Commencement Bay (CVE-105)
(1944-1971)
(CVE-105; displacement 11,373; length 577'1"; beam 75'; extreme width 105'2"; draft 32'; speed 19 knots; complement 1,066; armament 2 5-inch; class Commencement Bay)
A bay of Puget Sound, near Tacoma, Wash.
Commencement Bay (CVE-105) (ex-St. Joseph Bay) was launched 9 May 1944 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Tacoma, Wash.; sponsored by Mrs. F. Eves; and commissioned 27 November, 1944, Captain R. L. Bowman in command.
Commencement Bay reported at Seattle 1 February 1945 for duty as a training ship in Puget Sound until 2 October. During this time she trained 545 officers and 5,053 men of precommissioning crews for sister escort carriers, and qualified 249 pilots of eight air groups in carrier takeoffs and landings. She sailed from Bremer ton 21 October 1945, and arrived at Pearl Harbor 4 November for training and to conduct carrier qualifications until sailing 27 November for Seattle and Tacoma.
After visits to Los Angeles and San Pedro, she returned to Tacoma 28 January, where she was placed out of commission in reserve 30 November 1946. She was re-classified CVHE-105, 12 June 1955; and AKV-37, 7 May 1959. She was struck from the Navy List 1 April 1971 and sold for scrap on 25 August 1972.
