Puget Sound I (CVE-113)
(1944-1960)
(CVE-113: displacement 11,373; length 557'1"; beam 75'; extreme width 105'2"; draft 32'; speed 19 knots; complement 1,066; armament 2 5-inch, 12 40-millimeter., 24 40-millimeter; aircraft 30; class Commencement Bay)
An arm of the Pacific Ocean extending some 80 miles south into Washington State. An important U.S. Navy Yard is located in the sound at Bremerton.
Puget Sound (AV-13) was renamed Salisbury Sound (q.v.) on 5 June 1944.
I
Laid down as Hobart Bay (CVE-113) on 12 May 1944 at Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Tacoma, Wash., the escort aircraft carrier was renamed Puget Sound on 5 June 1944; launched 20 November 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Bert A. Teats of Sheridan, Oreg.; and commissioned 18 June 1945 at Tacoma, Capt. Charles F. Coe in command.
After trials and fitting out in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound steamed south 6 July 1945 for shakedown out of San Diego, Calif., where she embarked Marine Air Group 6. She departed San Diego 8 September for brief training in the Hawaiian Islands before proceeding to support the occupation of Japan.
Puget Sound entered Tokyo Bay 14 October 1945. Her aircraft joined in the show of strength and conducted antimine patrols in support of the landings of the 10th Army at Matsuyama and Nagoya. Thence tactical training took her to the Philippines, Hong Kong, and the Marianas. Loading surplus aircraft in Apra Harbor, Guam, she put to sea 6 January 1946 enroute Pearl Harbor, where she offloaded the surplus aircraft. At San Diego 23 January Marine Air Group 6 was detached and Puget Sound prepared to serve as a "Magic Carpet" home for Pacific war veterans.
Between February and May 1946 Puget Sound made two "Magic Carpet" runs between San Diego and Pearl Harbor and one between Alameda and Okinawa, transporting 1,200 troops and surplus aircraft.
She steamed north 24 May 1946 to prepare for inactivation, entering Puget Sound Naval Shipyard I June. Decommissioning there 18 October, she entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Tacoma. Her hull classification and number were changed to CVHE-113, effective 12 June 1955, and then to AKV-13, cargo ship and aircraft ferry. Struck from the Navy List 1 June 1960, she was sold for scrap 10 January 1962 to Nicholai Joffee Corp.
