USS Kitkun Bay

USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) was the 17th of 50 Casablanca-class escort carriers built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was launched in November 1943 and transferred to the Navy and commissioned in December. She served in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Battle off Samar, in which she faced the first wave of organized kamikaze attacks, and the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, during which she was damaged by another kamikaze and forced to withdraw. After the war, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating U.S. servicemen from around the Pacific. She was decommissioned in April 1946 and sold for scrapping in November. Ultimately, she was broken up in early 1947.