HISTORY

of them. So, Hay may have been fortunate that

he was rescued by HMS Volunteer, which was

not among the sunken ships. The opportunity

to reach a land base was utilized by F/O A. H.

Burr on September 18, 1942, launched from SS

Empire Morn. He first shot down two Heinkel

He 111s and then headed for a Russian airfield.

F/O N. Taylor shot down a Focke-Wulf Fw 200

Condor on November 1, 1942, after taking off

from SS Empire Heath as part of convoy HG 91.

The last success of Hurricane catapult fighters

occurred on the same day when F/O P. J. R. Flynn

shot down a Fw 200.

Photo: NHHC

British Escort Aircraft Carriers

Photo: NHHC

Henry J. Kaiser presents President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a model of the escort carriers that he was

constructing at Vancouver, Washington, on March 18, 1943. Kaiser built 50 of these Casablanca class carriers in

1943–44.

Photo: NHHC

USS Long Island under conversion at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Yard, April 1, 1941. She had

received the name Long Island on March 31, 1941. Note flight deck under construction and temporary retention

of her neutrality MKGS open. Lighter YC-301 is in left background.

Moored at Naval Air Station, North Island, California, on June 2, 1942, shortly before she sortied with Task Force

ONE under Vice Admiral William S. Pye.

8

INFO Eduard

The need for a large number of carriers and

the impracticality of CAM ships led to the idea

of converting suitable merchant vessels into

aircraft carriers. The expected lower speed of

such ships was not a significant issue given

their role in protecting convoys, as convoy

speeds were always determined by the slowest

ship. The conversion of the first escort aircraft

carrier used the originally German merchant

ship Hannover, which the British captured in

the West Indies in March 1940. They renamed

it Sindibad, then SS Empire Audacity. It was

refitted and put into service as HMS Empire

Audacity, with the conversion taking place in

Clyde shipyards. The first landing on its deck

was performed by a Grumman Martlet Mk.I from

No. 802 Naval Air Squadron (FAA) on July 10,

1941. All six aircraft in its air group had to be

stored on the flight deck because the expedited

conversion to an escort carrier did not include

a hangar deck. The Admiralty disliked its

merchant name, so HMS Empire Audacity was

renamed HMS Audacity on July 31, 1941.

The short operational service demonstrated

the effectiveness of this solution. During the

sailing of convoy OG 74, one of the Condors was

shot down by a Martlet. The most significant

engagements occurred during the voyage of

convoy OG 76. Four Condors were shot down

during an attack by KG40, and Eric “Winkle”

Brown claimed his first aerial victory. One

Martlet was lost. During the voyage of the convoy

HG 76, about twelve submarines attacked, and

HMS Audacity had only four Martlets to fend off

the aerial attacks. They managed to shoot down

two Condors. During an attack on U-131 Type IXc,

one Martlet was shot down, and its pilot was

killed, but the submarine could not submerge

after the attack and was sunk by its crew

after further damage from the convoy escort's

gunfire. Subsequently, 47 men from U-131 were

captured.

When HMS Audacity left the convoy on the

night of December 21, 1941, a hasty signal from

one merchant ship ignited a flare, revealing the

silhouette to lurking submarines. Capturing an

aircraft carrier was a valued prize for German

October 2023