USS ''Bairoko'' (CVE-115) was a 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 ...

in service from 1945 to 1955.

History

''Bairoko'' was named after the

Battle of Bairoko The Battle of Bairoko was fought between American and Imperial Japanese Army and Navy forces on 20 July 1943 on the northern coast of New Georgia island. Taking place during World War II, it formed part of the New Georgia campaign of the Pacific ...

, a battle over

Bairoko Harbor Bairoko Harbor is situated along the northwestern shore of the island of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. During World War II Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is ...

– a small inlet on the north coast of

New Georgia New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the 200th-largest island in the world. Geography New Georgia island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most ...

, Solomon Islands – which took place on 20 July 1943 between American and Japanese forces. Bairoko eventually was occupied by American forces on 26 August 1943. Initially named ''Portage Bay'', CVE-115 was renamed ''Bairoko'' 6 June 1944; launched 25 January 1945 by Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc.,

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

; sponsored by Mrs. J. J. Ballentine, wife of Rear Admiral John J. Ballentine; and commissioned 16 July 1945, Captain

H. B. Temple H is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet. H may also refer to: Musical symbols * H number, Harry Halbreich reference mechanism for music by Honegger and Martinů * H, B (musical note) * H, B major People * H. (noble) (died after 127 ...

in command.

Operational history

Commissioned too late to take an active part in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, ''Bairoko'' engaged in peacetime fleet cruises, maneuvers, and exercises until December 1949. During the period she made two cruises to the Far East (18 October 1946 – 25 January 1947 and 18 February – 30 May 1947), and participated in the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

test at

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with ...

Atoll. On 16 December 1949 she reported to San Francisco for pre-inactivation overhaul and went out of commission in reserve 14 April 1950. When the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

broke out ''Bairoko'' was immediately readied for active duty. She was recommissioned 12 September 1950 and reported to the Pacific Fleet. Between November 1950 and August 1953 she made three extended cruises to the Far East (14 November 1950– 15 August 1951, 1 December 1951 – 9 June 1952 and February–August 1953), acting in support of the United Nations Forces in Korea. Her planes flew hundreds of strikes against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...

n and " Chinese Volunteer" troops, installations, transportation facilities, and naval units. On 9 May 1951 she had five men killed and 13 injured by an

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are kno ...

and

flash fire A flash fire is a sudden, intense fire caused by ignition of a mixture of air and a dispersed flammable substance such as a solid (including dust), flammable or combustible liquid (such as an aerosol or fine mist), or a flammable gas. It is charact ...

in Japanese waters. Returning to the west coast late in August 1953, ''Bairoko'' remained there until January 1954 when she departed to assist in the hydrogen bomb tests in the Eniwetok

Bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features two triangles of fabric on top that cover the breasts, and two triangles of fabric on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but exposing the navel, and the back cover ...

area. During the

Castle Bravo Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of ''Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful ...

test on 1 March 1954, sixteen crew members received beta radiation burns. From May through June 1954 she operated out of

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 eighth most populous city in the United States ...

on training exercises. In July 1954 she reported to

Long Beach Naval Shipyard The Long Beach Naval Shipyard (Long Beach NSY or LBNSY), which closed in 1997, was located on Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles, approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles Internation ...

to commence pre-inactivation overhaul and went out of commission in reserve at San Francisco 18 February 1955. ''Bairoko'' was stricken for disposal on 1 April 1960 and scrapped at Hong Kong in 1961. ''Bairoko'' received three

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 se ...

s for her Korean service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bairoko (Cve-115) Commencement Bay-class escort carriers 1945 ships Cold War escort carriers of the United States Korean War escort carriers of the United States Korean War aircraft carriers of the United States Maritime incidents in 1954