USS Card

USS Card (AVG-11/ACV-11/CVE-11/CVHE-11/CVU-11/T-CVU-11/T-AKV-40) was an American Bogue-class escort carrier that saw service in World War II. She was the flagship of Task Group 21.14 (TG 21.14), a hunter-killer group formed to destroy German submarines in the North Atlantic Ocean.[2]

USS Card in 1943
History
United States
Name: USS Card
Namesake: Card Sound[1]
Builder: Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down: 27 October 1941
Launched: 27 February 1942
Acquired: 1 May 1942
Commissioned: 8 November 1942
Decommissioned: 13 May 1946
Recommissioned: 16 May 1958 as USNS Card
Decommissioned: 10 March 1970
Stricken: 15 September 1970
Fate: Scrapped in Clatskanie, Oregon, 1971
General characteristics
Class and type: Bogue-class escort carrier
Displacement: 9,800 long tons (9,957 t)
Length: 496 ft (151 m)
Beam: 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draft: 26 ft (7.9 m)
Speed: 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph)
Complement: 890 officers and men
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 12 × TBM and 16 × FM-2
Service record
Operations:
Awards:

In 1964, while operating as an aircraft ferry, Card was sunk by enemy action in the harbor at Saigon, South Vietnam. She was refloated and returned to service.[3]

Construction and commissioning

Card′s hull was laid down on 27 October 1941 at Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding in Tacoma, Washington, as a Type C3-class ship (cargo type C3-S-A1) and was launched as Hull 178 on 27 February 1942, sponsored by Mrs. J. Perry the U.S. Navy was acquired from the Maritime Commission while under construction and was converted into an escort carrier. Acquired by the U.S. Navy on 1 May 1942, she was designated AVG-11 (Aircraft Escort Vessel #11), later reclassified as ACV-11 (Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier 11) on 20 August 1942, and converted into an escort carrier with a displacement of 9,800 tons. She was commissioned 8 November 1942 with Captain J. B. Sykes in command

Service history

World War II

Departing San Diego 18 January 1943, Card arrived at Hampton Roads 1 February for training in Chesapeake Bay. She ferried aircraft and troops for the North African invasion from New York to Casablanca (14 May–1 June), returning to Norfolk 5 July. She was reclassified CVE-11 on 15 July 1943. Card steamed from Norfolk as flagship of TG 21.14, one of the hunter-killer groups formed for offensive operations against German submarines. Her first cruise from 27 July to 10 September 1943 was very successful. Her planes sank U-117 on 7 August in 39°32′N 38°21′W.; U-664 on 9 August in 40°12′N 37°29′W.; U-525 on 11 August in 41°29′N 38°55′W.; and U-847 on 27 August in 28°19′N 37°58′W.[2]

Her second cruise from 25 September to 9 November provided even more lucrative hunting. Planes from Card spotted a nest of four submarines refueling 4 October and sank two of them, the U-460 in 43°13′N 28°58′W., and U-422 in 43°18′N 28°58′W. Nine days later in 48°56′N 29°41′W., the U-402 fell victim to her aircraft. Her aircraft added another submarine to their score on 31 October when they sank the U-584, in 49°14′N 31°55′W. The fifth and final kill of the cruise was made on 1 November by one of Card's escorts. After a violent, close-range surface action, USS Borie rammed and sank the U-405 in 50°12′N 30°48′W. Too badly damaged to be saved, Borie had to be sunk by one of the other escorts. For her outstanding antisubmarine activities from 27 July to 25 October as part of TG21.14, Card and her task group were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. Card became the first escort carrier to receive such an award for combating German submarines.[4]

Card began her third hunter-killer cruise 24 November heading for the North Atlantic. Late on 23 December the group ran into a wolf pack Borkum; Card had 12 contacts in 5 hours. USS Schenck (DD-159) sank U-645 in 45°20′N 21°40′W., but one of the other escorts, USS Leary, was sunk by the combined efforts of three submarines in 45°00′N 22°00′W. Card dodged submarines all night with only Decatur as screen, while Schenck rescued survivors from Leary. The task group returned to Norfolk base on 2 January 1944.

From 18 March to 17 May Card operated on transport duty between Norfolk and Casablanca, then underwent overhaul until 4 June when she steamed for Quonset Point to hold pilot qualification exercises. She returned to Norfolk 21 June to serve as the nucleus of TG 22.10. The hunter-killer unit departed Norfolk 25 June and on 5 July two of her escorts, Thomas and Baker, sank U-233 in 42°16′N 59°49′W. Thirty survivors, including the mortally wounded commanding officer of the submarine, were taken on board Card and put ashore at Boston the next day.

Her next antisubmarine cruise was in the Caribbean and uneventful (10 July–23 August). She sortied 18 September as flagship of TG 22.2 for patrol off the Azores, during which she cooperated with British Escort Group 9 to attack a submarine on 12 October. After another patrol with TG 22.2 (1 December 1944 - 22 January 1945), Card entered Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for overhaul until 7 February, then transported Army aircraft and Army and Navy personnel to Liverpool, returning to Norfolk 12 March. From 21 March to 24 May, Card was based on Quonset Point, conducting carrier pilot qualifications. She ferried men and aircraft to Guantanamo Bay (21 June-24 June), then transited the Panama Canal to transport materiel to Pearl Harbor and Guam, returning to San Diego 14 August 1945. By the end of World War II, Card and her aircraft destroyed a total of 11 German submarines, which made it the second most successful ship of its class.[4] Assigned to "Magic Carpet" duty, she made two voyages to Pearl Harbor and one to the western Pacific from 21 August to 16 December 1945, returning servicemen to the west coast. Card departed Alameda 7 January 1946 for the east coast where she was placed out of commission in reserve at Norfolk 13 May 1946.

She was reclassified as a helicopter escort carrier CVHE-11, 12 June 1955; a utility carrier CVU-11, 1 July 1958; and an aviation transport AKV-40, 7 May 1959.

Awards

In addition to her Presidential Unit Citation, Card received three battle stars for service in World War II.

Vietnam War
Further information on sinking of USNS Card: Attack on USNS Card

The ship was reactivated on 16 May 1958 as USNS Card and operated with a civilian crew under Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) control as an aircraft transport. On December 15, 1961, Card left Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island, with a cargo of H-21 Shawnee helicopters and soldiers from Fort Devens, Massachusetts, bound for Vietnam. At Subic Bay in the Philippines, the cargo and troops were transferred to the helicopter carrier USS Princeton, which arrived and unloaded off the coast of Da Nang on January 25, 1962.[5]

On 2 May 1964, while Card was moored dockside in Saigon, a Viet Cong frogman, Lam Son Nao, age 27 at the time of the attack, planted an explosive charge that blew a hole in the hull, killing five crewmen. Card settled in 20 feet (6.1 m) of water. She was patched and pumped out, and raised on 19 May, and towed to Subic Bay, and then Yokosuka for repairs. Card returned to service on 11 December.[3] The attack has parallels to the suicide bombing of the USS Cole, in terms of being an example of "cost effective" asymmetric warfare .[3]

During the latter part of 1967 and early part of 1968, Card brought US military helicopters to the Republic of South Vietnam. These helicopters were assembled on board the ship by members of the 388th Transportation Company, 765th Transportation Battalion, and then flown to the US Army airfield at Vũng Tàu. From there the helicopters were assigned to aviation units.

Fate

Eventually placed out of service on 10 March 1970, Card was stricken for disposal on 15 September and sold for scrap in 1971.

Awards
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References
  1. Hoppe, Jon. "The Attack on the USNS Card". Naval History Blog. U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  2. Wise 2005, p. 46.
  3. Beckhusen, Robert (9 October 2019). "During the Vietnam War, Commandos Sunk a U.S. Aircraft Carrier It was a huge blow". The National Interest. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  4. Wise 2005, p. 45.
  5. BATTALION HISTORY, 93rd Trans / 121st AHC, Early History, Web 4 Jan 2013.

Sources


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