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Training ships (2 ships)
WOLVERINE IX-64
Displacement: 7,200 tons
Complement: 270
Length: 500 ft
Beam: 98 ft
Draught: 15.6 ft
Aircraft: ?
Guns: none
Armour:
Machinery: 28 kts, Propulsion 4 coal fired boilers, compound
reciprocating engines, 2 sidewheels, 8000 hp.
Side-wheel excursion steamer built, 1913 as Seeandbee at American
Shipbuilding Co., Wyandotte, MI, for the Cleveland and Buffalo
Transit Co; Acquired by the Navy, 12 March 1942; Converted Miscellaneous
Unclassified a training aircraft carrier; Commissioned USS Wolverine
(IX-64), 12 August 1942, at Buffalo, NY; Decommissioned, 7 November
1945; Struck from the Naval Register 28 November 1945; Transferred
to the Maritime Commission, 26 November 1947 for disposal; Final
disposition, sold for scrapping December 1947 at Cleveland, O. |
 The
second Wolverine (IX-64)-a side-wheel excursion steamer built
in 1913-was originally named Seeandbee, a euphonious name based
upon her owners' company name-the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit
Co. She was constructed by the American Shipbuilding Co. of Wyandotte,
Mich. The Navy acquired the side-wheeler on 12 March 1942 and
designated her an unclassified miscellaneous auxiliary, IX-64.
Conversion to a training aircraft carrier began on 6 May 1942;
and the name Wolverine, commemorating the first ship of the name,
was approved on 2 August. Wolverine was commissioned at Buffalo,
N.Y., on 12 August 1942, Comdr. George R. Fairlamb in command
.
 As
the Navy's first side-wheeled aircraft carrier, Wolverine was
equipped to handle plane take-offs and landings, a vital duty
that she performed for the duration of World War II. She contributed
to the winning war effort in World War II by training hundreds
of pilots in basic carrier operations. During an inspection conducted
by the admiral on 27 October 1942, she briefly flew the four-starred
flag of the Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet and
Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Ernest J . King.
Her task completed and the war over in the summer of 1946,
Wolverine was decommissioned on 7 November 1945 and struck from
the Navy list on 28 November. The ship was transferred to the
War Shipping Administration on 26 November 1947 and sold later
that same year for scrapping. |
