USS Kasaan Bay (CVE-69) was the fifteenth of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers built for the United States Navy during World War II.

The ship was launched in October 1943, commissioned in December, and served as a transport carrier in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, as well as taking part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of occupied Southern France.

Her aircraft provided air support and strategic bombing capabilities, disrupting German supply lines, and earning Kasaan Bay a battle star.

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

Upon finishing, she was assigned to transport duty, and sailed from San Francisco on 8 January 1944 with a load of aircraft and passengers, bound for Pearl Harbor.

After returning to Naval Air Station San Diego, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and sailed for Norfolk, arriving on 28 February for overhaul and operations along the East Coast.

On 28 May, she left New York City in conjunction with her sisters Tulagi and Mission Bay, ferrying aircraft on a round trip to Casablanca, French Morocco.

[11] Upon returning to the East Coast, Kasaan Bay and Tulagi were informed that they were to take part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied landings in Southern France.

The next day, on 30 June, Kasaan Bay and Tulagi left port, accompanied by six destroyer escorts as a part of Task Group 27.7, heading for Oran, French Algeria.

[6] Arriving at Oran on 10 July, Task Group 27.7 dissolved, with Durgin heading for Naples, Allied occupied Italy for invasion planning.

[6] The task group, stopping at Malta on 26 July, took Durgin back on board, and had the British Bogue-class escort carriers Hunter and Stalker join the force.

For the next six days, Kasaan Bay and Tulagi provided close air support for the Seventh Army as it established its beachheads and pushed inland.

The initial targets for VF-74 were a group of four coastal batteries situated on Porquerolles, whilst the aircraft contingent of Tulagi, Observation Fighting Squadron (VOF) 1, directed naval surface fire.

[13] On the morning of 19 August, a Junkers Ju 88 bomber was intercepted by eight of Kasaan Bay's Hellcats, led by VF-74's skipper, Bass, and shot down.

Near Villefranche-sur-Mer, one of the three remaining Hellcats was hit and downed by anti-aircraft fire, albeit the pilot escaped back to Allied lines via Bordeaux.

[14] At the end of the day on 21 August, after the escort carriers had retrieved their aircraft, (incidentally, during this process, Kasaan Bay recorded her 2,000th landing), Task Group 88.2 retired to Maddalena, Sardinia, to refuel and resupply.

However, finding bombs trimmed to the American standard that would enable them to be utilized by her Hellcats proved to be an elusive task, even after proceeding southwards to Propriano, Corsica.

Having completed her mission, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 14 February, where she served as a training carrier, providing pilot qualifications in the waters off of Hawaii.

[10] Upon hearing of the end of the war, Kasaan Bay returned to Guam, where she joined the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, which repatriated U.S. servicemen from throughout the Pacific.