As built, Bogue displaced 9,800 tons and held a running length of 495.7 feet, a beam measuring 111.5 feet, and a draught down to 26 feet. Her speed, in ideal conditions, could reach 18 knots which was serviceable. Her crew numbered 890 personnel that included a sizeable air wing contingent. Her aircraft-carrying capabilities was stretched to cover twenty-four total aircraft, typically a mix of navy fighters and torpedo bombers, namely Grumman F4F Wildcats or Hellcats in the former and the Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber in the latter. Radar became a standard fitting for the design which gave the vessel a tactical and strategic advantage in the wide open spaces of naval warfare.
Her flight deck was made of wood and of a straight-through, flat-top design. A small island superstructure was set over the forward starboard side of the vessel. Her hull clearly showcased its mercantile roots with the flat top deck simply added over the existing structural framework.
The vessels armament scheme was purely defensive in nature, centered around airspace denial / anti-aircraft work. She carried 2 x 5" (127mm) Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns along with 8 x 40mm Bofors AA guns in four twin-gunned mountings as well as 12 x 20mm Oerlikon AA guns.
USS Bogue was ordered to the Atlantic for February of 1943 and her crew managed to sink a German U-boat on her forth sortie. Her onboard storage allowed for her to undertake broader submarine-hunting missions than typical frigates and destroyers equipped for such work. On her fifth sortie out, she claimed another two U-boats and, in July of 1943, this being her seventh outing, USS Bogue claimed another enemy submarine.
During the early part of 1944, she was used to ferry combat aircraft to English shores to support the European war effort. Following that, she resumed her submarine-hunting sorties in March that led to her claiming U-575 and three more enemy submarines followed before the end of September. In all, USS Bogue was credited with sinking thirteen enemy submarines (eleven German and two Japanese) with the last one claimed during April of 1945 - this month also marking the last full month of combat in the European Theater (the German military collapsed shortly after Hitler's suicide).
With her European commitment complete, USS Bogue was relocated to the Pacific Theater where her specialty of transporting aircraft, goods, and supplies was put to the test across the vast expanses of the Pacific region. Once in-theater, she was used to deliver such valuable cargo to forward operating areas to help shore up defenses against Japanese counter attacks. With the Japanese Empire capitulating in August of 1945, USS Bogue completed her last war-related gestures when she ferried home veterans and POWs from the Far East to the states.
On November 30th, 1946, she was placed in reserve and berthed at Tacoma, Washington before being decommissioned and ultimately scrapped. For her service in World War 2, the warship was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and three Battle Stars. With her thirteen total enemy sinkings during the conflict, USS Bogue was fondly remembered as the most successful escort carrier to serve in the anti-submarine role - a dangerous but utterly valuable task.
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