HISTORY

Sunk Escort Carriers

CVE-56 USS Liscome Bay – sunk by a torpedo

from the Japanese submarine I-175 on November 24, 1943, near Butaritari (Makin).

CVE-73 USS Gambier Bay – as mentioned earlier, sunk on October 25, 1944, during the Battle

off Samar.

CVE-63 USS St. Lo - sunk after a kamikaze

attack on October 25, 1944, during the Battle of

Leyte.

CVE-79 USS Ommaney Bay – sunk on January 4,

1945, after a kamikaze attack.

CVE-95 USS Bismarck Sea - sunk on February

21, 1945, after a kamikaze attack near Iwo Jima.

Explosion on USS ST. Lo (CVE-63) after she

was hit be a Kamikaze of Samar on October

25, 1944.

submariners, and the mistake to reveal the

silhouette led to reports of the sinking of

an Illustrious-class carrier, which German

propaganda duly exploited.

Other British Escort Aircraft Carriers have

connections with those built in the United States,

so let's cross the Atlantic westbound and look at

the construction of the aircraft carriers in the

USA.

equipped with one catapult and one elevator

to the hangar. Its capacity was 15 aircraft with

a combination of Grumman Martlet or Hawker

Sea Hurricane and anti-submarine Fairey

Swordfish or Grumman Avenger. The operational

use of this vessel raised concerns in the Royal

Navy due to its high rate of breakdowns.

Eventually, HMS Archer was taken out of service

and later returned to the USA. It underwent

conversion into a merchant ship and continued

sailing until the 1960s when it was scrapped in

1961 after a fire.

The second ship of this class (but the first

one completed) was designated for the US Navy,

named USS Long Island, and initially marked

as AVG-1, then ACV-1, and finally CVE-1. Since

US Navy Escort

Aircraft Carriers

The largest production of escort aircraft

carriers during the war unsurprisingly took

place in shipyards in the United States. They

built a total of 124 ships, 38 of them were

delivered to the Royal Navy.

The first class of escort aircraft carriers

produced in the USA was named after the first

ship in the class, the Long Island. The basis for

these carriers was the hulls and engines of

standardized merchant ships Type C3 designed

in the 1930s. Between 1939 and 1946, a total of 162

of these ships were built. For conversion, the MS

Rio de la Plata and MS Mormacmaild were used.

The first completed ship supplied to the British

was named HMS Archer. It was 150 meters long,

and its wooden flight deck was 120 meters long.

It was powered by four diesel engines driving

a single propeller. The maximum speed was 16.5

knots, equivalent to 30.6 km/h. The ship was

October 2023

Photo: NHHC

The Long Island Class

Flight deck of USS Suwannee (CVE-27) 90 minutes after a Japanese suicide plane’s bomb had ripped a hole in it.

Hole is patched and ship is ready to land aircraft. Note that only four wires, instead of eight, are being used. All

landings were made without mishap.

INFO Eduard

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