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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS PETROF BAY   (CVE-80)
(later CVU-80)



Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - X-Ray - Papa

Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Presidential Unit Citation / American Campaign Medal / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (5 stars)
2nd Row: World War II Victory Medal / Philippine Presidential Unit Citation / Philippine Liberation Medal (1 star)

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.

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For Full Size Image
Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Name
Petrof Bay
NS0308012
90k

CVE-80 was named Petrof Bay for a bay on Kuiu Island, at the south end of Tebenkof Bay, Alexander Archipelago, Alaska (NS0308012). The bay was named in 1928 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS), for Ivan Petroff, special census agent for Alaska in 1880, "who contributed largely to the written history of Alaska."

(Map courtesy of Google Maps.)

NavSource
Construction
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308004
10k

Petrof Bay was sponsored on Wednesday, January 5, 1944 by Mrs. J. G. Atkins, wife of Captain Atkins, executive officer of the Naval Air Station, Farragut, Idaho. Principal address was by Captain C. E. Ekstrom, Executive Officer, USN.

(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
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308008
242k

"To the first Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Petrof Bay, Captain J.L. Kane USN, with the compliments of the CVE Pre-Commissioning School."

Robert explains: "This picture hung on our basement wall for years. My Dad Joseph Morrison was a plank owner on CVE 80."

Robert Morrison
World War 2
CVE-78 Savo Island
NS0307815
710k

Naval Station Astoria, Oregon, oblique view looking northeast, altitude 1000 feet, 19 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-218308.

Three CVEs can be seen in the lower half of the picture, fitting out. They are, top to bottom, USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80), commissioned the day before; USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79), that had just shifted berth from pier 3 to pier 2; and USS Savo Island (CVE-78).

NARA
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308006
137k

USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) underway. Photo is dated 18 March 1944—the escort carrier was off the West Coast on that date.

US Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum, photo # 1996.488.032.003. Robert L. Lawson Photograph Collection.

Mike Green
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308001
28k Petrof Bay anchored at Tulagi, 1944. Ivor Jefferies
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308002
269k

USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) on 21 June 1944 in the Eastern Pacific, showing different radar antennas. Camouflaged in Measure 33, Design 10A (thanks to Aryeh Wetherhorn.)

Mike Green
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308015
157k

A U.S. Marine Corps Convair OY-1 Sentinel being manhandled on the flight deck of the escort carrier USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) on 19 September 1944, during the Peleliu operation (Operation Stalemate II). Note the motto on the cowling: "It flies, don't it?".

(The OY-1 originated as the Stinson Model V-76, adopted by the Army in 1942 as the L-5 after the Stinson company had become a division of Vultee Aircraft. By 1943, when Marine acquisition of the type began, Vultee had merged with Consolidated, hence the use of Consolidated's letter Y in the designation.)

National Archives and Records Administration photo, # 80-G-378466.

Robert Hurst
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308013
365k

A near miss by a Japanese Zero on USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) off Leyte Gulf, as seen from USS Suwannee (CVE-27), 25 October 1944. Bomb is hitting the water.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-270668.

NARA
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308007
118k

With its tail and part of a wing shot off by AA fire, a Kamikaze dives on and misses USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) on 26 October 1944.

Source: Navy Department Library, 1945 Antiaircraft Action Summary.

Mike Green
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308007a
8k

Kamikaze plane on fire barely missed USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) (see above).

Tommy Trampp
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308005
199k

Official US Navy photograph of USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) underway, exact date and place unknown. The four-leaf shamrock symbol on its tail identifies the FM-2 Wildcat as assigned to Composite Squadron 93 (VC-93.) VC-93 operated from Petrof Bay between March 10 and May 30, 1945 in support of the invasion and capture of Okinawa.

Robert M. Cieri
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308009
203k

Composite Squadron 93 (VC-93) group picture aboard USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80). The squadron embarked 10 March 1945.

(Larger copy available on request.)

Bill Gonyo
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308010
179k

VC-93 crew: H. Foster (Pilot), S. Orlowski (Gunner) & ARM/1c Roger W. Goodwin (1945).

Bill Gonyo
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308003
253k

General Motors FM-2 Wildcats of Composite Squadron (VC) 93 aboard USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) prepare for a mission supporting the invasion of Okinawa, 25 March 1945.

Image from Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II, by John Dibbs, Kent Ramsey, and Robert "Cricket" Renner (Osprey Publishing).

Robert Hurst
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS1015019205
4.91M

LCI(L)-192 drydocked at Long Beach Naval Shipyard during conversion to an LCI(G). She is in the drydock along with nine other LCIs, USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) and USS Mustin (DD-413), circa June–August 1945.

Mustin departed Okinawa 28 May for Guam, Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, and San Pedro, arriving 18 June for a yard overhaul and alterations. The war ended six days before she left San Pedro. On 19 June Petrof Bay moored at the Naval Operating Base, Terminal Island, San Pedro, for a general overhaul. Petrof Bay sailed for Pearl Harbor 14 August.

Larry Gauthier
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308011
130K

A beautiful ship display commemorating USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) and all those who served aboard.

Tommy Trampp
CVE-80 Petrof Bay
NS0308014
23K

Replica of the ship's bell, by J. and L. Mayall.

Tommy Trampp

For more photos and information about this ship, see:

Read the USS PETROF BAY (CVE-80 / CVU-80) DANFS History entry

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

Contact Name: Mr. Ambrose L Ruchotzke
Address:441 15th Ave Camanche, IA, 52730-2010
Phone: 319-259-8591
E-mail: None

Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Escort Carrier Sailors & Airmen Association

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Last update: 1 April 2024