Inspectors from the Board of Inspection and Survey even so responded to the large-scale draw down following the war, and recommended that she "was not essential to defense of U.S." and should be decommissioned with a view to sell the hulk for scrap. Consequently, "Kitkun Bay" was decommissioned on 19 April 1946, at Port Angeles, Wash., and stricken on 8 May. The Navy sold the ship for $12,700 to Zidell Ship Dismantling Company of Portland, Ore., on 18 November 1946. The veteran carrier was moved in January 1947, and by that October was reported scrapped.