USS Wolverine (IX-64) at anchor in Lake Michigan on 6 April 1943. |
|
| Career (US) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Seeandbee |
| Launched: | 1913 |
| Acquired: | 2 March 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 12 August 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 November 1945 |
| Renamed: | Wolverine on 2 August 1942 |
| Struck: | 28 November 1945 |
| Fate: | scrapped in December 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 7,200 long tons (7,300 t) |
| Length: | 500 ft (150 m) |
| Beam: | 98 ft (30 m) |
| Draft: | 15.5 ft (4.7 m) |
| Installed power: | 8,000 ihp (6,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 4× coal-fired boilers, reciprocating engines |
| Speed: | 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)[1] |
| Complement: | 270 men |
USS Wolverine (IX-64) was a freshwater aircraft carrier of the United States Navy during World War II. She had been converted from a paddlewheeler coal-burning steamer to be used for advanced training for naval aviators in carrier take-offs and landings.[2]
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Wolverine - a side-wheel excursion steamer built in 1913 - was originally named Seeandbee, a name based upon her owners' company name, the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Co.[3] She was constructed by the American Ship Building Company of Wyandotte, Michigan. The Navy acquired the sidewheeler on 12 March 1942 and designated her an unclassified miscellaneous auxiliary, IX-64. She was purchased by the Navy in March 1942 and conversion to a training aircraft carrier began on May 6, 1942.[4] The name Wolverine was approved on August 2, 1942 with the ship being commissioned on August 12, 1942.[4][5] Intended to operate on Lake Michigan, IX-64 received its name because the state of Michigan is known as the Wolverine State.
Fitted with a 550 ft (170 m) flight deck, Wolverine began her new job in January 1943, joined by her sister USS Sable (IX-81) in May. Operating various aircraft out of NAS Glenview, the two paddle-wheelers afforded invaluable training not only to pilots, but to smaller numbers of Landing Signal Officers (LSO) as well. As the Navy's first side-wheeled aircraft carrier, Wolverine was equipped to handle plane take-offs and landings, a vital duty that she performed for the duration of World War II. She contributed to the war effort in World War II by training thousands of pilots in basic carrier operations.[6]
Sable and Wolverine were a far cry from front-line carriers, but they were suitable for accomplishing the Navy's purpose: qualifying naval aviators fresh out of operational flight training in carrier landings.[7] The two carriers had certain limitations such as having no elevators or hangar deck. When crashes used up the allotted spots on the flight deck for parking dud aircraft, the day's operations were over and the carriers headed back to their pier in Chicago.
Another problem they had to contend with was wind over deck (WOD). Certain WOD minimums were required to land aircraft such as F6F Hellcats, F4U Corsairs, TBM Avengers and SBD Dauntlesses. When there was little or no wind on Lake Michigan, operations often had to be curtailed because the carriers couldn't generate sufficient speed to meet the WOD minimums.
Occasionally, when low-wind conditions persisted for several days and the pool of waiting aviators started to bunch up, an alternate system of qualifications was used. The alternate system was to qualify the pilots in SNJ Texans - even though most pilots had not flown the SNJ for four or five months.
Once the war was over, the need for such training ships also came to an end. Wolverine was decommissioned on 7 November 1945. Three weeks later, on 28 November, the ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. It was then transferred to the Maritime Commission on 26 November 1947 for disposal. The last records indicate that the ship was sold for scrapping in December 1947 at Cleveland, Ohio.[8]
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
