USS Liscome Bay (ACV/CVE-56) was the second of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers built to serve the United States Navy during World War II.

On 24 November 1943, her munitions were catastrophically detonated by a torpedo attack by the Japanese submarine I-175 while she was acting as the flagship of Carrier Division 24, which was supporting operations on Makin.

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

She was launched on 19 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Clara Klinksick, wife of Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, the Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks.

However, a change in plans resulted in the Bogue-class escort carrier USS Baffins being redesignated as Ameer in Liscome Bay's place.

Captain Irving D. Wiltsie was the ship's first commander,[10] and her crew was derived from the Bogue-class escort carrier USS Glacier, which had been ordered in July 1942 but was sent to the Royal Navy as part of the Lend-Lease program.

She then conducted additional drills and training exercises off of Hawaii until early November, when she was assigned to the invasion fleet assembling for Operation Kourbash.

[14] As a member of Carrier Division 24, she departed from Pearl Harbor on 10 November as part of Task Force 52 commanded by Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner, bound for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands.

[16] The invasion bombardment announcing the first major U.S. naval thrust into the central Pacific began on 20 November at 5 a.m. Just 76 hours later, Tarawa and Makin Islands were both captured.

Liscome Bay's aircraft had played a vital role in the capture of Makin, providing close air support and bombing Japanese positions.

[21] The U.S. task group, built around Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix's three escort carriers, was steaming 20 mi (32 km) southwest of Butaritari Island at 15 knots.

[10] The task group was traveling in a circular formation, with seven destroyers, the cruiser Baltimore, the battleships Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Mississippi, and Liscome Bay's two sister ships, Corregidor and Coral Sea, surrounding her.

[24] The torpedo struck behind the aft engine room,[10] as Liscome Bay was conducting its turn, and detonated the bomb magazine, causing a devastating explosion that engulfed the ship and sent shrapnel flying as far as 5,000 yards (4,600 m) away.

[26] Considerable debris fell on the battleship New Mexico about 1,500 yards (1,400 m) off, while a sailor on board the escort carrier Coral Sea was reportedly hit by a fire extinguisher from Liscome Bay.

[26] At 05:33, only 23 minutes after the explosion, Liscome Bay listed to starboard and sank; 54 officers and 648 sailors were killed, including Captain Irving Wiltsie, Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix and Doris Miller.

[33] At 05:40, the destroyers Morris, Hughes and Hull arrived at the oil slick to rescue survivors, but many of the sailors hauled up were dead or dying.

Including those lost on Liscome Bay, U.S. casualties in the assault on Makin Island exceeded the strength of the entire Japanese garrison.

[20] In the Chapel of St. Cornelius, located within Valley Forge Military Academy and College, two stained-glass windows, installed in 1965, act as a memorial to Liscome Bay.