The bay was in turn named after USS Saginaw, a U.S. Navy sloop-of-war that spent 1868 and 1869 charting and exploring the Alaskan coast.

She was powered with two Uniflow 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).

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.

[8][4] A contract for fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers was made on 18 June 1942, with the construction being awarded to the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington.

Saginaw Bay was laid down on 1 November 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract, MC hull 1119, by Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Vancouver, Washington.

She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 April, where she unloaded her cargo in exchange for damaged planes, before returning to Alameda, California.

On 13 August, she left, bound for the Solomon Islands, where she would act as the flagship for Carrier Division 28, commanded by Rear Admiral George R.

As the Japanese Fleet closed in for a decisive engagement on 24 October, Saginaw Bay and Chenango transferred much of their aircraft contingent to other carriers.

[9][15] Saginaw Bay was anchored in Seeadler Harbor on 10 November when the ammunition ship Mount Hood underwent a catastrophic explosion.

On 10 February, her task group departed Ulithi en route to Iwo Jima, making a stop at Saipan along the way.

Her crew witnessed the escort carrier Bismarck Sea get hit by two kamikazes, before sinking from the resulting blaze.

[18] On 11 March, she departed from Iwo Jima bound for Ulithi, with Japanese forces still entrenched within the northern half of the island.

On 2 April, her anti-aircraft guns shot down a Japanese plane which dove towards her, while she was loading ammunition within Kerama Retto Harbor.

On 29 April, she was ordered back to the United States, making stops at Guam, Pearl Harbor, arriving at San Francisco on 22 May, where she underwent repairs.

On 14 September, she departed Hawaii, making stops at Guiuan Roadstead, Samar, and San Pedro Bay, Leyte, where she took on servicemen.

[9][22] On 1 February 1946, she was discharged from the Magic Carpet fleet, and departed San Francisco for Boston Naval Shipyard, on the Eastern seaboard.