Casablanca-class escort carrier

The Casablanca class was a class of escort carriers constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. They are the most numerous class of aircraft carriers ever built. Fifty were laid down, launched, and commissioned within less than two years – 3 November 1942 through to 8 July 1944. Despite their numbers, and the preservation of larger carriers as museums, none of these ships survives today. Five were lost to enemy action during World War II and the remainder were scrapped.
The Casablanca class was the first designed from keel up as an escort carrier rather than as a merchant hull conversion. Because of this, these ships had a larger hangar deck and a larger flight deck than the Bogue class. Unlike larger carriers, which had extensive armor, protection was limited to splinter plating. Their small size made them useful for transporting assembled aircraft of various sizes, including ferrying many aircraft types that were unable to operate from their decks. Their hull numbers were assigned consecutively, from CVE-55 Casablanca to CVE-104 Munda.

Casablanca-class carriers were built by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company's Vancouver Yard on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington...