USS Solomons (CVE-67)
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Solomons |
| Builder: | Kaiser Shipyards |
| Laid down: | 19 March 1943 |
| Launched: | 6 October 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 21 November 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 May 1946 |
| Struck: | 5 June 1946 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap on 22 December 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Casablanca-class escort carrier |
| Displacement: | 7,800 tons |
| Length: | 512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) overall |
| Beam: | 65 ft 2 in (19.86 m), 108 ft (33 m) maximum width |
| Draft: | 22 ft 6 in (6.86 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 19.3 knots (35.7 km/h) |
| Range: | 10,240 nmi (18,960 km) @ 15 kn (28 km/h) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: | 1 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal dual purpose gun, 16 × Bofors 40 mm guns (8×2), 12 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (20×1) |
| Aircraft carried: | 27 |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | United States Fourth Fleet (1944-1946) |
USS Solomons (CVE-67) was a Casablanca class escort carrier of the United States Navy, the second ship to carry the name.
She was converted from a Maritime Commission hull (MC hull 1104) built by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company of Vancouver, Washington. Her keel was laid on 19 March 1943. Soon thereafter, she was assigned the first of her three names, Emperor. After being designated an auxiliary aircraft carrier, ACV-67, she was renamed Nassuk Bay on 28 June 1943. On 15 July, she was redesignated an escort carrier, CVE-67. She was launched on 6 October 1943 by Mrs. F. J. McKenna while still bearing the name Nassuk Bay. One month later, she received her third and final name, Solomons, and as such was commissioned on 21 November 1943, Captain M. E. Crist in command.
Solomons spent the next four weeks in the Astoria, Oregon-Puget Sound area undergoing post-trial shakedown, tests, and exercises. Departing Astoria on 20 December 1943, she stopped at Alameda, California, three days later and arrived at San Diego on 25 December. Following operations out of San Diego, she sailed for Pearl Harbor on 30 December. On 6 January 1944, Solomons loaded aircraft and supplies there, embarked passengers, and departed on the 9th for the U.S. west coast.
Arriving at San Diego on 14 January, Solomons conducted battle practice off the coast of southern California until the end of the month. She departed San Diego on 30 January bound for Norfolk, Virginia. During her approach to the Panama Canal, Solomons' planes participated in a simulated aerial attack on the canal. The carrier arrived at Balboa, Panama, on 9 February, embarked passengers, and departed for Norfolk two days later, arriving on 16 February.
Loaded with planes, supplies, and aviation stores, Solomons got underway on 21 March bound for Brazil, arrived at Recife on 13 April, and reported for duty with the 4th Fleet. On the next day, she got underway for her first antisubmarine patrol. This cruise, which lasted until 30 March, and the next, from 4–20 May, proved uneventful.
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