HMS Slinger (D26)

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HMS Slinger.jpg
HMS Slinger in 1944
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameChatham
Builder Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down25 May 1942
Launched19 September 1942
FateTransferred to Royal Navy
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameSlinger
Commissioned11 August 1943
Decommissioned12 April 1946
Identification Pennant number:D26
FateSold as merchant ship, scrapped 1969-1970
General characteristics
Class and type
Displacement8,333 tons
Length496 ft (151 m)
Beam69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draught26 ft 3 in (8.00 m)
PropulsionSteam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW)
Speed18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement646 officers and men
Armament
Aircraft carried18-24

USS Chatham (CVE-32) (originally designated AVG-32, then later ACV-32) was built at the Seattle-Tacoma S/Y, Hull #27, Seattle, Washington, and fitted-out in Portland, Oregon. She was transferred to the United Kingdom 11 August 1943 under lend-lease and renamed HMS Slinger (D26). Designated as a transport carrier, the ship was mined, off Lowestoft, on 5 February 1944 but returned to service on 17 October, and worked-up a new crew.

Contents

In early-1945, she was sent to Sydney to join the Pacific Fleet as a replenishment vessel i.e. carrying spare planes for other carriers - attached to the 30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron. The Slinger was accorded the battle honour ‘Okinawa’, though her participation was indirect. Returning to Sydney, she ferried aircraft to/from Brisbane, before being ear-marked for the force that was to invade Japan; in the event, she stood-by at Manus, Philippines, as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war.

In August 1945, she was sent to Hong Kong as a support vessel, and in the autumn made at least two trips to Sydney, returning civilians who had been interned. She returned to UK via Colombo, Cairo and Gibraltar in late-1945 into early-1946.

She was returned to United States custody on 27 February 1946, and was sold and converted by the Robin Line, and was re-launched on 21 November 1946 as Robin Mowbray. Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc., purchased Robin Line in 1958. She was scrapped in Kaohsiung Taiwan in 1969-1970.

Design and description

Twin 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun. Twin 40mm bofors gun on escort carrier.jpg
Twin 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun.

The Ruler class were larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than preceding American built escort carriers. They were also all laid down as escort carriers and not converted merchant ships. [1] All the ships 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). [1] Propulsion was provided by one shaft, two boilers and a steam turbine giving 9,350 shaft horsepower (6,970 kW), which could propel the ship at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph). [2]

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. [1] Aircraft could be housed in the 260 feet (79.2 m) by 62 feet (18.9 m) hangar below the flight deck. [1] Armament comprised: 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 cannons in single mounts. [1] 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. [1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cocker (2008), p.82.
  2. ↑ Cocker (2008), p.79.

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References

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