On 7 August 1942, while Marines were landing at Guadalcanal, the Navy requisitioned the side-wheeler Greater Buffalo. Her skipper of 18 years, Capt. Lee C. DeNike, toasted her from the bridge on her last voyage, "Anything to win the war," he said of the old veteran about to metamorphose into a new ship with a new life and a new mission. The Greater Buffalo had been launched 29 October 1923 at Lorain, Ohio, also as a passenger steamer, having been built by the American Shipbuilding Company of Lorain and Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan. The vessel had an overall length of 519 ft, a beam of 58 ft 3 in and a draft of 15 ft 5 in. With the paddle wheels, she measured 92 ft 2 in total width. Like the Seeandbee before her, the Greater Buffalo was conscripted into the Navy.
In March of 1942, the American Shipbuilding Company removed the Seeondbee's superstructure down to the main deck. This was done in Cleveland. On 10 May, four days after the fall of Corregidor, the conversion of the paddle-wheeler began in Buffalo. With a deadline of 120 days to completion, 1200 men worked around the clock... with patriotism at a nationwide high, the project took only three months and two days. The shipyard won the coveted Army-Navy “E" for Excellence award.
A coal burner, the Wolverine's four stacks were moved to the starboard side, According to George C. Long, writing in American Heritage Magazine: "Her machinery was so sound that no mechanical changes were necessary." A small island was added to hold the navigation bridge and observation tower, and a steel framework was added to support the three-inch thick Douglas fir flight deck. There were no catapults for launching aircraft or hangar deck for storage and workshops. The mini-flattop had an eight-wire arresting system and, of course, a cable barrier for those aircraft which failed to catch any of the wires. The complete flight deck was only 26 ft off the water perhaps a bit too close for Naval pilots as ocean-going carriers had decks about 70 ft above the waves. Long continued, "This proved a little disturbing to the young pilots, since a slight dip after takeoff is a common characteristic of carrier aviation, probably the result of the abrupt transition from over-the-deck to over-water, and a drop of only 26 feet could bring disaster."
Initial cost of the ship was $756,000 and the conversion ran $1,935,343, Renamed the USS Wolverine, the new flattop was rushed to Chicago to start flight operations on 22 August 1942. Mr. James Christopher was freshly assigned to the Wolverine when she was commissioned. I ... arrived in Buffalo from Midshipmen's School, i.e. Columbia University (90-day wonder which actually took 120 days), found the uniform for commissioning was white - had no white shoes - took a fast ride into city on rear of a policeman's bike purchased cheap pair at Thom McAn store and made the commissioning exercise. Then after a trial cruise we left for a cruise through Lake Erie - Detroit River (people lined on both sides cheering us on), Lake Huron, then to Lake Michigan - tied up to Navy pier - Chicago."
Meanwhile, the Greater Buffalo conversion had started at Erie, Pennsylvania. by the American Shipbuilding Company, On 19 September 1942, renamed the LISS Sable, phase two began. A small island holding the navigation bridge and observation tower was added to the starboard side along with the relocation of the smokestacks - the original three were combined into two. At the last minute it was decided to try out two new steel flight decking designs along with eight different non-skid coatings. This made the Sable the first US carrier with a steel flight deck. The Sable was commissioned 8 May 1943.
Interestingly, both ships had rudders in their bows as well as their sterns to enable greater maneuverability in tight spots since the paddle wheels ran off of the same shaft, they could not operate independently, The Wolverine displaced 7200 tons while the Sable displaced 8000 tons. According to Cdr. John D. Alden in When Airpower Rode on Paddle Wheels, "Their coal-fired reciprocating engines had low pressure cylinders a full eight feet in diameter, connected by a walking beam to paddle wheels which could only turn in the same direction at the same speed." Both ships, the only coal burning carriers in the Navy, could produce a speed of 18 knots. There was going to be a third carrier built from the conversion of the Greater Detroit, but the program was canceled.
The Navy had two training ships, each carrying 300 officers and men, They were just what the Navy needed to not only teach novice pilots how to land on a moving deck, but also to train ships' crews, deck crews and LSOs in the operations of aircraft carriers. This was of great importance; as an example of the dire straits the Navy was in at the beginning of the war, Long recounts in his article The SideWheel Carriers that the Wolverine's 'LSO came down with appendicitis and had to be taken ashore for emergency surgery, The fragility of this whole operation is suggested by the fact that his illness brought all training to a halt for two weeks."
Source: AirClassics
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