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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS CROATAN (ACV-25)
(later CVE-25, CVHE-25, CVU-25 and AKV-43)

Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Whiskey - Papa - November

Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons

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

Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Stricken
*Bogue Class Escort Carrier*
(see below)	15 Apr 1942	1 Aug 1942	28 Apr 1943 16 Jun 1958 (*)	20 May 1946 23 Oct 1969	15 Sep 1970
Builder: Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash. (*) Under MSTS control (see below)

Named for a sound of the North Carolina coast.
Built under a Maritime Commission contract (hull number 241) as a merchant vessel, type C3-S-A1.
Acquired by the Navy on 1 May 1942.
Originally classified as an "Aircraft Escort Vessel" and designated AVG-25.
Reclassified as an "Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated ACV-25, 20 August 1942 (prior to commissioning).
Reclassified as an "Escort Carrier" and redesignated CVE-25, 15 July 1943.
Reclassified as an "Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated CVHE-25, 12 June 1955, while in reserve.
Reactivated as an aircraft transport in 1958; operated with a civilian crew under Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) control.
Reclassified as an "Utility Aircraft Carrier" and redesignated (T-)CVU-25, 1 July 1958.
Reclassified as a "Cargo Ship and Aircraft Ferry" and redesignated (T-)AKV-43, 7 May 1959.
Served as a experimental ship under NASA control, October 1964 to May 1965, then resumed transport duties.
Fate: Sold and scrapped in 1971.

Specifications
(As commissioned, 1943)
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: (ultimate) 2 single 5"/38 (initially 5"/51) gun mounts; 10 twin 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; 26 single 20-mm/70-cal gun mounts
Aircraft: 24
Aviation facilities: 2 elevators; 1 hydraulic catapult
Crew: 890

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By And/Or Copyright
World War II
NS0302505	36k	USS *Croatan* (ACV-25) underway off Restoration Point, 20 May 1943. Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo.	Tracy White
NS0302506	24k	USS *Croatan* (ACV-25) underway off Restoration Point, 20 May 1943. Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo.	Tracy White
NS0302507	37k	USS *Croatan* (ACV-25) underway off Restoration Point, 20 May 1943. Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo.	Tracy White
NS0302508	37k	USS *Croatan* (ACV-25) underway off Restoration Point, 20 May 1943. Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo.	Tracy White
NS0302509	42k	USS *Croatan* (ACV-25) underway off Restoration Point, 20 May 1943. Seattle Branch of the National Archives photo.	Tracy White
NS0302501	74k	Underway in 1943, with some Avengers and Wildcats of her VC-19 composite squadron on deck. She is camouflaged in Measure 22.	USN
NS0302504	171k	Underway on 17 October 1943. The mast forward of the island carries the HF/DF antenna, an essential device for ASW against German U-boats in the Atlantic; her aircraft and escorts sank six submarines in 1944-1945: U-856, U-488, U-490, U-154, U-880 and U-1235. The island was built out over the side of the ship to clear the flight deck entirely, thus requiring dedicated supports.	National Archives, College Park, Maryland, via Dwayne Day
NS016383a	111k	Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia — Warships at the Base piers, circa August 1944. Among them are: USS Missouri (BB-63), the largest ship; USS Alaska (CB-1), on the other side of the pier; USS *Croatan* (CVE-25), and destroyers of the Fletcher and "Four-Pipe, Flush-Deck" classes at the next pier. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (#80-G-190547).	National Archives
NS0610206	121k	USS *Croatan* (CVE-25) seen from USS Thomas (DE-102), circa 1944-1945. The DE was pulling away from the CVE after mail pass.	© Robert M. Buring
NS0302516	103k	USS *Croatan* (CVE-25), July 1945.	National Archives, College Park, Maryland, via Dwayne Day
NS0302517	72k	USS *Croatan* (CVE-25). Date unknown, but probably taken shortly after the war.	National Archives, College Park, Maryland, via Dwayne Day
NS0302518	92k	USS *Croatan* (CVE-25) anchored in the Hudson River, off New York City, at the time of the Navy Day Fleet Review, circa late October 1945. Collection of Warren Beltramini, donated by Beryl Beltramini, 2007. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph (# NH 105559).	NHC. Thanks to Charles R. Haberlein Jr.
As AKV-43, 1959-1969
NS0302511	31k	A total of 77 Nike-Cajuns, Nike-Apaches, and small Arcas meteorological rockets were launched from Wallops' mobile range facility on the USNS *Croatan* (T-AKV 43), while she steamed along the west coast of South America between March 8 and April 22, 1965. The experiments were aimed at determining the states of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere during solar sunspot minimum, particularly the so-called "equatorial electrojet." The instrumentation was provided by the Universities of Michigan and New Hampshire, Goddard Space Flight Center, and others. These shipboard firings were part of NASA's contribution to the International Year of the Quiet Sun (IQSY). This stern view shows the Nike launchers next to the after elevator and the vertical lauch tube for the Arcas meteorological rocket.	Photo and partial text courtesy of NASA History Division
NS0302512	162k	The U.S. Naval Ship *Croatan* being used by NASA as a sea-going launch platform for sounding rockets. Launchers for Nike-Cajun and Nike-Apache rockets are positioned on each side of the wide deck elevator. Special telemetry and tracking antennas are installed on both sides of the flight deck along with instrumented trailers, forward, near superstructure. Forty or more sounding rockets with scientific payloads were scheduled for launch during a three-month expedition. Project management was assigned to NASA's Wallops Station, Wallops Island, Virginia. The photograph is from 1964.	NASA via Dwayne A. Day
NS0302513	171k	Equipment for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Shipboard Sounding Rocket Experiments program is loaded aboard the U.S.N.S. *Croatan* in preparation for a shakedown cruise to test the equipment and operational procedures. The photograph is from 1964.	NASA via Dwayne A. Day
NS0302514	133k	Instrument trailers for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Shipboard Sounding Rocket Experiments are positioned aboard the U.S. Naval Ship *Croatan* in preparation for a shakedown cruise to test the equipment and operational procedures. The mobile launch platform permitted rocket soundings in areas not accessible from land-based launch sites, particularly in the region of the magnetic equator. The experiments were part of the International Quiet Sun Year 1964–1965. The photograph is from 1964.	NASA via Dwayne A. Day
NS0302515	136k	National Aeronautics and Space Administration Project Engineer James Grey talks with Captain Gunnar J. Johnson, USN, on the positioning of the equipment trailers aboard the USNS *Croatan* in preparation of a shakedown cruise to test the equipment, and operational procedures for the Shipboard Sounding Rockets Experiments program. The photograph is from 1964.	NASA via Dwayne A. Day
NS0302510	66k	US Army official image of the USNS *Croatan* (T-AKV 43) at a US dock with a load of helicopters heading to Vietnam. Date unkown.	Pete Harlem
NS0302502	37k	Seen here in the Panama Canal, January 25, 1966.	© Richard Leonhardt
NS0302503	52k	Seen here in the Panama Canal, January 25, 1966.	© Richard Leonhardt

View the USS Croatan (ACV-25 / CVE-25 / CVHE-25 / CVU-25 / AKV-43)
DANFS History entry located on the Naval Historical Center Web Site.

Crew Contact and Reunion Information

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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: 23 March 2008

NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS CROATAN (ACV-25) (later CVE-25, CVHE-25, CVU-25 and AKV-43)

USS CROATAN (ACV-25)
(later CVE-25, CVHE-25, CVU-25 and AKV-43)