USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60)

• Namesake: USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60) was named after the Battle of Guadalcanal, a pivotal Allied victory in the Pacific during World War II. • Class: She was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, one of the most numerous classes of aircraft carriers ever built, designed for rapid construction. • Commissioning: USS Guadalcanal was commissioned on September 25, 1943, with Captain Daniel V. Gallery in command. • Hunter-Killer Group: The ship was the flagship of Task Group 22.3, a "hunter-killer" anti-submarine group in the Atlantic Ocean. • Capture of U-505: On June 4, 1944, planes and escorts from USS Guadalcanal captured the German submarine U-505 off the coast of West Africa—the first time a U.S. Navy vessel captured an enemy ship at sea since the 19th century. • Intelligence Bonanza: The capture of U-505 yielded valuable codebooks, an Enigma machine, and other intelligence crucial to breaking German naval codes. • Secrecy: The capture of U-505 was kept secret from the public and even many in the Navy to prevent the Germans from realizing their codes had been compromised. • Aircraft Complement: USS Guadalcanal typically carried around 28 aircraft, including Grumman FM-2 Wildcats (fighters) and TBM Avengers (torpedo bombers). • Decorations: The ship and her crew received the Presidential Unit Citation for their actions in anti-submarine warfare, particularly regarding the U-505 operation. • Postwar Fate: After the war, she was decommissioned in July 1946 and eventually scrapped in 1959. The U-505 submarine is now preserved and displayed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, thanks to efforts led by Captain Gallery.