USS Wolverine IX-64
USS Wolverine (IX-64) was a training ship used by the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally named Seeandbee and was built as a Great Lakes luxury side-wheel steamer cruise ship for the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Company. Seeandbee was launched on 9 November 1912 and was normally used on the Cleveland, Ohio to Buffalo, New York route with special cruises to other ports. After the original owners went bankrupt in 1939 Seeandbee was purchased by Chicago-based C & B Transit Company and continued operating until 1941.
Seeandbee was acquired by the United States Navy in 1942 and was quickly converted into a freshwater aircraft carrier for the advanced training of naval aviators in carrier take-offs and landings. Renamed USS Wolverine she was not equipped with armor, hangar deck, elevators or armaments. Wolverine was shorter and lower to the water than many of the aircraft carriers of the day but she was instrumental in her pilot training mission.
The first aircraft landing on USS Wolverine occurred during September 1942. From 1943 until the end of the war in 1945 USS Wolverine along with her sister ship USS Sable was used for the training of 17,000 pilots, landing signal officers and other navy personnel with minimal losses. Following the end of World War II the Navy decommissioned Wolverine on 7 November 1945 and she was sold for scrap in December 1947.
