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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS OMMANEY BAY   (CVE-79)


Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - X-Ray - Mike
CLASS - CASABLANCA
Displacement 7,800 Tons, Dimensions, 512' 3" (oa) x 65' 2" x 22' 4" (Max)
Armament 1 x 5"/38AA 8 x 40mm, 12 x 20mm, 27 Aircraft.
Machinery, 9,000 IHP; 2 Skinner, Uniflow engines, 2 screws
Speed, 19 Knots, Crew 860.

Operational and Building Data

Built by Kaiser Co., Inc., Vancouver, Wash. Keel laid 6 Oct 1943, launched 29 Dec 1943, commissioned 11 Feb 1944.

Fate: Hit by a kamikaze in the Sulu Sea, 4 Jan 1945, and finally torpedoed by USS Burns (DD-588).
93 of her crew, and 2 men on an assisting destroyer, were lost with the ship and remain on duty.

Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Construction
CVE-79 Ommaney Bay
NS0307905		 11k

Ommaney Bay was sponsored by Mrs. P. K. Robottom, wife of Captain Robottom, USN, Commanding Officer of the Receiving Station, Puget Sound Naval Yard, Bremerton, Washington.

(From "Bo's'n's Whistle," Vol. 4, No. 2; January 28, 1944; pages 4 & 5.)

 Courtesy of Ron Gough,
Bea Dee, Ltd.,
Kaiser Vancouver / Swan Island & Oregon Shipyards website
World War II
CVE-79 Ommaney Bay
NS0307904		 85k

USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) underway off Hawaii with lifts lowered, July 1944. Note additional width of after lift, enabling non-folding aircraft as the older F4F Wildcats to be brought up from and taken down to the hangar deck. She was camouflaged in Measure 33, Design 15A (USN photo.)

 Robert Hurst
CVE-79 Ommaney Bay
NS0307902		 38k USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79), right, is under attack as the trailing destroyer fires streams of shells in a battle in the Pacific on Jan 4, 1945. One enemy plane has been hit and is trailing smoke while others, unseen, dive on the carrier. Ommaney Bay was sunk. [300-065]. USN
CVE-79 Ommaney Bay
NS0307903		 80k

The "Big O" was hit by a twin-engined Frances at 1712, January 4, 1945. With the fire main ruptured, fires quickly spread out of control. At 1750 the order to abandon ship was given.

The Fletcher-class destroyer in the foreground is possibly USS Twiggs (DD-591).

Photo taken from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62).

 Bruce Leininger
CVE-79 Ommaney Bay
NS0307901		 57k With fires out of control on January 4, 1945 after Kamikaze attack. A destroyer, perhaps USS Patterson (DD-392) or USS Maury (DD-401), closes to assist. The carrier sank later in the day. USN
USS OMMANEY BAY CVE-79 History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)
Crew Contact and Reunion Information Web Sites
U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Contact Information
Date:  
Place:  
Contact: John Kirkland
Address: 16910 SW Monterey Lane
Portland, OR 97224
Phone: 503 684-6480
E-mail: hkirkland8@aol.com
Web site:  
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: 7 October 2007