USS ''Long Island'' (CVE-1) (originally AVG-1 and then ACV-1) was lead ship of
her class and the first
escort carrier
The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft ...
of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. She was also the second ship to be named after
Long Island, New York
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...
.
Construction and commissioning
''Long Island'' was laid down on 7 July 1939, as the C-3 cargo liner ''Mormacmail'', under
Maritime Commission
The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) was an independent executive agency of the U.S. federal government that was created by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which was passed by Congress on June 29, 1936, and was abolished on May 24, 195 ...
contract, by the
Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company,
Chester, Pennsylvania
Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census.
Incorporated in 1682, Chester is ...
as Yard No 185, launched on 11 January 1940, sponsored by Ms.
Dian B. Holt, acquired by the Navy on 6 March 1941, and commissioned on 2 June 1941 as ''Long Island'' (AVG-1),
Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
Donald B. Duncan in command.
Service history
World War II
In the tense months before the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
, ''Long Island'' operated out of
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
, conducting experiments to prove the feasibility of aircraft operations from converted cargo ships. The data gathered by her crew greatly improved the combat readiness of later "baby flattops". Just after the
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese attack, she escorted a
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
to
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
and qualified carrier pilots at Norfolk before departing for the West Coast on 10 May 1942. Reaching
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
on 5 June, the ship immediately joined
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
William S. Pye
Vice Admiral William Satterlee Pye (9 June 1880 – 4 May 1959) was a U.S. Navy officer who served during World War I and World War II, but never saw combat action. His last active-duty appointment was as President of the Naval War College, in ...
's Task Force One (TF 1); consisting of seven
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
s and provided air cover while at sea to protect the West Coast of the United States and reinforce Admiral
Chester Nimitz
Chester William Nimitz (; February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in C ...
's forces before, during and after their victory in the
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under Adm ...
. She left the formation on 17 June and returned to the West Coast to resume carrier pilot training.
''Long Island'' departed
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
on 8 July and arrived
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
on 17 July. After a training run south to
Palmyra Island
Palmyra Atoll (), also referred to as Palmyra Island, is one of the Northern Line Islands (southeast of Kingman Reef and north of Kiribati). It is located almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly one-third of the way between Hawaii a ...
, she loaded two squadrons of
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
aircraft and got underway for the
South Pacific on 2 August. Touching at
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
on 13 August, she then steamed to a point southeast of Guadalcanal and launched her aircraft (19
Grumman F4F Wildcat
The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atlan ...
s and 12
Douglas SBD Dauntless
The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/div ...
dive bombers).
[Morison 2010 p. 73] These planes, the first to reach
Henderson Field, were instrumental in the Guadalcanal campaign and went on to compile a distinguished war record. Her mission was accomplished. Reclassified ACV-1 on 20 August, ''Long Island'' sailed for Vila,
Efate Island
Efate (french: Éfaté) is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. It is also known as Île Vate.
Geography
It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanua ...
,
New Hebrides
New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...
, and arrived on 17 August. She departed on 18 August but returned to Vila, on Efate, from 23 August to 31 August. She sailed on 1 September for Espiritu Santo, before departing from there the same day for San Diego.
![USS Long Island (AVG-1) in Measure 12 camouflage - 19-N-27986](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/USS_Long_Island_%28AVG-1%29_in_Measure_12_camouflage_-_19-N-27986.jpg)
''Long Island''s actions at Guadalcanal are mentioned and seen in the movie ''
Flying Leathernecks
''Flying Leathernecks'' is a 1951 American Technicolor action war film directed by Nicholas Ray, produced by Edmund Grainger, (who had produced ''Sands of Iwo Jima'') and starring John Wayne and Robert Ryan. The movie details the exploits an ...
''.
''Long Island'' returned to the West Coast on 20 September, as the new "baby flattops" took up the slack in the Pacific war zones. For the next year, the escort carrier trained carrier pilots at San Diego. ''Long Island'' was reclassified CVE-1 on 15 July 1943. In 1944–1945, she transported airplanes and their crews from the West Coast to various outposts in the Pacific. After
V-J Day
Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...
, she revisited many of these same bases while transporting soldiers and sailors back home during
Operation Magic Carpet
Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II operation by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships ...
.
Post-war
''Long Island'' decommissioned on 26 March 1946 at
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted u ...
. Struck from the
Naval Vessel Register
The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...
on 12 April, she was sold to
Zidell Ship Dismantling Company of
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
on 24 April 1947 for scrapping. However, on 12 March 1948, she was acquired by the
Canada-Europe Line for conversion to merchant service. Upon completion of conversion in 1949, she was renamed ''Nelly'',
[Silverstone(1968)p.52] and served as an immigrant carrier between
Europe, Australia and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. In 1953, she was renamed ''Seven Seas''. In 1955, she was chartered to the German Europe-Canada Line. On 17 July 1965, she had a serious fire and was towed to St John's, Newfoundland. She was repaired and started her last voyage on 13 September 1966. She was bought the same year and employed by Rotterdam University as a students'
hostel
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...
until 1971 and as a migrant hostel until 1977, when she was scrapped in Belgium.
Awards
''Long Island'' received one
battle star
A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...
for her World War II service.
Notes
References
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External links
USS ''Long Island'' (CVE-1) Association homepage*https://ssmaritime.com/sevenseas.htm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Island (Cve-1)
Long Island-class escort carriers
Type C3 ships of the United States Navy
1940 ships
Ships built by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company
World War II escort aircraft carriers of the United States
Dormitory ships