CVE-87 (later CVHE-87) was named Steamer Bay for a bay on the west coast of Etolin Island, Alexander Archipelago, Alaska (NS0308713). The bay was named Bukhta Parakhodnaya on Russian Hydrographic Dept. Chart 1493, published in 1853; the name Steamer Bay is an 1882 translation by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS).

(Map courtesy of Google Maps.)

USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87) with two Avenger torpedo bombers, and two Wildcat fighters on deck. Date and location unknown. U.S. Navy photo.

USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87), 22 April 1944, off San Diego, Calif. Camouflage Measure 14. USN photo.

A nice photo of USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87), taken from a ZP-31 airship on 14 May 1944, near the California coast, transporting lots of F4U Corsairs.

USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87), 17 July 1944, probably off California. Camouflage Measure 32, Design 12A. USN photo.

USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87) docked on the West Side of Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, 1944–1945.

Date and place unknown.

A couple F6F-5's prepare to take off from USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87), date and place unknown. Both Hellcats had been ferried by the escort carrier and squadron or carrier markings had not yet been applied. The lead plane is an F6F-5N night fighter, and has an APS-6 radar installed in a starboard wing-mounted radome.

Composite Squadron (VC) 90 FM-2 Wildcats ready to launch.

"You can't always win. Jan. 4, 1945. The sinking of the Ommaney Bay by suicide planes in the Sulu Sea. She had changed places with us only a short time before!!"

Action on January 5, 1945 shows the Steamer Bay under attack with a kamikaze shown flying past her stern. At the time, she was camouflaged in Measure 32, Design 12A (thanks to Aryeh Wetherhorn.)

Japanese plane making suicide attack on Task Force 77.4.2. Destroyer is probably USS Helm (DD-388), which was also hit by a kamikaze on this day. Photograph by USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87), released 5 January 1945.

Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), # 80-G-273114.

USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87). This photo is dated 23 February 1945, during the Iwo Jima operation.

An FM-2 Wildcat of VC-93 snags the arresting gear, July 9, 1945. Note three launch stubs for 5" High Velocity Air Rockets (HVARs) under each wing — these were fitted to late-production FM-2's.

TBM Avengers flying in formation.

At Bellingham, Washington, in early 1946, for preparation for "mothballing".

LT(JG) John "Jack" Newlin was one of two Radar Officers aboard USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87). He was a lawyer. The other Radar Officer was Ben Alexander, the actor later famed as Frank Smith, partner to Jack Webb's Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet.

Left to right: LT(JG) Newlin, ENS Foote, ENS McDermott, and LT(JG) Harter. Photo is dated 9 August 1944.

Crew of USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87). LT(JG) Jack Newlin is second from left, with binoculars, in the first row.

The salmon trawler Rujac underway off Tacoma, Washington, 18 June 1947, with decommissioned Navy escort carriers moored in the background: Stern of ex-USS Hollandia (CVE-97), along with ex-USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87) moored outboard of ex-USS Lunga Point (CVE-94), all three ships part of the Tacoma Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet.

Source: Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio, Photo No. D28441-4.

USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87), 50th Anniversary, 1944–1994, Philippine [Presidential] Unit Citation.

Life ring, mini souvenir (approx. 5.5" across), USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87). Dated 13 May 1944, the day before she departed the CONUS for the first time, headed for the New Hebrides.