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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS COPAHEE (AVG-12)
(later ACV-12, CVE-12 and CVHE-12)

Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Uniform - Whiskey - X-ray

Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: American Campaign Medal / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1 star) / World War II Victory Medal

Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Stricken
*Bogue Class Escort Carrier*
(see below)	18 Jun 1941	21 Oct 1941	15 Jun 1942	5 Jul 1946	1 Mar 1959
Builder: Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash.

Named for a sound of the South Carolina coast.
Built under a Maritime Commission contract (hull number 169) as the civilian Steel Architect, type C3-S-A1.
Acquired by the Navy on 8 February 1942.
Converted to an aircraft carrier at the Bremerton Navy Yard. Classified as an "Aircraft Escort Vessel" and designated AVG-12.
Reclassified as an "Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated ACV-12, 20 August 1942.
Reclassified as an "Escort Carrier" and redesignated CVE-12, 15 July 1943.
Reclassified as an "Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated CVHE-12, 12 June 1955, while in reserve.
Fate: sold for scrap, 1 February 1961.

Specifications
(As converted, 1942)
Displacement: 7,800 tons standard; 15,700 tons full load (design)
Dimensions (wl): 465' x 69.5' x 23.25' / 141.7 x 21.2 x 7.1 meters
Dimensions (max.): 495' 8" x 111.5' / 151.1 x 34 meters
Armor: None
Power plant: 2 boilers (285 psi); 1 steam turbine; 1 shaft; 8,500 shp
Speed: 16.5 knots
Endurance:
Armament: 2 single 5"/51 (later 5"/38) gun mounts; (1943) 8 twin 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; (1943) 27 single 20-mm/70-cal gun mounts
Aircraft: 24
Aviation facilities: 2 elevators; 1 hydraulic catapult
Crew: 890

Click on Thumbnail for Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
NS0301215	130k	At anchor, circa 1942, location unknown. Compare to photo NS0301204. Photo from Navy Yearbook, ed. by Phillip Andrews and Leonard Engel; Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1944.	Original photo submitted by Robert Hurst. Larger photo submitted by Derick Hartshorn
NS0301206	37k	Puget Sound Navy Yard, 17 August 1942. Bow view. Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo.	Tracy White
NS0301207	43k	Puget Sound Navy Yard, 17 August 1942. Port view. Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo.	Tracy White
NS0301201	45k	USS *Copahee* (ACV-12) at sea, 31 August 1942. The ship was the first of 10 escort carriers of the Bogue class. [Photo # 80-G-453805].	National Archives
NS0301202	75k	Mess Attendants manning a 20mm machine gun, in a gun tub beside the flight deck, 9 September 1942. The carrier was then en route from Alameda, California, to the southwest Pacific. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-71586).	NHC
NS0301208	93k	Stern view of USS *Copahee* (ACV-12) in San Francisco Bay, 9 May 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 3398-43.	Darryl Baker
NS0301209	88k	Starboard broadside view of USS *Copahee* (ACV-12) in San Francisco Bay, 9 May 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 3402-43.	Darryl Baker
NS0301210	79k	Bow on view of USS *Copahee* (ACV-12) in San Francisco Bay, 9 May 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 3407-43.	Darryl Baker
NS0301211	190k	Aft plan view of USS *Copahee* (ACV-12) at Mare Island on 14 July 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5124-43.	Darryl Baker
NS0301212	207k	Forward plan view of USS *Copahee* (ACV-12) at Mare Island on 14 July 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5125-43.	Darryl Baker
NS0301213	114k	Stern view of USS *Copahee* (ACV-12) off Mare Island on 14 July 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5133-43.	Darryl Baker
NS0301214	174k	USS *Copahee* passing under the Golden Gate Bridge on her way out to sea on 15 July 1943, the day she was redesignated CVE-12. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5188-43.	Darryl Baker
NS0301203	70k	With a deck load of SBD Dauntless dive bombers bound for the Pacific war zone, 10 April 1944. Camouflage Measure 21 (Navy Blue).	National Archives
NS0301205	106k	USS *Copahee* (CVE-12) left the Garapan anchorage off Saipan on 8 July 1944 with a load of captured Japanese planes (13 Zekes and 1 Kate) and equipment (37 engines) to be used for intelligence and training purposes, and arrived in San Diego on 28 July. (Photo # 80-G-276964).	National Archives
NS0301204	60k	Underway off Hunters Point, San Francisco, California, 1944. Camouflage Measure 32/12A (Dull Black, Ocean Gray and Light Gray). The "zipper" was a line of structural supports protecting an external avgas line. Compare to photo NS0301215.	USN
NS0301217	165k	200,000 mile celebration for the crew, March 18, 1945.	Steve Parodi, grandson of a ship's plankowner
NS0301216	101k	Ship's Bell.	Steve Parodi, grandson of a ship's plankowner
For more information about this ship, see: Commanding Officers

View the USS Copahee (AVG-12 / ACV-12 / CVE-12 / CVHE-12)
DANFS History entry located on the Hazegray & Underway Web Site.

Crew Contact Information

Contact:	Mr. LeRoy W. Schlaegel, National Chairman
Address:	2706 Washlan Ave, Spc 314 Fresno, CA, 93705-1746
Phone:	559-222-9344
E-mail:	LeRoyCVE12@aol.com
Web site:	U.S.S. Copahee CVE-12
Remarks:

Related Links

Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Official U.S. Navy Carrier Website
Escort Carrier Sailors & Airmen Association

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Last update: 10 August 2008

NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS COPAHEE (AVG-12) (later ACV-12, CVE-12 and CVHE-12)

USS COPAHEE (AVG-12)
(later ACV-12, CVE-12 and CVHE-12)