Markay was laid down on 3 June 1938, at Kearney, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., under a Maritime Commission contract (MC Hull 5); launched on 4 March 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Marguerite Vickery (née Blanchard), wife of Howard L. Vickery; delivered to the Keystone Tankship Corporation, and operated by that company until acquired by the Navy, on 26 June 1941.

During the Naval Battle of Casablanca from 8–11 November, Suwannee sent up 255 air sorties and lost only five planes, three in combat and two to operational problems.

On 11 November, off Fedhala Roads, her ASW patrol sank what was reported to be a German U-boat, but which was later determined to have been Sidi Ferruch, one of the three French submarines which sortied from Casablanca, on the day of the assault.

For the next seven months, she provided air escort for transports and supply ships replenishing and bolstering the Marines on Guadalcanal, as well as for the forces occupying other islands in the Solomons group.

After short stops at Purvis Bay, in the Solomons, and at Seeadler Harbor, Manus, the escort carrier headed for New Guinea.

On 19 June, as the Battle of the Philippine Sea began to unfold, Suwannee was one of the first ships to draw enemy blood when one of her planes flying combat air patrol attacked and sank the Japanese submarine I-184.

Suwanee's planes did not actually become engaged in the famous battle of naval aircraft, because they remained with the invasion forces in the Marianas providing ASW and combat air patrols (CAPs).

This drew Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's Bombardment Group south to meet that threat in the Battle of Surigao Strait.

With Admiral Oldendorf's old battleships fighting in Surigao Strait and Halsey's 3rd Fleet scurrying north, Suwannee, with the other 15 escort carriers and 22 destroyers and destroyer escorts, formed the only Allied naval force operating off Leyte Gulf when Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's 1st Striking Force sneaked through the unguarded San Bernardino Strait into the Philippine Sea.

This force, Kurita's, immediately began a surface engagement with Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's "Taffy 3", the northernmost group of escort carriers.

[2] His bomb compounded the fracture when it exploded between the flight and hangar decks, tearing a 25 ft (7.6 m) gash in the latter and causing a number of casualties.

[2] Medical officer Lieutenant Walter B. Burwell wrote: One of our corpsmen tending the wounded on the flight deck saw the plight of those isolated by fire on the forecastle.

So he and I restocked our first aid bags with morphine syrettes, tourniquets, sulfa, Vaseline, and bandages, commandeered a fire extinguisher and made our way forward, dodging flames along the main deck.

Along part of the way, we were joined by a sailor manning a seawater fire hose with fairly good pressure, and though the seawater would only scatter the gasoline fires away from us, by using the water and foam alternatively as we advanced, we managed to work our way up several decks, through passageways along the wrecked and burning combat information center and decoding area, through officers' country, and finally out on the forecastle.

But others trapped below and aft of the forecastle area found themselves under a curtain of fire from aviation gasoline pouring down from burning planes on the flight deck above.

By the time we arrived on the forecastle, the flow of gasoline had mostly consumed itself, and flames were only erupting and flickering from combustible areas of water and oil.

With each salvo of popping, two or three more panicky crew men would leap over the side, and we found that our most urgent task was to persuade those poised on the rail not to jump by a combination of physical restraint and reassurance that fires were being controlled and that more help was on the way.

Most of the remaining wounded in the forecastle area were severely burned beyond recognition and hope.Within two hours, her flight deck was sufficiently repaired to enable the escort carrier to resume air operations.

Suwanee's group fought off two more air attacks before 13:00; then steamed in a northeasterly direction to join Taffy 3 and launch futile searches for Kurita's rapidly retiring force.

Her repairs were completed by 31 January 1945; and, after brief stops at Hunter's Point and Alameda, California, she headed west and back into the war.

Her first assignment was close air support for the invasion troops, but, within a few days, she settled down to a routine of pounding the kamikaze bases at Sakishima Gunto.

Periodically, she put into the anchorage at Kerama Retto, to rearm and replenish, but she spent the bulk of her time in air operations at sea.

She remained there for a week, then returned to the Netherlands East Indies, at Makassar Strait, to support the landings at Balikpapan, Borneo.

On 7 September, Van Valkenburgh stood out of Buckner Bay, in company with Anthony, Wadsworth, Beale, and Ammen, as screen for the carriers Suwannee, Chenango, Cape Gloucester, and the cruiser Birmingham, bound for Japan and occupation duty in the erstwhile enemy's waters.

In the Pacific, all the 1,430,000 Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine personnel and the 1,360,000 Army people, on 1 November, except those in occupation units are scheduled to be returned by June.