Officers, their families, and a Navy band gather in the cleared hangar bay of an escort carrier for a formal ceremony, most likely the commissioning of USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) in 1944. Escort carriers of the Casablanca class were mass-produced at Kaiser Shipyards in Vancouver, Washington, entering service in a matter of months to meet the Navy's urgent wartime need for air cover in the Pacific and Atlantic. Commissioning ceremonies, often held aboard the new vessel itself, marked the formal transfer of the ship from builder to Navy and the beginning of her active service. Project: 218431