U.S.S. Makassar Strait

On April 27, 1944, the escort carrier Makassar Strait (CVE 91), joined the United States fleet. The Navy had only recently started on the long road of island-hopping to Tokyo. On January 14, 1946, the same carrier sailed her last mile to a Tacoma pier, to be placed in commission in reserve. The war had ended five months before; most of America\u27s fighting men had been returned to their homeland. The Mighty Mak had completed her mission in World War II. The job was done -- well done. In the twenty-and-a-half months between those two dates, the baby flattop had been called upon to serve in a great variety of assignments. She had fought in direct support of landings and invasions; given aerial protection to the vital life-lines of supply to a fleet operating far from land bases; ferried many loads of planes to vital outposts; given training to hundreds of pilots enroute to front-line carrier duty; served as an experimental station afloat; and, when the fighting was over, scurried back and forth between Pacific islands and the West Coast bringing veterans home on the magic carpet. During this period, the Mak churned up a wake through more than 115,000 miles of Pacific ocean --a bout half way to the moon. Over fifteen thousand times Navy pilots had brought their Avengers, Wildcats, and Corsairs down on her sturdy flight deck. This was the record of the 10,000-ton box-shaped floating airfield ... This is the story of the Mighty Mak.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1160/thumbnail.jp