she was laid down by Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Tacoma, Washington, 15 June 1944; launched 29 December 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Anna-Marie H. Kurtz; and commissioned 22 October 1945, Capt.

In 1941, as United States participation in World War II became increasingly likely, the US Navy embarked on a construction program for escort carriers, which were converted from transport ships of various types.

These proved to be very successful ships, and the Commencement Bay class, authorized for Fiscal Year 1944, were an improved version of the Sangamon design.

[1] They proved to be the most successful of the escort carriers, and the only class to be retained in active service after the war, since they were large enough to operate newer aircraft.

Given the very large storage capacity for oil, the ships of the Commencement Bay class could steam for some 23,900 nautical miles (44,300 km; 27,500 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

She took part in training exercises off the West Coast of the United States in March, but as the Navy was drawing down its force levels after the war, Rendova was removed from active service with only a skeleton crew to maintain her.

[6] Rendova was reactivated in early 1947, and she spent the rest of the year participating in training maneuvers held off the West Coast and in the Hawaii area.

She was used as an aircraft transport in 1948, departing from San Francisco on 1 April with a cargo of North American T-6 Texan trainers, bound for Turkey.

She passed through the Suez Canal and then transited the Indian and Pacific Oceans on the way home, stopping in many foreign ports on the way to make goodwill visits.

[6] After arriving on station, she relieved the British aircraft carrier HMS Glory and began combat operations off the western coast of Korea on 26 September.

She left the United States in September to participate in Operation Ivy, a series of two nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands.

[6] By this time, the Navy had begun replacing the Commencement Bay-class ships with much larger Essex-class aircraft carriers, since the former were too small to operate newer and more effective anti-submarine patrol planes.

Proposals to radically rebuild the Commencement Bays either with an angled flight deck and various structural improvements or lengthen their hulls by 30 ft (9.1 m) and replace their propulsion machinery to increase speed came to nothing, as they were deemed to be too expensive.

[7] Assigned again to the Pacific Reserve Fleet on 2 February 1955, Rendova was allocated to the San Francisco Group and was decommissioned there on 30 June.