Port bow view of USS Santee (ACV-29) in the rare Measure 17 camouflage pattern. U.S. Navy photo, Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., serial # 3706(42), September 11, 1942.

Port broadside view of USS Santee (ACV-29). U.S. Navy photo, Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., serial # 3707(42), September 11, 1942.

USS Santee (ACV-29) photographed on 24 September 1942, the day the first plane landed on her flight deck (according to some sources, the photo was taken on 27 September). She is wearing the subdued "dazzle" construction of the Measure 17 disruptive system. The pattern was identical on both sides of her hull (US National Archives photo #80-G-11826).

From Naval camouflage 1914-1945: A Complete Visual Reference, by David Williams.

USS Santee's port side showing the complete symmetry of the pattern on both sides (compare to NS0302920). US National Archives photo #19-N-34871.

From Naval camouflage 1914-1945: A Complete Visual Reference, by David Williams.

A photo of USS Santee (ACV-29) probably taken on October 16, 1942. Santee was the only one in her class ever camouflaged in Ms.17, a disruptive system with the same geometric patterns on both sides of the ship. In fact, Ms.17 was only applied to three ships: heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31), fleet oiler USS Chicopee (AO-34), and Santee.

Another view of USS Santee probably taken in late 1942.

Port broadside view of USS Santee (ACV-29) in Measure 14 (Ocean Gray) camouflage. U.S. Navy photo, Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., serial # 4378(42), December 21, 1942.

Port quarter view of USS Santee (ACV-29). U.S. Navy photo, Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., serial # 4379(42), December 21, 1942.

USS Santee (ACV-29) silhouetted against the Atlantic while escorting convoy UGS-10 to North Africa, June 1943 (National Archives photo # 80-G-74762).

Sangamon Class. From U.S. Naval Ships & Aircraft (ONI 54-R), condensed and printed for FM 30-50, NAVAER 00-80V-57 (Recognition Pictorial Manual of Naval Vessels). Supplement 4 - 4 August 1943.

As above. Top photo shows USS Sangamon (ACV/CVE-26).

General Motors FM-2 Wildcat fighter on combat air patrol over USS Santee (CVE-29), during the Leyte Invasion, 20 October 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-287594).

At 0740, 25 October 1944, during the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, a Japanese plane made a suicide dive on the Santee, crashing through the flight deck and stopping on the hangar deck. Santee was the first ship to sustain a kamikaze attack: the plane tore a 30-foot gash into the flight deck, killed 16 men, wounded 27 others and started several fires. At 0756, a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-56 struck the ship, causing flooding of several compartments and a 6-degree starboard list. Emergency repairs were completed by 0935.

Fires rage after the ship was hit by a Kamikaze at 0740 hours on 25 October 1944, during the 2nd Battle of the Philippine Sea (aka the Battle of Leyte Gulf.) Official US Navy photograph.

Kamikaze strikes USS Santee (CVE-29), 25 October 1944.

Santee radio shack, Battle of Leyte Gulf: makeshift arrangements needed to monitor all circuits. Note spare parts boxes proping up a typewriter.

Air Groups attached to USS Santee.

Source: "History of USS Santee," by ENS Jaquelin S. Holliday, USNR.

Recife, Brazil, February 1943.

Image of most of the USS Santee's E Division personnel. This picture was taken during the summer of 1944 somewhere in the South Pacific. There were approximately 30 EM's aboard at the time, but some who were standing watch are not included in the pic. The Division Officer in the center was Walter T. Poole.

Officers and Chief Petty Officers, K Division, October 1944.

Front row, left to right:ENS Walsh (Publications Officer); LT(JG) Parsons (Ship Secretary); LT(JG) Edson; LT(JG) Stevens; LT Edward Joseph Clarke (Communications Officer); LT Roberts (Radio Officer); LT(JG) McCue (Division Officer); LT(JG) Funke (Signal Officer); CRE Clifford (Warrant Officer).

Rear row, left to right: Nichols, Chief Yeoman; Charles Erlandsen, Chief Radioman; Daly, Chief Signalman; Kiawaja, Chief Yeoman.

Officers and Enlisted men, K Division (Communications Department), October 1944.

Left to right: Henry Menke ACMS; Chief Mallette holding the fish he caught in Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides; S. Waller, CBM; and the chopped hair in the back groud is C. Erlandsen, CRM.

V-2 Division, date unknown. Official US Navy photo.

V-2 Division, Engineering crew, date unknown. Official US Navy photo.

R.C. Boggess and shipmates, date unknown. Official US Navy photo.

Top: Flight deck crew catching some well needed rest in the safety nets alongside the deck.

Bottom: Aviation Painter Third Class, Jerrold E. Thomas posting the score of Jap kills. (Thanks to Dianne Goode, daughter of J. E. Thomas).

Frank J. Bennett (right) with two friends aboard USS Santee (CVE-29), shortly before the kamikaze attack. Frank was wounded, but his friends were killed...

Shipmates lost due to enemy action.

Source: "History of USS Santee," by ENS Jaquelin S. Holliday, USNR.

"Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep."
"Ancient and Sacred Order of the Golden Dragon."
"Royal Order of Purple Porpoises."

R.C. Boggess, USNR, enlisted as a CMM (Chief Machinist's Mate) July 2, 1942 and was honorably discharged as an AM/1c (Aviation Metalsmith 1st class) on October 1, 1945.