Converted from a merchantman under construction, she was acquired by the United States Navy on 31 October 1942, as a Bogue-class escort carrier; she was transferred to the Royal Navy and commissioned Battler on the same day under the Lend-Lease agreement.
She was laid down on 15 April 1941, as a C3-S-A1, the third replacement for the freighter Mormacmail, for Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc., under Maritime Commission contract at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Ingalls Shipbuilding, MC Hull 160. She was purchased by the United States Navy on 7 January 1942, for conversion to a Bogue-classescort carrier and renamed Altamaha. On 17 March 1942, her name was cancelled and she was assigned to be transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease. She was launched on 4 April 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Marguerite M. Seymour, the wife of Captain Phillip Seymour, USN. She was redesignated ACV on 20 August 1942. Acquired by the United States Navy on 31 October 1942, she was immediately transferred to the United Kingdom on the same day. She was renamed HMS Battler (D18) and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 15 November 1942, as an Attacker-class escort carrier.[2][3][unreliable source?]
The ship had complement of 646 men, who lived in crew accommodation that was significantly different from the arrangements that were normal for the Royal Navy at the time. The separate messes no longer had to prepare their own food, as everything was cooked in the galley and served cafeteria style in a central dining area. They were also equipped with a modern laundry and a barber shop. The traditional hammocks were replaced by three-tier bunk-beds, 18 to a cabin, which were hinged and could be tied up to provide extra space when not in use.[5]
Battler had an overall length of 495ft 8in (151.08m), a beam of 69ft 6in (21.18m) and a draught of 24ft 8in (7.52m). She displaced 14,170 long tons (14,400t) at full load. Power was provided by two boilers feeding steam to a turbine driving one shaft, giving 8,500bhp (6,300kW), which could propel the ship at 18kn (33km/h; 21mph).[6]
She had the operating capacity for up to 24 aircraft, which could be a mixture of anti-submarine and fighter aircraft; the British Hawker Sea Hurricane and Supermarine Seafire naval fighters, Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber or the American-supplied Grumman Martlet and Vought F4U Corsair fighters or Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber could be carried.[7] The exact composition of the embarked squadrons depended upon the mission. Some squadrons were composite squadrons for convoy defence and would be equipped with both anti-submarine and fighter aircraft,[8] while other squadrons working in a strike carrier role would only be equipped with fighter aircraft.[9] Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side and above the 450ft ×120ft (137m ×37m) flight deck,[10] two aircraft lifts 42ft ×34ft (13m ×10m), and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 260ft ×62ft (79m ×19m) hangar below the flight deck.[7] When employed as an aircraft transport she could carry 90 aircraft.[11]
Battler was designed to accompany other ships forming the escort for convoys.[12] The anti-submarine aircraft employed were initially the Fairey Swordfish and later the Grumman Avenger, which could be armed with torpedoes, depth charges, 250lb (110kg) bombs or RP-3 rocket projectiles.[13] As well as carrying out their own attacks on U-Boats, these aircraft identified their locations for the convoy's escorts to mount an attack.[14] Typically anti-submarine patrols would be flown between dawn and dusk. One aircraft would fly about 10mi (16km) ahead of the convoy, while another patrolled astern. Patrols would last between two and three hours, using both radar and visual observation in their search for U-Boats.[15]Battler also had a secondary role, providing oil and provisions for her accompanying destroyers. This could be a lengthy process and was done on the move. It took 40 minutes from firing a line across to the destroyer to start pumping oil, while it took another two hours to pump 98 tons of oil and a further 35 minutes to disconnect the hose pipe and secure the equipment.[16]
Service history
Battler began her sea trials in early November 1942, but had to put in at New Orleans, 9 November, for repairs after striking a jetty. With repairs finished by 15 November, she returned to trials until 23 November, when she arrived at Norfolk Navy Yard, in Virginia. Here defects found during her trials were rectified and modification work carried out.[17][3][unreliable source?]
On 21 December 1942, Battler sailed for Liverpool, with Convoy HX 220. On 26 December, 840 squadron disembarked for NAS Quonset Point, for further work-up. After a stormy crossing Battler arrived on the Clyde on 8 January 1943, where 890, 892 and 894 squadrons disembarked to RNAS Machrihanish, then she proceeded to Harland and Wolff, for refit to Royal Navy standards, arriving 12 January.[17][3][unreliable source?]
Maintenance crew bringing a torpedo-loaded Fairey Swordfish of 835 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm onto the flight deck of Battler by hydraulic lift. The escort carrier's island can be seen in the background.
After completing her refit, Battler sailed for Greenock, on 4 April, for trials. The ship's air group was brought on board on 10 April 1943, and consisted of six Swordfish II biplanes, former torpedo planes given a new lease on life as an antisubmarine aircraft, of the Fleet Air Arm's 835 squadron and nine Seafires of 808 squadron.[17][3][unreliable source?]
Battler embarked 20 Seafires and 2 Hurricane IICs at RNAMY Belfast, on 23 May, for ferrying to Gibraltar. Departing Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 4 June 1943, she took on five Swordfish from 835 squadron, on 5 June, along with four Seafires from 808 squadron from RNAS Yeovilton, the next day. She joined the destroyers Tyrian and Tumult on June 6, with orders to overtake Convoy OS 49, which had sailed from Liverpool, for Gibraltar, on 4 June, to provide air cover. Throughout the voyage, her aircraft conducted antisubmarine patrols, reaching Gibraltar, on 14 June. She returned to the British Isles eight days later, as part of the escort for Convoy KMS 16 and XK 9. Battler launched two Seafires at 2230 on 24 June, to deal with a four engined Focke Wulf FW 200 "Condor" which was shadowing the convoy. Within 12 minutes, the pilots reported triumphantly that the "Condor" had been shot down. Reaching Greenock, on 28 June, Battler had proved herself efficient on her maiden convoy escort venture.[17][3][unreliable source?]
On 1 September 1943, Battler became part of "Task Force 88", consisting of the escort carriers Attacker, Hunter, Stalker, the aircraft repair ship Unicorn, the cruisers Euryalus, Scylla, Charybdis, the destroyers Cleveland, Holcombe, Atherstone, Liddesdale, Farndale, Calpe, and the Polish destroyers Ślązak and Krakowiak. Battler arrived at Malta, 5 September, and sailed for Salerno, on 8 September. The carriers were to provide air cover during the landings, with up to 20 aircraft in flight at a time. It had been planned that at least one of the enemy airfields would be taken on the first day of the invasion, but it took until the third day for this to happen. Since the escort carriers were designed for anti-submarine warfare (A/S), none of them were equipped for fighter direction, this was provided by the Fighter Direction Ship Ulster Queen.[3][unreliable source?]
On 12 September, the task force withdrew to Palermo, Sicily, for replenishment, returning 16 September. On 20 September, Attacker, Hunter, and Stalker returned to the United Kingdom for refit and replacement aircraft, while Battler proceeded to Gibraltar. She was assigned to the Eastern Fleet for duty protecting Bombay to Aden convoys.[3][unreliable source?]
Indian Ocean
Two pilots of 834 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm standing by the nose of a Supermarine Seafire on the flight deck of Battler off the coast of Greenock. The barrels and part of the breech of one of the twin 40 mm Bofors guns can be seen in the background.
On 17 October, after having her boilers cleaned at Aden, Battler joined Convoy AB 17, along with Rotherham, Quiberon, and Quality for escort to Bombay. She arrived on 26 October, and left 4 November, along with Quiberon and Quality to rendezvous with the LSTConvoy AB 18A for escort to Bombay. She provided A/S cover from 7 to 9 November. On 11 November, Battler, Napier, Rotherham, and Nepal left Bombay to rendezvous with Convoy AB 20 for escort to Bombay. She again provided A/S coverage from 14 to 17 November.[3][unreliable source?]
On 12 December, she set out with Rotherham, Nepal, and Plym to meet Convoy AB 24 on 15 December. Battler and part of the convoy, after having split into three sections, arrived in Bombay, on 19 December. She finished off her Indian Ocean escorts with Convoy AB 27A, leaving Bombay on 26 December, with Rotherham, Roebuck, Rapid, Kale, and Derg to rendezvous on 11 January, for escort back to Bombay.[3][unreliable source?]
Operations Thwart and Covered
Battler joined the cruisers Kenya, Newcastle, and Suffolk, the armed merchant cruiserCanton, the destroyer Nepal, and the frigate Bann to form Force 62 for Operation Thwart. The purpose of the operation was to search for the blockade runner, U-boat supply shipCharlotte Schliemann, southeast of Mauritius. With the main force sailing from Colombo on 12 January, Battler joined them at Mauritius on 16 January. The force searched from 19 to 21 January, then a smaller force, named Force 64, consisting of Battler, Kenya, and Nepal, searching from 23 to 30 January, further southeast of Mauritius. The operation was called off on 30 January, after adverse weather set in and fruitless searching turned up nothing.[3][unreliable source?]
On 4 February, Battler and Suffolk arrived at Durban, South Africa. She returned to Mauritius, in early March, to search for another blockade runner, the U-boat supply ship Brake, during Operation Covered. On 12 March, after seven days of searching, a Swordfish of 834 squadron, spotted the tankerBrake with two or three U-boats alongside her, 900nmi (1,700km; 1,000mi) southeast of Mauritius. Battler launched Swordfish armed with rockets to shadow Brake in an attempt not to alert the tanker to the carriers presence, while Roebuck moved in for an attack. At noon, Roebuck commenced her attack on Brake forcing her crew to scuttle her, while the Swordfish damaged one of the U-boats. On 16 March, the group arrived in Mauritius, with Battler proceeding to Durban, for refit, arriving 21 March 1944.[17][3][unreliable source?][18]
Convoy and A/S duty
Embarking only the Swordfish of 834 squadron on 24 June 1944, after completion of her refit, Battler sailed north with Convoy CM 55, from Durban to Kilindini, on 28 June. She escorted Convoy KR 11 from Kilindini to Colombo, on 11 July, arriving on 22 July. She disembarked 834 squadron at RNAS Katukurunda on 25 July, where six Wildcat Vs were waiting to replace the Seafires that had been left at Durban.[3][unreliable source?]
On August 11, 1944, 834 squadron embarked on Battler and carried out A/S patrols near Colombo. On 22 August, she set off for Addu Atoll, in the Maldive Islands, to carry out more A/S patrols. On 19 September, 834 squadron disembarked at RNAS Coimbatore, for replacement aircraft, returning to Battler on 28 September. On 7 October, Battler disembarked 834 squadron at Trincomalee. During her time at Trincomalee, 849 squadrons Avengers performed Deck Landing Training.[3][unreliable source?]
Ferry duty
Battler was redesignated as a "Ferry Carrier" at the beginning of November. On 7 November 1944, she embarked 834 squadron to be ferried back to the UK. She meet up with Thane and the two ships arrived at Adabiya, on 21 November. With her orders changed, Battler unloaded 834 squadron while Thane unloaded the Avenger and Hellcraft aircraft that were to be embarked in Battler for transport to Sydney, Australia. She would still return to the UK, but it would be via Australia and the Panama Canal.[3][unreliable source?]
After returning to Colombo, to prepare for her ferry run to Sydney, she departed on 9 December 1944, with the carrier Atheling, the cruiser Achilles, and the destroyers Wager and Whelp, for Australia. They were joined on 10 December, by the ships Swiftsure, the flagship of Fourth Cruiser Squadron commander Rear AdmiralE.J.P. Brind, and the destroyers Kempenfelt, Wessex, and Wakeful. On 11 December, most of the destroyers broke from the convoy and returned to Trincomalee, while Swiftsure and Achilles departed on 16 December, to continue ahead for Fremantle.[3][unreliable source?]
After unloading her aircraft in Sydney, Battler loaded stores and equipment bound for the UK. She arrived in Bilbao, on 1 February 1945, and Norfolk, Virginia, on 3 February. Embarking aircraft at Naval Station Norfolk, she sailed for New York on 13 February, to join Convoy CU 59. CU 59 departed New York, on 19 February, and arrived on 1 March, at Liverpool.[3][unreliable source?]
North Atlantic
Deck landing training
On 5 March 1945, Battler was allocated to Western Approaches Command for use as a Deck Landing Training carrier. For her new role Battler received modification in Belfast. On 5 May 1945, she began practice with 768 squadron in the Firth of Clyde. On 4 June, she was allocated to Rosyth Command in the same role, but shifting to the Firth of Forth with 768 squadron. In October, she began training 731 and 767 squadrons until 8 January 1946, when she was sent to Greenock, for decommissioning.[3][unreliable source?]
Decommissioning
On 19 January, Battler sailed from the Clyde, for Norfolk, Virginia, arriving 31 January. She was decommissioned at Norfolk, on 12 February, and returned to USN custody. Deemed "not essential to the defense of the United States", on 6 March, she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 March. She was sold on 14 May, to the Patapsco Steel Scrap Co., Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and delivered on 12 June 1946, and was subsequently scrapped.[17][3][unreliable source?]
HMS Victorious was the third Illustrious-class aircraft carrier after Illustrious and Formidable. Ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme, she was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939. Her commissioning was delayed until 1941 due to the greater need for escort vessels for service in the Battle of the Atlantic.
HMS Illustrious was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy before World War II. Her first assignment after completion and working up was with the Mediterranean Fleet, in which her aircraft's most notable achievement was sinking one Italian battleship and badly damaging two others during the Battle of Taranto in late 1940. Two months later the carrier was crippled by German dive bombers and was repaired in the United States. After sustaining damage on the voyage home in late 1941 by a collision with her sister ship Formidable, Illustrious was sent to the Indian Ocean in early 1942 to support the invasion of Vichy French Madagascar. After returning home in early 1943, the ship was given a lengthy refit and briefly assigned to the Home Fleet. She was transferred to Force H for the Battle of Salerno in mid-1943 and then rejoined the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean at the beginning of 1944. Her aircraft attacked several targets in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies over the following year before Illustrious was transferred to the newly formed British Pacific Fleet (BPF). The carrier participated in the early stages of the Battle of Okinawa until mechanical defects arising from accumulated battle damage became so severe she was ordered home early for repairs in May 1945.
HMS Attacker (D02) was an American-built escort carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
HMS Chaser (D32/R306/A727) was an American-built Attacker-class escort carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
HMS Fencer (D64/R308) was an American-built Attacker-class escort carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
HMS Furious was a modified Courageous-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and designed with a main battery of only two 18-inch guns. Furious was modified as an aircraft carrier while under construction. Her forward turret was removed and a flight deck was added in its place, such that aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure to land. Later in the war, the ship had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence. Furious was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck in the early 1920s.
HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. She was converted from an ocean liner that was under construction when the First World War began and became the first aircraft carrier with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. After commissioning, the ship was involved for several years in the development of the optimum design for other aircraft carriers. Argus also evaluated various types of arresting gear, general procedures needed to operate a number of aircraft in concert and fleet tactics. The ship was too top-heavy as originally built, and had to be modified to improve her stability in the mid-1920s. She spent one brief deployment on the China Station in the late 1920s before being placed in reserve for budgetary reasons.
HMS Biter was a Royal Navy escort carrier during the Second World War. She was laid down as a merchant ship at the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company yard at Chester, Pennsylvania. Laid down on 28 December 1939, she was converted to an escort carrier and commissioned in the Royal Navy on 6 May 1942. She was returned to the United States in 1945 and subsequently lent to France.
HMS Archer was a Long Island-class escort carrier built by the United States in 1939–1940 and operated by the Royal Navy during World War II. She was built as the cargo ship Mormacland, but was converted to an escort carrier and renamed HMS Archer. Her transmission was a constant cause of problems which led to her being withdrawn from front-line service. She was used as a stores ship and then as an accommodation ship before a refit and subsequent use as a merchant aircraft ferry ship, Empire Lagan.
811 Naval Air Squadron was a unit of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was first founded in 1933, and served during World War II, seeing action in the battle of the Atlantic and on Russian convoys, and was eventually disbanded in 1956.
HMS Unicorn was an aircraft repair ship and light aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. She was completed during World War II and provided air cover over the amphibious landing at Salerno, Italy, in September 1943. The ship was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean at the end of the year. Unicorn supported the aircraft carriers of the fleet on their operations until the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was formed in November 1944. She was transferred to Australia in early 1945 to support the BPF's operations during Operation Iceberg, the Allied invasion of Okinawa in May. To shorten the time required to replenish the BPF's carriers, the ship was based in the Admiralty Islands and in the Philippine Islands until the Japanese surrender in August. Unicorn was decommissioned and placed in reserve when she returned to the UK in January 1946.
The Attacker class were a class of escort aircraft carriers in service with the British Royal Navy during the Second World War.
HMS Avenger was a Royal Navy escort aircraft carrier during the Second World War. In 1939 she was laid down as the merchant ship Rio-Hudson at the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company yard in Chester, Pennsylvania. Launched on 27 November 1940, she was converted to an escort carrier and transferred under the lend lease agreement to the Royal Navy. She was commissioned on 2 March 1942.
HMS Nairana was the lead ship of the Royal Navy's Nairana-class escort carriers that saw service in the Second World War. She was built at John Brown & Company shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland. When construction started in 1941 she was intended as a merchant ship, but was completed and launched as an escort carrier, entering service at the end of 1943.
HMS Vindex (D15) was a Nairana-class escort carrier of the Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War. She was built at Swan Hunter shipyards in Newcastle upon Tyne. When construction started in 1942 she was intended as a merchant ship, but was completed and launched as an escort carrier, entering service at the end of 1943.
The Nairana-class escort carrier was a British-built class of three escort carriers. They were constructed one each in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to the same basic design during the Second World War for service with the Royal Navy.
818 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier-based squadron formed in August 1939. It served on a number of the Navy's aircraft carriers during the Second World War, serving in most of the theatres of the war, before decommissioning at the end of the war.
Operation Goodwood was a series of British carrier air raids conducted against the German battleship Tirpitz at her anchorage in Kaafjord in occupied Norway during late August 1944. It was the last of several attacks made by the Home Fleet during 1944 which sought to damage or sink Tirpitz and thereby eliminate the threat it posed to Allied shipping. Previous raids on Kaafjord conducted by Fleet Air Arm aircraft had involved only one air attack; in Operation Goodwood several attacks were made in a single week. The Royal Navy hoped that these raids would wear down the formidable German defences.
834 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The squadron was formed in Jamaica in December 1941 as a torpedo bomber squadron equipped with Fairey Swordfish aircraft. The squadron was embarked on HMS Archer from March 1942 to February 1943 and involved in convoy escorted duties in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. 834 NAS then joined No. 19 Group RAF Coastal Command for duties in the English Channel. In June a flight of Supermarine Seafires was formed and the next month the squadron was embarked on HMS Hunter. The squadron took part in the Salerno landings in September, before being transferred to HMS Battler to provide convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean. 834 NAS received a further flight of 6 Wildcat Vs in April 1944 and the Seafire flight was disbanded in July. The squadron returned to the UK in November 1944 and was disbanded in December.
887 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, which last disbanded during March 1946. It was formed as a Fleet Fighter squadron in May 1942 at HMS Daedalus, RNAS, Lee-on-Solent. The squadron embarked in HMS Unicorn during 1943 for convoy escort duties and later in the year to cover the allied landings at Salerno, Italy. At the end of 1943 it formed part of the 24th Naval Fighter Wing. 1944 saw it embark in HMS Indefatigable and the squadron saw action in operations against the german battleship Tirpitz during early 1944 and then joined the British Pacific Fleet at the end of the year. It was part of the attacks on the oil refineries at Palembang at the start of 1945 and later in the year it was involved in sorties around Tokyo, as part of the 7th Carrier Air Group, before V-J Day.
Cocker, Maurice (2008). Aircraft-Carrying Ships of the Royal Navy. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN978-0-7524-4633-2.
Hobbs, David (1996). Aircraft Carriers of the Royal and Commonwealth Navies. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN1-85367-252-1.
Jackson, Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. London: Hambledon Continuum. ISBN1-85285-417-0.
Poolman, Kenneth (1972). Escort Carrier 1941–1945. London: Ian Allan. ISBN0-7110-0273-8.
Sturtivant, Ray; Ballance, Theo (1994). The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN0-85130-223-8.
Morison, Samuel (2002). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN978-0-252-07062-4.
"Mormacmail'". United States Maritime Commission. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
Burcher, Nick (27 August 2008). "HMS Battler". www.hmsbattler.com. Nick Burcher. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2011. Complete set of photos + 'HMS Battler Diary of Flying Operations' logged
Drury, Tony (July 2008). "A History of HMS Battler". www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk. Tony Drury. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
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