SMALL BUT HANDY

Photo: NHHC

HISTORY

AMERICAN AND

BRITISH ESCORT

AIRCRAFT

CARRIERS

Text: Jean Lafitte

AVG-30 (later CVE-30) USS Charger at anchor, May 12, 1942. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 12 (Modified).

The smallest aircraft carriers were referred to as escort carriers. They were

typically converted from vessels for other purposes and primarily provided

protection to numerous supply convoys. Aircraft from their decks also took off

for reconnaissance flights, amphibious operations support, and operated in

coordination with large aircraft carriers, especially in the Pacific. They also played

a significant role in anti-submarine warfare.

Due to their construction method, which

usually involved conversion from existing

sufficiently large ships, a large number of

escort aircraft carriers could be built during

World War II, and many of them continued to

serve in the post-war period.

British Aircraft

Carriers

The British Royal Navy experienced a

shortage of aircraft carriers early in the war.

At the outset, they had ships that had been

converted during World War I. HMS Argus,

which was built in 1914 and modified into an

aircraft carrier towards the end of World War I,

was reactivated from reserve, but her role was

primarily for transport or escorting convoys.

HMS Furious was also converted into an aircraft

carrier during World War I, and in the 1920s,

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INFO Eduard

sister ships HMS Glorious and HMS Courageous

were similarly modified. Another conversion,

this time from the battleship Almirante

Cochrane originally ordered by Chile, resulted

in HMS Eagle. Although HMS Hermes was built

from the beginning as an aircraft carrier, it was

still based on the design of a light cruiser.

The first British ship designed from the outset

as an aircraft carrier was HMS Ark Royal. Six

more British aircraft carriers were based on

her design, with the only difference being the

requirement for armor on the sides of the hull

and flight and hangar decks. The armor plates

for these carriers were supplied by Vítkovice

Ironworks in then Czechoslovakia. This way,

HMS Illustrious, Victorious, Formidable, and

Indomitable were created. Two more were built

during the war and entered service in 1944. The

extensive use of armor became a characteristic

of British ships, and their durability was

especially evident during their service in the

Indian and Pacific Oceans. However, given the

small number of aircraft carriers in the early

years of the war, the losses for the Royal Navy

were significant. HMS Courageous was sunk

by U-27 on September 17, 1939, while sister

ship HMS Glorious was sunk by the German

battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during

the Norwegian campaign on June 8, 1940. HMS

Ark Royal and HMS Eagle were both sunk by

German submarines. The first was lost to U-81

on November 13, 1941, and the second to U-73 on

August 1, 1942. HMS Hermes was sunk on April

9, 1942, near Ceylon after being hit by dozens of

Japanese dive bombers.

Even without these losses, all British aircraft

carriers would not have been able to protect

convoys adequately, especially given the high

risk of submarine torpedo attacks during convoy

voyages. The number of convoys required

a swift response. Aircraft taking off from the

mainland could only provide air protection up

October 2023