USS Bairoko, a 10,300-ton Commencement Bay class escort aircraft carrier, was built at Tacoma, Washington. Commissioned in July 1945, she served in the Pacific throughout her career. Bairoko cruised to the Far East in October 1945-January 1946, took part in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini in mid-1946 and made another Western Pacific deployment in February-May 1947. She decommissioned in April 1950, but was brought back into commission the following September for Korean War service.

In November-December 1950, Bairoko transported aircraft from the U.S. to the war zone, then remained in the area until August 1951, operating U.S. Marine Corps aircraft in support of UN forces ashore and anti-submarine planes to guard against the possibility of Soviet intervention in the conflict. She suffered casualties and damage from an accidental explosion and fire in May 1951, but was able to remain in action. The carrier returned to Korea for two more wartime tours, in December 1951-June 1952 and February-August 1953. In early 1954, she was a member of the force supporting nuclear weapons tests in the mid-Pacific. Following routine operations off the U.S. west coast, Bairoko was prepared for inactivation and decommissioned in February 1955. Reclassified as an aircraft transport in May 1959, she was redesignated AKV-15 but saw no service in that role. USS Bairoko was sold for scrapping in August 1960.