Here we see, some 80 years ago this month, four leaf clover-wearing General Motors FM-2 Wildcats and Grumman TBM-3 Avengers of Composite Squadron (VC) 93 aboard the Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) as they prepare for their first mission supporting the invasion of Okinawa, 25 March 1945. It was VC-93’s inaugural taste of combat.
Image from Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II, by John Dibbs, Kent Ramsey, and Robert “Cricket” Renner (Osprey Publishing), via Navsource
Petrof Bay’s war diary for the above day, March 25, 1945
Built under a Maritime Commission contract by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, Wash., Petrof Bay was laid down on 15 October 1943; launched on 5 January 1944; and commissioned on 18 February 1944 with Capt. Joseph Lester (“Paddy”) Kane (USNA 1923)– formerly the skipper of the Clemson-class seaplane tender (destroyer) USS McFarland (AVD 14)— in command.
With VC-76 aboard, Petrof Bay had already seen extensive combat in the Philippines with RADM Felix Stump’s Task Unit 77.4.2 (“Taffy II”) that included one probable hit on Yamato, two probable hits on Nagato, two on Kongo, and one on an unidentified cruiser, plus strafing runs on Yamato, the cruisers, and destroyers, going far to avenge the slaughter of Taffy III.
Battle off Samar, 25 October 1944 Japanese battleship Yamato (foreground) and a heavy cruiser in action during the Battle off Samar. The cruiser appears to be either Tone or Chikuma. Photographed from a USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) plane. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-378525
VC-76 went ashore at Guam in early March 1945 to re-equip and retrain after conducting a grueling 786 sorties over Iwo Jima, tapping in the newly formed and above-seen VC-93, which had only a few months prior made their carrier quals off California on sistership USS Matanikau (CVE-101).
Established at NAS Seattle on 23 February 1944, VC-93 had embarked on their trip from California to Hawaii on USS Shamrock Bay (CVE 84) in December and from there to Seadler Harbor, Manus, aboard USS Long Beach (CVE 1) in January 1945, and finally, via USS Barnes (CVE 20) for Guam via Ulithi in February.
While aboard Petrof Bay, VC-93 quickly got broken in, and during the March-April 1945 Okinawa operation, shot down at least 17 enemy planes in addition to flying close air support missions ashore and neutralizing the Japanese airfields on Sakashima from where kamikaze was operating.
In 70 operational days aboard Petrof Bay, VC-93 logged 1,143 Wildcat sorties (in 20 FM-2s) and 598 in the squadron’s 12 Avengers.
FM 2 Wildcat VC 93 “White 20” over USS Petrof Bay (CVE 80) off Okinawa 1945
Disembarked in Pearl Harbor in June as Petrof Bay headed to California for an overhaul after being 16 months at sea, the Shamrocks crossdecked to the Westbound sistership USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87) where they remained until the end of the war.
VC-93’s war, between Petrof Bay and Steamer Bay, accounted for some 8,500 logged hours in the air across 2,360 sorties.
VC-93 was disestablished in August 1945 while Petrof Bay, who received five battle stars for World War II service, was placed out of commission, in reserve, in the Boston Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in July 1946 then later sold in 1959 for scrap.
VC-93’s excellent 39-page War History is in the National Archives as is the ship’s own 90-page History.
An FM-2 (White 29, Bu No. 74512) that had served on Petrof Bay with VC-93 somehow managed to survive and has been on public display for the past 25 years, in her period four-leaf clover livery, on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum at The Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle.
