Launched in April 1944, and commissioned in May, she served in support of the Philippines campaign, the Invasion of Iwo Jima, and the Battle of Okinawa.

She was powered with two Uniflow reciprocating steam engines, which provided a force of 9,000 horsepower (6,700 kW), driving two shafts, enabling her to make 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).

The ship had a cruising range of 10,240 nautical miles (18,960 km; 11,780 mi), assuming that she traveled at a constant speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[4] By the end of the war, Casablanca-class carriers had been modified to carry thirty 20 mm cannons, as a response to increasing casualties due to kamikaze attacks.

[7] The escort carrier was laid down on 12 January 1944 under a Maritime Commission contract, MC hull 1130, by Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington.

After returning her aircraft cargo to San Diego, she sailed to Long Beach Naval Shipyard, where she underwent overhaul.

On 10 October, Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin took control over the escort carrier group, making Makin Island as his flagship.

Notably, on 21 November, she opened fire on three Nakajima J1N "Irving" twin-engined bombers who flew near the carrier, albeit the aircraft did not engage, and escaped.

On the night of 3 January, a Mitsubishi A6M Zero "Zeke" dove on the escort carriers, plunging into the ocean approximately 500 yd (460 m) from the starboard of Makin Island.

During the three-week operation, the only fatality onboard Makin Island was a sailor on the flight deck, who died when a 3.5-inch rocket on an Avenger accidentally discharged, launching him off the carrier.

[14] Notably, her fighters intercepted two Japanese troop transports carrying reinforcements to Iwo Jima, which were promptly strafed and sunk.

[15] The carrier group yet again came under heavy Japanese kamikaze attacks, but Makin Island was once again unscathed, although Bismarck Sea was sunk, and Saratoga heavily damaged.

Upon a sweep of the Chinese coast, in which the task group encountered minimal resistance, and after a brief bombing of Shanghai harbor, she anchored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 13 August.

There, she received news of the Japanese surrender, and on 9 September proceeded to Wakanoura Wan, in southern Honshū, for occupation duty.

She sailed for San Francisco on 18 October, arriving on 5 November, then voyaged to Shanghai to return troops (including the famous Flying Tigers) to the United States at Seattle on 30 December.

[18] Makin Island was decommissioned on 19 April 1946 at Puget Sound, was stricken from the Navy list on 11 July, and sold on 1 January 1947.