CVE-103 was initially named Alava Bay, 23 September 1943, for a bay indenting the southeastern shore of Revillagigedo Island, northeast of Point Alava, Alexander Archipelago, Alaska; it is located near the southern entrance of the Behm Canal, near 55° 13' North latitude, 131° 07' West longitude (NS0310304).

Renamed Roi, 26 April 1944, in keeping with the policy of renaming CVEs to commemorate victorious battles of the then still ongoing war. Roi is a small island in Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands (NS0310304a) which was captured by a U.S. naval task force 1 February 1944.

NS0310304b: Roi and Namur Islands attacked by U.S. forces, 1 February 1944. Roi and Namur were two different islands (Roi to the west, closest to camera, and Namur to the east), connected by a narrow neck of land and causeway. After the American occupation, US Navy SeaBees filled the area between the islands by December 1944; the two now joined islands are presently called Roi-Namur with a total area of about one square mile.

(Maps NS0310304 and NS0310304a courtesy of Google Maps. Photo NS0310304b from the collection of the late RADM Theodore R. Frederick, via Edwin Kaukali.)

USS Roi (CVE-103), location and date unknown.

USS Roi (CVE-103) at anchor, circa 1945-1946. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph (#NH 83285).