USS Tulagi

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History
United States
Name	Tulagi
Namesake	The Battle of Tulagi, 7–8 August 1942
Ordered	as Fortazela Bay
Builder	Kaiser Company
Laid down	7 June 1943
Launched	15 November 1943
Commissioned	21 December 1943
Decommissioned	30 April 1946
Stricken	8 May 1946
Fate	Sold 1946 and scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	Casablanca-class escort carrier
Displacement	7,800 tons
Length	512 ft 3 in (156.13 m)
Beam	65 ft (20 m) 108 ft (33 m) maximum width
Draft	22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Speed	19 knots (35 km/h)
Complement	860
Armament	1 × 5-inch/38 cal. DP gun 16 × 40 mm AA cannon in 8 twin mounts 20 × 20 mm guns AA machine guns in single mounts
Service record
Operations:	Operation Dragoon Philippines campaign Invasion of Iwo Jima Battle of Okinawa
Awards:	4 Battle stars

USS Tulagi (CVE-72) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy.

She was laid down on 7 June 1943 at Vancouver, Washington, United States, by the Kaiser Company, Inc., as Fortazela Bay (ACV-72); and redesignated CVE-72 on 15 July 1943. However, her name was corrected to read Fortaleza Bay on 19 October 1943, and the ship was renamed Tulagi on 6 November 1943; launched on 15 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. James Duke Earner; and commissioned on 21 December 1943, Capt. Joseph Campbell Cronin in command.