Bismarck Sea was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, built by Kaiser at Vancouver, Washington. She was launched on 17 April 1944 as Alikula Bay, sponsored by Mrs. M. C. Wallgren, renamed Bismarck Sea on 16 May, and commissioned on 20 May 1944. The ship's history names Captain J. L. Pratt. A Navy photograph caption from a crossing-the-line ceremony gives his name as John Lockwood Pratt. No relief is named. He is carried here from the commissioning until she sank.
She arrived off Iwo Jima on 16 February 1945. On 21 February, despite damaging gunfire, two Japanese suicide planes hit her, started fires that got away from the crew, and set off her ammunition. She sank in about ninety minutes. 318 men were lost.