History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS AVG-22 [1] |
Builder | Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation |
Laid down | 20 February 1942 [2] |
Launched | 20 June 1942 [3] [4] |
Fate | Transferred to the Royal Navy |
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Searcher(D20)’ |
Commissioned | 7 April 1943 |
Fate |
|
Greece | |
Name | SS Captain Theo |
Owner | J & A T Vatis |
Acquired | 1952 |
Identification | IMO number: 6116575 [3] |
Fate | Sold to Tung Chao Yung in 1966 |
Taiwan | |
Name | SS Oriental Banker |
Owner | Tung Chao Yung |
Acquired | 1966 |
Identification | IMO number: 6116575 [3] |
Fate | Scrapped on 21 April 1976 in Taiwan |
General characteristics | |
Class and type |
|
Displacement |
|
Length | 491 ft 6 in (149.81 m) |
Beam | 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) |
Draught | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
Installed power | 8,500 shp (6.3 MW) |
Propulsion | Steam turbines, 1 shaft |
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
Complement | 646 officers and men |
Armament |
|
Aircraft carried | 20 |
HMS Searcher was a Ruler-class escort carrier of the Royal Navy. Built in Seattle as a Bogue-class, she was transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease. Launched in 1942 she served until 29 November 1945. She was sold into merchant service and renamed Captain Theo. In 1966, she was renamed again to Oriental Banker and was finally scrapped in Taiwan in 1976.
Ruler-class ships were larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than the preceding American-built escort carrier classes, and were laid down as escort carriers, not converted from merchant ships. [5] They had a complement of 646 men and an overall length of 492 feet 3 inches (150.0 m), a beam of 69 feet 6 inches (21.2 m) and a draught of 25 ft 6 in (7.8 m). [5] Propulsion was provided by one shaft, two boilers and a steam turbine giving 9,350 shaft horsepower, which could propel the ship at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph). [6]
Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side, two aircraft lifts 43 feet (13.1 m) by 34 feet (10.4 m), one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires. [5] Aircraft could be housed in the 260 feet (79.2 m) by 62 feet (18.9 m) hangar below the flight deck. [5] Her armament consisted of two 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 Dual Purpose guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns in single mounts. [5] They had a maximum aircraft capacity of twenty-four aircraft which could be a mixture of Grumman Martlet, Vought F4U Corsair or Hawker Sea Hurricane fighter aircraft and Fairey Swordfish or Grumman Avenger anti-submarine aircraft. [5]
From 1943 Searcher operated mainly around the UK as a Fighter Carrier. In late December 1943 she provided Atlantic convoy escort, escorting ships to the US, and arriving at Norfolk on 2 January 1944. She participated in the attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz as part of the Home Fleet Strike force of Operation Tungsten, during which her role was to provide fighter cover. In August 1944 she took part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France. [1]
On 4 May 1945 aircraft from the escort carriers Searcher, Queen, and Trumpeter, taking part in Operation Judgement, sank the German submarine U-711 in Kilbotn harbour in the Arctic near Harstad, Norway. [2] Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers escorted by Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters attacked the U-boat crew barracks ship MS Black Watch, the submarine tender MS Senja and the floating flak battery Thetis (the former Norwegian coastal defence ship HNoMS Harald Haarfagre). U-711 was alongside Black Watch when she was sunk in position 68°43.717′N16°34.600′E / 68.728617°N 16.576667°E by bombs aimed at Black Watch. Black Watch and Senja were also sunk. This was the last sinking of a U-Boat by the Fleet Air Arm, [1] and the final air-raid of the war in Europe.
Searcher was sent to the Far East as part of the British Pacific Fleet but arrived in mid-August as the war ended. [1]
Searcher was returned to the US Navy under the terms of the Lend-Lease arrangement on 29 November 1945 and was listed for disposal on 7 February 1946. [4]
The decommissioned escort carrier was sold to J & A T Vatis, a Greek shipping company, and renamed Captain Theo in 1952. In November 1961, she encountered and rescued 11-year-old Terry Jo Duperrault, who had been adrift at sea in a cork raft for four days after surviving a mass murder aboard the Bluebelle and the subsequent scuttling of the ketch by the murderer. The ship was sold again in 1966 to the Chinese shipping magnate Tung Chao Yung, becoming Oriental Banker. [4]
Oriental Banker was scrapped at Kaohsiung [3] in Taiwan, commencing on 21 April 1976. [4]
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)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.
USS St. George (CVE-17) was laid down on 31 July 1941 as a C3-S-A2 by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Hull 296 of Pascagoula, Mississippi, under Maritime Commission contract as the (second) SS Mormacland for Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc.,. She was renamed St. George (AVG-17) by the United States Navy on 7 January 1942; and assigned to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease as HMS Pursuer on 24 February 1942. The vessel was launched on 18 July 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Mary Ann S. Bartman. The escort carrier was reclassified ACV-17 on 20 August 1942, acquired by the US Navy and simultaneously transferred to Britain on 14 June 1943. She was reclassified CVE-17 on 15 July 1943.
USS Pybus (CVE-34) was initially a United States Navy Bogue-class escort carrier. The ship was transferred to the United Kingdom for service in the Royal Navy as the Ruler-class escort carrier HMS Emperor (D98) as part of the Lend-Lease program of World War II. Entering service in 1943, the ship took part in operations against the Tirpitz and the invasions of Normandy and southern France. Returned to the United States following the war, the carrier was sold for scrap in 1946.
HMS Ameer (D01) was an American escort carrier, the USS Baffins (CVE-35), that was transferred to the Royal Navy in mid-1943. As a Ruler-class escort carrier served in the Far East until the end of the war. Ameer was returned to the US Navy in 1946 and sold off to commercial service.
USS Bolinas (CVE-36) was an escort carrier launched 11 November 1942 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding, Tacoma, Washington; sponsored by Mrs. G. B. Sherwood, wife of Commander Sherwood; and commissioned 22 July 1943, Captain H. L. Meadow in command.
USS Bastian (CVE-37) was a Bogue-class escort aircraft carrier built by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding of Tacoma, Washington, laid down on 25 August 1942 and launched 15 December 1942. She was transferred to the United Kingdom, under Lend-Lease and commissioned on 4 August 1943 as the Ruler-class escort carrier HMS Trumpeter (D09).
HMS Speaker (D90), a Ruler-class escort carrier, based on a "C3" hull, was originally the Bogue-classUSS Delgada (AVG/ACV/CVE-40), which was transferred to the United Kingdom under the Lend-Lease program.
HMS Nabob (D77) was a Ruler-class escort aircraft carrier which served in the Royal Navy during 1943 and 1944. The ship was built in the United States as the Bogue-classUSS Edisto (CVE-41) but did not serve with the United States Navy. In August 1944 the ship was torpedoed by the German submarine U-354 while participating in an attack on the German battleship Tirpitz. Nabob survived the attack, but upon returning to port, was considered too damaged to repair. The escort carrier remained in port for the rest of the war and was returned to the United States following it. Nabob is one of two Royal Navy escort carriers built in the United States which is listed as lost in action during World War II. The ship was sold for scrap by the United States but found a second life when purchased and converted for mercantile use under her British name, Nabob. Later renamed Glory, the ship was sold for scrapping in 1977.
USS Jamaica (CVE-43), was an escort carrier of World War II that served in the British Royal Navy as HMS Shah (D21). Returned to the United States at war's end, she was converted into a merchant vessel and she was sold into civilian service in 1946 as Salta. She was ultimately scrapped in 1966.
USS Sunset (CVE-48) was a Bogue-class escort carrier. Assigned on 23 August 1942 to MC hull 259, a modified C3-S-A1 laid down on 23 February 1943 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding of Tacoma, Washington; launched on 15 July and redesignated CVE-48 the same day; sponsored by Mrs. C.E. Taylor. She was transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease agreement on 19 November; and commissioned the same day as HMS Thane (D48), a Ruler-class escort carrier in the Royal Navy.
The USS St. Andrews (CVE-49) was assigned to MC hull 260 on 23 August 1942, a ship to be built to modified C3-S-A1 plans. She was laid down on 12 March 1943 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation of Tacoma, Washington; redesignated CVE-49 on 15 July; and launched on 31 July; sponsored by Mrs. Robert W. Morse; transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease on 7 December; and commissioned the same day as HMS Queen (D19) in the Royal Navy.
HMS Ruler was the lead ship of her class of escort carrier of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was built in the United States as the Bogue-class carrier St. Joseph (AVG/CVE/ACV-50) for Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom.
USS Winjah (CVE-54), was a Bogue-class escort carrier of the United States Navy, leased to the Royal Navy during World War II.
HMS Tracker (BACV-6/D24) was an Attacker-class escort carrier that was built in the United States, but served in the Royal Navy during World War II.
The Ruler class of escort aircraft carriers served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. All twenty-three ships were built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation in the United States as Bogue-class escort carriers, supplied under Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom. They were the most numerous single class of aircraft carriers in service with the Royal Navy.
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.
Operation Judgement was an operation carried out at the end of the Second World War by the Home Fleet of the British Royal Navy in Northern Norway on 4 May 1945. A force of 44 Fleet Air Arm aircraft attacked a U-boat base 5 mi (8.0 km) south of the town and port of Harstad. The attack was directed at vessels in the natural harbour at Kilbotn. It lasted seven minutes and left two ships and a U-boat sunk. No Norwegians in the village of Kilbotn were killed or injured during or after the attack. Operation Judgement was the last air raid of the war in Europe.
German submarine U-711 was a Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.