USS Bougainville (CVE-100) was the forty-sixth of fifty Casablanca-class escort carrier built for the United States Navy during World War II.

The ship was launched in May 1944, and commissioned in June, and served as a replenishment carrier in support of the invasion of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa.

She was powered with two Uniflow reciprocating steam engines, which drove two shafts, providing 9,000 shp (6,700 kW), thus enabling her to make 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).

[5] By the end of the war, Casablanca-class carriers had been modified to carry thirty 20-mm cannons, and the amount of 40-mm guns had been doubled to sixteen, by putting them into twin mounts.

She was launched on 16 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Sally A. Monfort; transferred to the United States Navy and commissioned on 18 June 1944, with Captain Charles Alonzo Bond in command.

She returned to the West Coast on 23 August, and following a seventeen-day period at port, she left on 9 September for another transport mission.

In the closing months of 1944, Bougainville made another transport mission from Pearl Harbor to the Marianas, making a stop at Eniwetok.

[12] Throughout her service as a replenishment carrier, she received supplies and additional aircraft from bases located within Eniwetok, Guam, and Ulithi in the Caroline Islands.

At the peak of the storm, Windham Bay experienced estimated winds of 127 kn (235 km/h; 146 mph) and waves towering some 75 ft (23 m) high.

[13][14] In mid-June, Bougainville was released from her replenishment duties, when she undertook a transport mission to bases located within the Philippines, before returning to Guam.

After completing her mission, she steamed eastward, pausing at Pearl Harbor, before arriving back at San Diego, where she lay in port until early August for repairs and replenishment.

After stops at Pearl Harbor and Guam, she was anchored off of the island of Roi-Namur when the formal signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was occurring on 2 September.

Continuing westwards, she anchored at Nakagusuku Bay on 27 September, before leaving harbor the following day to evade Typhoon Jean, which appeared to heading for the Okinawa Islands.

[9] Bougainville returned to port on 3 October, where she took on two Marine Corps observation squadrons, VMO-3 and VMO-6, which were headed to China for occupation duty.

Steaming eastwards, she made a brief layover at Pearl Harbor, arriving back at the West Coast by the end of October.