Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

OKINAWA   (CVE-127)

CLASS - COMMENCEMENT BAY
Displacement 21,397 Tons (full load), Dimensions, 557' 7" (oa) x 75' x 30' 8" (Max)
Armament 2 x 5"/38AA 36 x 40mm, 20 x 20mm, 33 Aircraft.
Machinery, 16,000 SHP; Allis-Chambers, Geared Turbines, 2 screw
Speed, 19 Knots, Crew 1066.

Operational and Building Data

Laid down 22 May 1945 by the Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Tacoma, Wash. Construction canceled on 11 August 1945, before launching.


Click On Image
For Full Size Image
Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Name
Okinawa
NS0312701
58k

CVE-127 was assigned the name Okinawa, 29 June 1945, after the largest of the Ryukyu Islands (NS0312701). Okinawa was the site of one of the last major island landings of World War II and scene of some of its heaviest fighting. The operation, under the strategic command of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, began with 5th Fleet air strikes against Kyushu on 18 March 1945, and initial landings on Okinawa itself on Easter Sunday, 1 April. An enormous assemblage of ships participated in the operation, during which 36 of them of destroyer size or smaller were lost, most to the heaviest concentration of kamikaze attacks of the war. Almost 8,000 enemy aircraft were destroyed in the air or on the ground. As part of the action, on 7 April last remnants of the Imperial Japanese Navy ventured forth, only to be met by the overwhelming Navy airpower. Japanese battleship Yamato, light cruiser Yahagi, and four destroyers (Asashimo, Hamakaze, Isokaze and Kasumi) were sunk in the one-day battle. As a result of securing Okinawa, the supply lanes of the East China Sea were blocked, isolating all southern possessions still in Japanese hands; and the last obstacle in the path to the Japanese Home Islands was cleared. (Map courtesy of Google Maps.)

NS0312701a: Ten-Go Operation, 7 April 1945. Japanese battleship Yamato listing to port and down at the bow, during attacks by U.S. Navy carrier planes north of Okinawa. One of her escorting destroyers is at left. The original photo caption reads: "Japanese battleship Yamato lists to port (at right) just prior to VT-9 (USS Yorktown) torpedo attack. She is making 10 to 15 knots. A Japanese destroyer cruises ahead. Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane." Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, # NH 62585.)

NavSource
Yamato, Op. Ten-Go
NS0312701a
255k

Read the Okinawa (CVE-127) DANFS History entry


Crew Contact and Reunion Information
Date: N/A
Place:  
Name:  
Address:  
Phone:  
E-mail:  
Web site:  
Remarks:  

Related Links
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Escort Carrier Sailors & Airmen Association

Main
Photo Index
Escort Carrier
Photo Index Page

Comments, Suggestions or Image submissions, E-mail Carrier Information
Problems and site related matters, E-mail Webmaster

This page was created by Paul Yarnall and is maintained by Fabio Peña
All pages copyright NavSource Naval History

Last update: 27 February 2019