The Commencement Bay (CVE-105)- class ships were the largest of the World War II jeep carriers and the only ones designed from the keel up as carriers— although they owed much to the converted T3 tanker-hull design of the Sangamon (ACV/CVE-26) class and even retained a 9,360-ton cargo fuel capacity for transfer to escorts. CVEs 105-119 were ordered on 23 January 1943; 120-127 were ordered under the 1945 construction program (but only three were completed, and only one of those was commissioned); the planned CVEs 128-139 were canceled on 13 August 1945. At 557 feet long, displacing 23,100 tons full load, the Commencement Bays were not small ships, and those few that saw action during World War II carried 18 F6F Hellcat fighters and 15 TBF-1 Avenger torpedo-bombers. Only 9 of the 19 commissioned were completed before the war ended, and most went into mothballs in 1946-47. Ten were reactivated in the early 1950s and converted for Cold War antisubmarine duties, but the growth of ASW aircraft made their period of usefulness brief, and most returned to the reserve in 1955-57. Two—the Kula Gulf (CVE-108, as T-AKV-8) and the Point Cruz (CVE- 119, as T-AKV-19)—saw service as aircraft transports during the early years of the Vietnam War.
Commissioned on 14 November 1945, the Badoeng Strait (CVE-116) was decommissioned in April 1946 but brought back to service in January 1947, operating until June 1950 as a trials ship for antisubmarine tactics and equipment. She then did three tours off Korea as an ASW escort and completed alterations for more effective antisubmarine work in 1953 (although not receiving the planned enlarged island given to several of the ten ships of the class updated at that time). Seen here at the completion of her modernization at San Francisco in August 1953, the Badoeng Strait was decommissioned again in May 1957 and stricken on 1 December 1970.
The Gilbert Islands (CVE-107), commissioned in February 1945, arrived in the Western Pacific in time to participate in the assault on Okinawa at the end of May and supported Australian forces landing on Borneo on 1 July. Placed in reserve in May 1946, she was reactivated in 1951 as an antisubmarine carrier but was deactivated again in January 1955. Although she remained in mothballs, the ship was reclassified as aircraft transport AKV-39 in 1959 and was stricken in June 1961. Instead of going to the breakers, however, the Gilbert Islands was reclassified as a major communications relay ship and was renamed Annapolis (AGMR-1) in June 1963, recommissioning in March 1964 after extensive conversion. The Annapolis remained active in the Pacific Fleet until December 1969 and was the last of her class to leave the Navy List, on 15 October 1976.
The Block Island (CVE-106), another Okinawa veteran, is seen here in camouflage while steaming in Puget Sound in January 1945. Her builder, Todd Pacific, subcontracted 6 of the class to other Northwest yards and laid down another 17 at its Tacoma, Washington, yard. The Block Island began conversion as an assault helicopter carrier (LPH-1) in January 1958, but her conversion was halted when attention turned to the conversion of larger Essex-class carriers for the purpose, and she was stricken in 1959. Like all of the ships of the class completed, the Block Island began service with an armament of two single 5-inch dual-purpose guns, 36 Bofors 40-mm guns (in 3 quadruple and 12 twin mountings), and 20 single 20-mm cannon.