This 1954 issue of the U.S. Navy’s Screen Magazine features the Hunter Killer Team — the work of anti-submarine warfare as conducted by the men of the fleet. An adaptation of an episode of the TV show “See it Now”, this film presents a compelling look at the ASW problem as it existed in the early 1950s. It features the USS Gilbert Islands CVE-107, operating off the coast of the U.S. East Coast with a group of destroyers including USS Owen (DD-536), a Fletcher-class destroyer. The USS Becuna (SS/AGSS-319), a Balao-class submarine, is also seen in the film, working as the target for the ASW team. USS Gilbert Islands is equipped with both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft which search out the submarine.
USS Gilbert Islands (CVE-107) (ex-St. Andrews Bay) was a Commencement Bay class escort carrier of the United States Navy.
She was launched on 20 July 1944 the Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Tacoma, Washington; sponsored by Mrs. Edwin D. McMorries; and commissioned on 5 February 1945, Captain L. K. Rice in command.
She was reclassified as AGMR-1 on 1 June 1963, renamed USS Annapolis on 22 June 1963 and finally recommissioned on 7 March 1964.
Towed to Philadelphia in November 1949, Gilbert Islands recommissioned on 7 September 1951 and put in at Boston on 25 November for overhaul. She joined the Atlantic Fleet on 1 August 1952, sailed 8 days later with a cargo of jets for Yokohama, Japan, arriving 18 September, and returned to her homeport of Quonset Point, R.I. on 22 October. She sailed on 5 January 1953 for the Caribbean to conduct training exercises off Cuba and returned to New England waters to continue these duties through the summer and fall of the year. Following a cruise to Halifax and overhaul at Boston, the escort carrier stood out on 5 January 1954 for a Mediterranean cruise, returning to Quonset Point on 12 March 1954 for reserve training and other exercises. She became the first of her class to have jets make touch-and-go landings on the flight deck while she had no way on, a dangerous experiment successfully conducted on 9 June 1954. She left Rhode Island on 25 June for Boston and decommissioned there on 15 January 1955.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
