The Casablanca class escort aircraft carriers are the most numerous class of aircraft carriers ever built. Fifty were laid down, launched and commissioned within the space of less than two years - 3 November through to 8 July These were nearly one third of the carriers built in the United States during the war.
Despite their numbers, and the preservation of more famous and larger carriers as museums, none of these modest ships survive today. Five were lost to enemy action during World War II and the remainder were scrapped. The first class to be designed from keel up as an escort carrier, the Casablanca class had a larger and more useful hangar deck than previous conversions.
It also had a larger flight deck than the Bogue class. Unlike larger carriers which had extensive armor, protection was limited to splinter plating. Casablanca class carriers were built by Kaiser Company, Inc. The Vancouver yard was expressly built in to construct Liberty Ships , but exigencies of war soon saw the yard building LST landing craft and then Escort Aircraft Carriers all before the end of the yard's first year in operation. The yard had twelve building ways and an enormous 3, foot outfitting dock along with a unique additional building slip originally intended to add prefabricated superstructures to Liberty ships.
Their small size made them useful for transporting assembled aircraft of various sizes, but combat fighters were usually smaller and lighter models such as the Wildcat. Although Essex class aircraft carriers were completed in 20 months or less, projections on the basis of the month average pre-war construction period estimated no new fleet carriers could be expected until The US naval authorities refused to approve construction of the Kaiser-built ships until Kaiser went directly to the President's advisors.
The Allies were in desperate need of carriers to replace early war losses. Kaiser produced the small carriers as rapidly as planned and resistance to their value quickly disappeared as they proved their usefulness defending convoys, providing air support for amphibious operations , and allowing fleet carriers to focus on offensive air-strike missions. Although designated as convoy escort carriers, the Casablanca class was far more frequently used in large fleet amphibious operations, where speed was less important and their small airgroups could combine to provide the effectiveness of a much larger ship.
