Built for service during World War II, the ship was launched in November 1943, and commissioned in January 1944, and served in support of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and the Battle of Okinawa.

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).

[4] 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.

[4][5] The escort carrier was laid down on 20 July 1943, under a Maritime Commission contract, MC hull 1111, by Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington.

She was launched on 28 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Robert H. Lewis; transferred to the United States Navy and commissioned on 3 January 1944, with Captain Horace Bushnell Butterfield in command.

She then underwent a transport mission to Pearl Harbor on 6 February, carrying a load of replacement aircraft and military personnel.

She then returned to San Diego, stopping at Pearl Harbor along the way, and arriving on 27 April, carrying wounded military personnel, as well as nonfunctional aircraft.

The location had been chosen because it lay out of range of Japanese fighters, but it also happened to lie within Typhoon Alley, where many Pacific tropical cyclones transited.

[10] As the weather continued to deteriorate, Admiral William Halsey Jr. ordered fueling operations suspended at 13:10, just after noon.

He ordered his fleet to move to the next morning's planned rendezvous spot, approximately 160 mi (260 km) northwest, and comfortably safe from the typhoon's impacts.

Conflicting orders meant that some of the destroyers attempted to do some fueling during the morning, even as waves with an estimated height of 60 ft (18 m) pounded the task force.

Captain Butterfield radioed to Vice Admiral John S. McCain Sr. that Nehenta Bay could not continue on her given path, and asked for permission to change course.

To maintain steerageway, she increased her speed to 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph), before Butterfield decided that it would be easier to change the ship on a northwesterly heading.

Her rolls steadied to a bit less than 30°, but her crew still had to fight to stay in control against heavy seas and gusty winds.

There was minor damage on the flight deck, but her loss in cargo and hull integrity was little compared to her fellow ships of Task Group 30.8.

[15] On 17 January, whilst Nehenta Bay was operating in the South China Sea, she once again suffered damage as a result of the weather.

Some steel supports near her bow buckled under the waves, and the flight deck bent down and sank, rendering the aircraft catapult inoperational.

She then briefly served as a training carrier, conducting pilot qualifications off of Guam, before arriving at Ulithi on 9 May, where she prepared to begin operations in support of the landings on Okinawa.

There, she watched on as Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher accepted the formal surrender of Japanese forces in northern Honshu and Hokkaido on 6 September.

[18] Her aircraft contingent dropped supplies to prisoners of war, and conducted patrols as U.S. forces landed throughout the Japanese islands.

Berthed at the East Boston Naval Annex, she suffered extensive damage on 31 August 1954 as a result of Hurricane Carol, which toppled a dockyard crane onto her flight deck.