U.S.S. KULA GULF

USS Kula Gulf (CVE-108)

USS Kula Gulf was originally commissioned as the Vermillion Bay and renamed in November of 1943. The ship was trained off the West Coast for night carrier operations and then sent to the Western Pacific, where she joined the 7^th Fleet. She made trips through Pearl Harbor, the Marshal Islands, Leyte Gulf, Guam, China, Japan, and Guam.

The vessel was eventually assigned to help with the Magic Carpet operation, which was responsible for returning veterans home after the War was over. After this operation, she sailed to Norfolk and then on to Boston, where she was decommissioned and became part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

Kula Gulf was recommissioned in 1951 as Korean created a need for an expanded fleet. The ship underwent a shakedown in Guantanamo Bay, and then delivered planes to French Morocco to help with efforts there. After that, the vessel was involved in training of pilots to strengthen the U.S. forces that were in Korea.

This lasted for 15 months, which then lead to the support of Marine helicopter operations off Puerto Rico. An overhaul in 1953 led to air-antisubmarine efforts off the Atlantic Coast and in the Caribbean. The ship was involved in a few more missions during the 1950s, and then transferred to MSTS 30 during 1965 for help in South Vietnam, continuing shuttle operations through 1967.