USS Palau

{{short description|Commencement Bay-class escort carrier of the US Navy}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= USS Palau CVE-122 1950.jpg |image_caption=USS ''Palau'' (CVE-122) in 1950 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United States |flag={{USN flag|1971}} |name=USS ''Palau'' |operator= |ordered= |builder=Todd Pacific Shipyards |laid_down= 19 February 1945 |launched= 6 August 1945 |sponsor= |christened= |completed= |acquired= |commissioned= 15 January 1946 |recommissioned= |decommissioned= 15 June 1954 |reclassified= |refit= |struck=1 April 1960 |reinstated= |homeport= |identification= |motto= |nickname= |honors= |captured= |fate= Sold for scrapping 13 July 1960 |notes= |badge= }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class={{sclass|Commencement Bay|escort carrier}} |displacement={{convert|21397|LT|t|lk=on}} |length={{cvt|557|ft|1|in|m}} loa |beam={{cvt|75|ft|m}} |draft={{cvt|32|ft|m}} |power= *{{cvt|16000|shp|kW|lk=on}} *4 × boilers |propulsion= *2 × Steam turbines *2 × screw propellers |speed={{convert|19|kn|lk=in}} |range= |endurance= |complement=1,066 |sensors= |armament= *2 × {{cvt|5|in|mm|0}} dual-purpose guns *36 × {{cvt|40|mm|1}} Bofors AA guns *20 × {{cvt|20|mm|1}} Oerlikon AA guns |aircraft=33 |aircraft_facilities=2 × aircraft catapults |notes= }} }} '''USS ''Palau''''' was a {{sclass|Commencement Bay|escort carrier}} of the United States Navy. The ''Commencement Bay'' class were built during World War II, and were an improvement over the earlier {{sclass|Sangamon|escort carrier|4}}, 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 {{convert|5|in|abbr=on|0}}, {{cvt|40|mm|1}}, and {{cvt|20|mm|1}} guns. The ships were capable of a top speed of {{convert|19|kn|lk=in}}, and due to their origin as tankers, had extensive fuel storage.

She was laid down by the Todd-Pacific Shipyards Inc., Tacoma, Washington, 19 February 1945; launched 6 August 1945; sponsored by Mrs. J. P. Whitney; and commissioned 15 January 1946.

==Design== {{main|Commencement Bay-class escort carrier|l1=''Commencement Bay''-class escort carrier}}

In 1941, as United States participation in World War II became increasingly likely, the US Navy embarked on a construction program for escort carriers, which were converted from transport ships of various types. Many of the escort carrier types were converted from C3-type transports, but the {{sclass|Sangamon|escort carrier|1}}s were instead rebuilt oil tankers. These proved to be very successful ships, and the {{sclass|Commencement Bay|escort carrier|4}}, authorized for Fiscal Year 1944, were an improved version of the ''Sangamon'' design. The new ships were faster, had improved aviation facilities, and had better internal compartmentation.{{sfn|Friedman 1986|pp=107–111}} They proved to be the most successful of the escort carriers, and the only class to be retained in active service after the war, since they were large enough to operate newer aircraft.{{sfn|Friedman 1983|p=199}}{{sfn|Stille|p=47}}

''Palau'' was {{cvt|557|ft|1|in|m}} long overall, with a beam of {{cvt|75|ft|m}} at the waterline, which extended to {{cvt|105|ft|2|in}} at maximum. She displaced {{convert|21397|LT|t}} at full load, of which {{cvt|12876|LT|t}} could be fuel oil (though some of her storage tanks were converted to permanently store seawater for ballast), and at full load she had a draft of {{cvt|27|ft|11|in}}. The ship's superstructure consisted of a small island. She had a complement of 1,066 officers and enlisted men.{{sfn|Friedman 1986|p=111}}

The ship was powered by two Allis-Chalmers geared steam turbines, each driving one screw propeller, using steam provided by four Combustion Engineering-manufactured water-tube boilers. The propulsion system was rated to produce a total of {{cvt|16000|shp|lk=in}} for a top speed of {{convert|19|kn|lk=in}}. Given the very large storage capacity for oil, the ships of the ''Commencement Bay'' class could steam for some {{convert|23900|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|15|kn}}.{{sfn|Friedman 1986|p=111}}

Her defensive anti-aircraft armament consisted of two {{cvt|5|in|mm|0}} dual-purpose guns in single mounts, thirty-six {{cvt|40|mm|0}} Bofors guns, and twenty {{cvt|20|mm|0}} Oerlikon light AA cannons. The Bofors guns were placed in three quadruple and twelve twin mounts, while the Oerlikon guns were all mounted individually. She carried 33 planes, which could be launched from two aircraft catapults. Two elevators transferred aircraft from the hangar to the flight deck.{{sfn|Friedman 1986|p=111}}

==Service history== thumb|left|USS ''Palau'' with HRP helicopters, in 1951.

The first fifteen ships of the ''Commencement Bay'' class were ordered on 23 January 1943, allocated to Fiscal Year 1944.{{sfn|Friedman 1983|p=199}} ''Palau'' was laid down at the Todd Pacific Shipyards facility in Tacoma, Washington, on 19 February 1945. She was launched on 6 August and commissioned on 15 January 1946.{{sfn|Silverstone|p=27}} By that time, World War II had ended, and so ''Palau'' completed her initial shakedown cruise off California, passed through the Panama Canal, steamed to Boston, and then on 11 May, sailed for Norfolk, Virginia, where she was laid up in reserve.{{sfn|DANFS}}

The ship was reactivated in May 1947, departing on 22 May for Cuba for training exercises in the area. She then returned to Norfolk and then New York, where her crew made preparations for a lengthy voyage abroad. She sailed south for Recife, Brazil, and then turned east to West Africa. She arrived back in the United States on 16 August, stopping first in Boston for repairs, and then proceeding back to Norfolk to return to the reserve fleet in December.{{sfn|DANFS}}

She was reactivated again in March 1948 for training exercises off the East Coast of the United States.{{sfn|DANFS}} These included parts of the Packard series of combined amphibious and helicopter assault experiments with the recently created Marine helicopter squadron HMX-1. ''Palau'' first participated in Packard II, which involved five Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw helicopters taking part in the so-called "vertical assault" concept. Packard III followed in May, in which eight helicopters operated from ''Palau'', simulating a full-scale attack by 184 helicopters. Over the course of Packard III, the helicopters carried passengers and equipment some ten miles inland to demonstrate the concept of using helicopter-borne troops to seize strategic areas behind the lines while landing craft went ashore.{{sfn|Friedman 1983|p=360}} Following the maneuvers, she left for a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, the purpose of which was to deliver aircraft to Turkey. She transferred the aircraft at Yeşilköy, Turkey, and then returned to Norfolk on 7 August. She spent the next four years cruising off the East Coast, from as far north as Canada and as far south as the West Indies.{{sfn|DANFS}}

In April 1952, ''Palau'' got underway from Norfolk for another voyage into the Mediterranean, this time as part of 6th Fleet. She operated in the region until late June, when she transferred back to the East Coast as part of 2nd Fleet. The ship was scheduled to be laid up again in early 1953, but the Navy decided to keep her in active service for a final voyage overseas. She embarked another group of aircraft to be transferred to an allied country, this time to Yokosuka, Japan. The voyage lasted from 8 August to 22 October, at which point she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where she was decommissioned for the last time on 15 June 1954.{{sfn|DANFS}} By this time, the Navy had begun replacing the ''Commencement Bay''-class ships with much larger {{sclass|Essex|aircraft carrier|1}}s, since the former were too small to operate newer and more effective anti-submarine patrol planes. Proposals to radically rebuild the ''Commencement Bay''s either with an angled flight deck and various structural improvements or lengthen their hulls by {{cvt|30|ft}} and replace their propulsion machinery to increase speed came to nothing, as they were deemed to be too expensive.{{sfn|Friedman 1983|pp=339–342}} ''Palau'' was allocated to the Philadelphia Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, where she remained for the next six years. She was struck from the naval register on 1 April 1960 and sold on 13 July to ship breakers in New York.{{sfn|DANFS}}

Some parts were salvaged from the scrapyard in Sestao, and installed in Picos de Europa as a mountaineers' hut.<ref>{{cite web|title=Veronica Cabin Shelter|url=https://en.asturias.com/cabin-veronica-shelter/|website=asturias.com|access-date=27 April 2024}}</ref>

==Notes== {{Reflist|20em}}

==References== {{Commons category}} * {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Norman |chapter=United States of America |pages=105–133 |editor1-last=Gardiner |editor1-first=Robert |editor2-last=Gray |editor2-first=Randal |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 |year=1986 |location=London |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |isbn=978-0-85177-245-5 |ref={{sfnRef|Friedman 1986}} | url=https://archive.org/details/allworldsfightin00rgre |name-list-style=amp }} * {{cite book |last= Friedman |first= Norman |date= 1983 |title= U.S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History |location= Annapolis |publisher= Naval Institute Press |isbn= 978-0-87021-739-5 |ref={{sfnref|Friedman 1983}} }} * {{cite DANFS | title = Palau (CVE-122) | url = https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/palau.html | date = 4 April 2016 | access-date = 27 April 2024 | ref = {{sfnRef|DANFS}} }}{{PD-notice}} * {{cite book | last = Silverstone | first = Paul H. | title = The Navy of World War II, 1922–1947 | publisher = Routledge | year = 2012 | location = New York | isbn = 978-1-135-86472-9 |ref={{sfnref|Silverstone}} }} * {{cite book |last=Stille |first=Mark |title=US Navy Escort Carriers 1942–45 |year=2017 |location=London |publisher=Osprey |isbn=9781472818126 |ref={{sfnref|Stille}} }}

{{Commencement Bay class escort carrier}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palau (CVE-122)}} Category:Commencement Bay-class escort carriers Category:Cold War auxiliary ships of the United States Category:1945 ships