USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) was a of the United States Navy. She was named after Fanshaw Bay, located within Cape Fanshaw, of the Alexander Archipelago in the Territory of Alaska. The cape was given its name by Charles Mitchell Thomas, who was mapping the area, in 1887. Built for service during World War II, the ship was launched in November 1943, and commissioned in December, and served in support of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Battle off Samar, and the Battle of Okinawa. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. She was decommissioned in August 1946, when she was mothballed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was sold for scrapping in September 1959.
Casablanca-class escort carrier
Fanshaw Bay was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, the most numerous type of aircraft carriers ever built, and was designed specifically to be mass-produced using prefabricated sections, in order to replace heavy early war losses. Standardized with her sister ships, she was long overall, had a beam of , and a draft of . She displaced standard, with a full load. She had a long hangar deck and a long flight deck. She was powered with two Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines, which drove two shafts, providing , thus enabling her to make . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . Her compact size necessitated the installment of an aircraft catapult at her bow, and there were two aircraft elevators to facilitate the movement of aircraft between the flight and hangar deck: one each fore and aft.
One /38 caliber dual-purpose gun was mounted on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by eight Bofors anti-aircraft guns in single mounts, as well as twelve Oerlikon cannons, which were mounted around the perimeter of the deck. By the end of the war, Casablanca-class carriers had been modified to carry thirty cannons, and the amount of Bofors guns had been doubled to sixteen, by putting them into twin mounts. These modifications were in response to increasing casualties due to kamikaze attacks.