NATOMA BAY CVE 62

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Casablanca CLass Escort Carrier Authorized as Aircraft Escort Vessel (AVG) Allocated for transfer to Great Britain as BEGUM Reclassified Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier (AVG) August 20 1942 Keel Laid January 17 1943 Retained by U.S. Navy January 22 1943 and renamed Reclassified Escort Carrier (CVE) July 15 1943 Launched July 20 1943 USS NATOMA BAY CVE-62 Commissioned October 14 1943 - Decommissioned May 20 1946 Redesignated Utility Aircraft Carrier (CVU) June 12 1955, While in reserve Struck from Naval Regester September 1 1958 Sold July 30 1959 Scrapped 1960

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. Covers Page 1     (1945-46)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 2z

1946-01-01

Note:

 

Locy Type 2z*

1946-02-04

Note:

 

Locy Type 9efu

1945-07-10 to 1945-07-19

Mark from back of cover

 

Other Information

NATOMA BAY earned 7 battle stars for her World War II service

She took part in the action in which the very first "official" kamikazes struck U.S. Navy ships: the Battle of Leyte Gulf
She was also the last U.S. aircraft carrier hit by a kamikaze on June 7 1945

Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons...
Presidential Unit Citation - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (9 stars) - World War II Victory Medal - Philippine Presidential Unit Citation - Philippine Liberation Medal (2 stars)

NAMESAKE - A bay in the Graham Islands off the southwest coast of Alaska

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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