USS Long Island
The USS Long Island (CVE-1) was an escort aircraft carrier, that is, a small carrier (sometimes called, "Baby Flattops") whose usual duty was to ferry aircraft and other large equipment, and used as training craft. During WWII, however, a these escort carriers were also used to augment Carrier Battle Groups in support of air operations.
Underway with a mixed cargo of airplanes and stores on her flight deck, 25 May 1943.
The planes include F4F, SBD and TBF types.
As the designation suggests, this ship was the first of its class, the Long Island-class, having been an experiment under authority of the United States Navy as a prototype to deem seaworthiness of naval air support from converted cargo ships. It was a rousing success and she was eventually pressed into service in the Pacific.
10 June 1944: She has 21 F6F fighters, 20 SBD scout bombers and two J2F utility
planes parked on her flight deck.
After the end of World War II the USS Long Island brought home service personnel as part of Operation "Magic Carpet" an effort by the US Navy utilizing hundreds of Navy vessels outfitted with extra bunks to to bring troops home from overseas.
Crew and rescue personnel respond to an aircraft which has slid off the flight deck
after returning from air operations, 25 July 1942. The carrier's SC radar antenna is
visible atop her stub mast at right.
The USS Long Island received a single Battle Star for actions in which a United States Navy vessel defined participated in designated engagements. Her keel was laid down 7 July 1939, she was decommissioned 26 March 1946, and converted to merchant service in 1949, renamed Nelly serving as an immigrant carrier between Canada and Europe before being sold in 1953 and renamed to Seven Seas acting in capacity as a school ship for 13 years before being sold again and used as a floating dormitory in 1966. She was finally dismantled in 1977.
Sporting a camouflage paint job, November 11, 1941. Planes on her flight deck
include seven Curtiss SOC-3A scout observation types and one Brewster F2A fighter.