignated AKVs
Berthed with the Philadelphia Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Palau remained a unit of that fleet until struck from the Navy List 1 April 1960 and sold, 13 July 1960, to Jacques Pierot, Jr. and Sons, New York for breaking.
The last of her sisters in active duty, USS Gilbert Islands (CVE-107),was converted to a Major Communications Relay Ship (AGMR) in 1963 and renamed Annapolis. This allowed her another decade of life in service that saw her transmit the first documented ship-to-shore satellite radio message, and she was decommissioned in 1969.
Epilogue
Of note, all eight of Palau’s skippers were pre-WWII Annapolis ring knockers who all retired as one-stars.
Some parts were salvaged from Palau at the scrapyard in Sestao, primarily the preservation igloos over her stern 40m mounts used while in mothballs, and were installed in Spain’s Picos de Europa as a mountaineers’ hut, the Cabana Veronica.
As for Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), they are still very much around and have been in the business of ferrying Presidents since 1957.
And they still make carrier landings, as required.
251002-N-SK738-1122 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Oct. 2, 2025) A VH-60N Whitehawk attached to the “Nighthawks” of Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) prepares to land aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in preparation for the Titans of the Sea Presidential Review. (U.S Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Pierce Luck)
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
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Unlike many U.S. allies and Western fleets in general, which got into the submarine game post WWII, South Korea never operated surplus American fleet boats for a couple of decades, then upgraded to German SSKs– they just went German from the get-go.
South Korea’s first full-sized (not midget) submarine, ROKS Jang Bogo (SSK-61/SS-061), was recently decommissioned after nearly 34 years of service. A German HDW-made Type 209/1200 boat ordered on 12 August 1986, she was named for the 8th-century Korean admiral Chang Pogo. Launched in September 1991, she was commissioned in October 1992.
Most famously, Jang Bogo was reportedly never detected as a Red OPFOR boat during RIMPAC 2004, virtually firing 40 torpedoes, “sinking” 15 ships, including the super carrier USS John C. Stennis. A serious wakeup call to the USN when it came to ASW against a modern SSK.
040706-N-6811L-080 Pacific Ocean (July 6, 2004) – Republic of Korea Submarine Chang Bogo (SSK 61) heads out to sea during exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). U. S. Navy photo 040706-N-6811L-080 by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class David A. Levy (RELEASED)
Eight of her sisters, upgraded by Daewoo, continue in operation in ROKN service at least for now, carrying the locally-made and very advanced White Shark heavy torpedo and submarine-launched Hae Sung anti-ship missiles. They are being replaced by a licensed copy of the German Type 214, the KSS-II/Sohn Wonyil-class, AIP-equipped 1,800-ton boats, made by HII and Daewoo.
