ACV-67, originally authorized for transfer to Great Britain under lend-lease, was laid down as (HMS) Emperor, 19 April 1943.

Retained by the US Navy, she was renamed Nassuk Bay (misspelled?), 28 June 1943.

Renamed Solomons, 6 November 1943, after a pivotal campaign in the South Pacific, during World War II.

The Solomons are a group of islands in the southwestern Pacific, east of New Guinea, containing 15 major islands and numerous smaller ones. United States forces invaded the group at Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942. This was the first amphibious operation directed against Japanese-held territory in World War II. By February 1943, Guadalcanal had been secured, and landings were made on two other islands of the group, Bougainville and New Georgia. The development of the campaign in New Guinea, however, enabled the Americans to bypass the approximately 120,000 remaining Japanese who were scattered among the other islands of the Solomons group.

(A previous Solomons (YFB-23) was named for an island in the mouth of the Patuxent River in Maryland.)

(Images: Google Maps)

USS Solomons (CVE-67) at Pier #2, Astoria, Oregon, 30 November 1943. Taken from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68).

National Archives & Records Administration photo (# 80-G-366575).

USS Solomons (CVE-67) leaving San Diego harbor, California, 31 December 1943. Photographed from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command (# NH 106570).

TBF Avenger launching from USS Solomons (CVE-67), date and location unknown.

"As the Solomons steamed southward, on 25 March [1944] while making a landing approach Lieutenant (jg) Chamberlain's plane started to settle in the 'groove' (correct flight paht to the deck), but he never caught it in time by adding more power. His Avenger hit the edge of the flight deck ramp and split in two. Chamberlain stayed on the deck, while his crewmen in the tail section bounced off the five-inch gun on the fantail of the carrier and into the water. They were picked up by the guard destroyer escort and all recovered from their injuries."

Photo and text from VC-9 First in the Battle of the Atlantic, by Robert F. Menary and Moncrieff ("Monty") J. Spear.

"Departing Recife[, Brazil,] in June 1944, Solomons was soon involved in her sole U-boat engagement of the war. On 15 June, one of Solomons' pilots reported contact with an enemy submarine some 50 miles from the carrier. The escorts Straub [(DE-181)] and Herzog [(DE-178)] were immediately directed to the position of the contact. The pilot who had made the initial contact on the submarine[, ENS George E. Edwards, Jr.,] was shot down by enemy antiaircraft fire, but at 1654, another Solomons aircraft regained visual contact. Five other Solomons aircraft soon joined up with it, and the group commenced a series of rocket and depth charge attacks which resulted in the sinking of the submarine [U-860—Type IX D2—], although with the loss of another pilot[, LT(JG) William F. Chamberlain]. Straub succeeded in rescuing 20 survivors, including the commanding officer[, Fregattenkapitän Paul Büchel]. Solomons continued antisubmarine air operations until 23 June, when she returned to Recife to refuel and disembark the captured German sailors." (Quoted from DANFS, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.)

VC-9 pilots who carried out the attack were: ENS George E. Edwards, Jr. (Avenger), LCDR Howard M. Avery (Avenger), ENS Moncrieff J. Spear (Avenger), LT(JG) William F. Chamberlain (Avenger), LT(JG) Donald E. Weigle (Avenger), ENS Thomas J. Wadsworth (Wildcat), and ENS Richard E. McMahon (Wildcat).

NS0306714: German survivors aboard USS Straub (DE-181). Forty-two U-860 crew members were killed.

NS0306714a: U-860 officers aboard Solomons.

NS0306714b: U-860 enlisted aboard Solomons.

NS0306714c: U-860 memorial service aboard Solomons.

NS0306714d: U-860 last rites aboard Solomons.

Aerial view, probably taken sometime in April–August 1944, while USS Solomons (CVE-67) had VC-9 aboard.

A US Navy Grumman F6F-3N Hellcat overshoots the flight deck of USS Solomons (CVE-67), Atlantic Ocean, 18 November 1944.

From Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II, by John Dibbs, Kent Ramsey and Robert "Cricket" Renner (Osprey Publishing, 2017).

Memorial service for President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard USS Solomons (CVE-67), 15 April 1945.

"? June 1945, water crash of a TBM Avenger plane # MT219, from the deck of the USS Solomons CVE 67. As you can see from the enlarged inset photo, the pilot appears to be OK!, because he is getting out of his plane."

Ex-USS Solomons (CVE-67) along with other nearly new escort carriers at Boston Navy Yard in April 1946, awaiting disposal.

Joseph Ernest Comeau, when he was 18 years old, in 1944.

COMEAU, Joseph Ernest, S1c

COMMENDATION

"While acting as chockman on the flight deck of the USS Solomons on 2 May 1945, when his plane was struck by another out of control, in the face of extreme danger, he immediately chocked the right wheel of his plane, and then shifted to the tail surface in order to keep the plane and the pilot in it from going over the side. His action probably resulted in saving one aircraft and the life of one pilot."

"His cool exhibition of exceptionally good judgment and a high degree of courage are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. naval service."

[Signed] R[ichard] S[tanley] Moss
Captain, U.S.N.
Commanding.

Joseph Ernest Comeau by a twin 40-mm gun mount.

Joseph Ernest Comeau by an F4U Corsair on the flight deck of USS Solomons (CVE-67).

Joseph Ernest Comeau reading mail from home, on the flight deck of USS Solomons (CVE-67), on Navy Day 1945.

"Flying Blues - Ball Club."

Master at Arms, 7 May 1945.