HMS Chaser (D32)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Breton.

HMS Chaser in 1945
History
United States
Name	Mormacgulf Mormacdove Breton
Namesake	Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc. Breton Sound, Louisiana
Operator	Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc. (intended)
Ordered	as a C3-S-A1 hull MC-162
Awarded	9 September 1940
Builder	Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Cost	$7,412,192
Yard number	295
Way number	3
Laid down	28 June 1941
Launched	19 June 1942
Acquired	27 March 1943
Renamed	Breton, 26 December 1941
Reclassified	ACV, 20 Aug 1942 CVE, 15 July 1943
Identification	Hull symbol: AVG-10 ACV-10 CVE-10
Fate	Transferred to the Royal Navy, 9 April 1943
United Kingdom
Name	Chaser
Namesake	One that chases or purses another
Acquired	9 April 1943
Commissioned	9 April 1943
Identification	Pennant number: D32 R306 A727
Fate	Returned to USN, 12 May 1946
United States
Name	CVE-10
Acquired	12 May 1946
Stricken	3 August 1946
Fate	Sold for merchant use, 20 Dec 1946
General characteristics
Class and type	Template:Sclass- (USA) Template:Sclass- (UK)
Displacement	8,390 long tons (8,520 t) (standard) 13,980 long tons (14,200 t) (full load)
Length	465 ft (142 m) (wl) 495 ft 8 in (151.08 m) (oa) 440 ft (130 m) (fd)
Beam	69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) wl 82 ft (25 m) (fd) 111 ft 6 in (33.99 m) (extreme width)
Draught	23 ft 3 in (7.09 m) (mean) 26 ft (7.9 m) (max)
Installed power	2 × Foster-Wheeler 285 psi (1,970 kPa) boilers 8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion	1 × Allis-Chalmers steam turbine 1 × Screw
Speed	18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	646 officers and enlisted
Armament	2 × 4 in (102 mm)/50 caliber MK 9 guns 4 × twin 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns (AA) (4×2) 8 × twin 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon AA cannons 10 × single 20 mm Oerlikon AA cannons
Aircraft carried	24
Aviation facilities	1 × hydraulic catapult 2 × elevators
Service record
Operations:	Battle of the Atlantic, Arctic convoys (1943–45)
Victories:	Sank U-472, U-366, U-973 (1944)

HMS Chaser (D32/R306/A727) was an American-built Template:Sclass- that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

Acquired by the United States Navy for conversion to a Template:Sclass-; she was transferred to the Royal Navy and commissioned as Chaser on 9 April 1943, under the Lend-Lease agreement. She spent most of her career escorting convoys in Arctic, she transferred to the British Pacific Fleet in March 1945.

Construction

Chaser was laid down on 28 June 1941, under a Maritime Commission contract, MC hull 162, by Ingalls Shipbuilding, in Pascagoula, Mississippi, as Mormacgulf. Her name was changed to Mormacdove on 5 December 1941. She was launched on 19 June 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Eugene T. Oates. After she was acquired by the US Navy, she was renamed Breton and designated AVG-10. On 20 August 1942, she was reclassified ACV-10. On 9 April, she was again reclassified, now CVE-10, and transferred to the Royal Navy under the Lend-Lease program and commissioned as HMS Chaser, with  Captain H.V.P. McClintock, RN, in command.

Design and description

There were eleven Attacker-class in service with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. They were built between 1941 and 1942, by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation, Ingalls Shipbuilding, and Western Pipe & Steel shipyards in the United States.

The ship had complement of 646 men, who lived in crew accommodation that was significantly different from the arrangements that were normal for the Royal Navy at the time. The separate messes no longer had to prepare their own food, as everything was cooked in the galley and served cafeteria style in a central dining area. They were also equipped with a modern laundry and a barber shop. The traditional hammocks were replaced by three-tier bunk-beds, 18 to a cabin, which were hinged and could be tied up to provide extra space when not in use.

Chaser had an overall length of 495 ft 8 in (151.08 m), a beam of 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) and a draught of 24 ft 8 in (7.52 m). She displaced 14,170 long tons (14,400 t) at full load. Power was provided by two boilers feeding steam to a turbine driving one shaft, giving 8,500 bhp (6,300 kW), which could propel the ship at 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph).

She had the operating capacity for up to 24 aircraft, which could be a mixture of anti-submarine and fighter aircraft; the British Hawker Sea Hurricane and Supermarine Seafire naval fighters, Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber or the American-supplied Grumman Martlet and Vought F4U Corsair fighters or Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber could be carried. The exact composition of the embarked squadrons depended upon the mission. Some squadrons were composite squadrons for convoy defence and would be equipped with both anti-submarine and fighter aircraft, while other squadrons working in a strike carrier role would only be equipped with fighter aircraft. Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side and above the 450 ft × 120 ft (137 m × 37 m) flight deck, two aircraft lifts 42 ft × 34 ft (13 m × 10 m), and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 260 ft × 62 ft (79 m × 19 m) hangar below the flight deck. When employed as an aircraft transport she could carry 90 aircraft.

A typical twin 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun mounting on the Attacker-class.

The ships armament concentrated on anti-aircraft (AA) defence and comprised of eight 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors guns in twin mounts and ten 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons in single and eight in twin mounts. In addition, she had two 4 in (100 mm)/50 caliber Mk 9 guns for surface action.

Chaser was designed to accompany other ships forming the escort for convoys. The anti-submarine aircraft employed were initially the Fairey Swordfish and later the Grumman Avenger, which could be armed with torpedoes, depth charges, 250 lb (110 kg) bombs or RP-3 rocket projectiles. As well as carrying out their own attacks on U-Boats, these aircraft identified their locations for the convoy's escorts to mount an attack. Typically anti-submarine patrols would be flown between dawn and dusk. One aircraft would fly about 10 mi (16 km) ahead of the convoy, while another patrolled astern. Patrols would last between two and three hours, using both radar and visual observation in their search for U-Boats. Chaser also had a secondary role, providing oil and provisions for her accompanying destroyers. This could be a lengthy process and was done on the move. It took 40 minutes from firing a line across to the destroyer to start pumping oil, while it took another two hours to pump 98 tons of oil and a further 35 minutes to disconnect the hose pipe and secure the equipment.

Service history

After Chaser completed her sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico in mid April, she set sail for Norfolk Naval Yard on 20 April 1943, arriving 23 April. She spent the next month training her crew in the Chesapeake Bay area. On 28 May, she began Deck Landing Training with 845 squadron, which she would embark on 1 June, for her passage to the United Kingdom. Chaser sailed for New York City, on 26 June, where she joined Convoy HX 245 on 30 June, operating anti-submarine (A/S) patrols during her first action in the Atlantic. On 4 July 1943, she arrived at the Clyde and disembarked 845 squadron to RNAS Machrihanish.

On 5 July 1943, there was an explosion in Chaser's boiler room. With no room available at the Clyde yards, she went to Rosyth for repairs at the Royal Naval Dockyard. On 29 October, with her repairs completed, she returned to the Clyde, where she was allocated to the Wester Approaches Command. She embarked 835 squadron on 6 November, consisting of nine Swordfish and six Sea Hurricanes, for training. Disembarking 835 on 28 November, she again returned to the Clyde for further repairs on 29 November. These repairs would take until the middle of January 1944. Upon the return to active duty she was assigned to convoy duty on the Russian convoy route. On 19 January, she embarked 816 squadrons nine Swordfish and five Wildcats, and sailed for Scapa Flow.

Artic duty

Chaser, along with the destroyers Wanderer and Watchman, and the frigates Byron and Strule, left Scapa Flow, on 21 January 1944, to join Convoy JW 57, which had left Loch Ewe the previous day, for escort to Kola Inlet. Chaser and the other escorts joined the convoy 22 January, and arrived at Murmansk, on 28 February 1944. She was the first escort carrier assigned to provide protection for large convoys as they steamed to Russia. Chaser's aircraft succeeded in damaging one of the 15 U-boats that the Germans had stationed in two patrol lines across the convoy's path and kept the rest out of torpedo range.

Chaser joined Convoy RA 57, on 2 March, for the return to Loch Ewe.

On 4 March, Swordfish of 816 squadron, flying from Chaser, along with the destroyer Onslaught, attacked and sunk the German submarine U-472 at 73°05′N 26°40′E in the Barents Sea near Bear Island, Norway.

On 5 March, Swordfish of 816 squadron, flying from Chaser attacked and sunk the German submarine U-366 at 72°10′N 14°44′E in the Arctic, northwest of Hammerfest, Norway.

On 6 March, Swordfish of 816 squadron, flying from Chaser attacked and sunk the German submarine U973 at 70°04′N 5°48′E in the Norwegian Sea, northwest of Narvik, Norway.

Upon arrival at Loch Ewe, Chaser was put in drydock for repair work to her hull, she remained out of action through summer and into early fall due to the build up for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, which brought a lull in convoy activity to Russia.

Chaser resumed her Artic convoy escort duties in the fall of 1944 through spring of 1945.

Pacific duty

In March 1945, Chaser was assigned to the British Pacific Fleet, attached to the 30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron, to ferry replacement planes to the forward areas and to fly combat air patrols over ships in the replenishment areas. She departed the Clyde, with Convoy KMF 41, on 10 March, bound for Sydney, Australia.

Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945, she transported Allied prisoners of war homeward.

Decommissioning

The escort carrier was returned to the United States on 12 May 1946, and her designation was struck from the Navy list on 3 August 1946. She was sold to the Waterman Steamship Co. on 20 December 1946.

Merchant service

She was renamed Aagtekerk and later resold to the Netherlands on 27 August 1947. She was renamed E Yung in 1967. The ship had a serious fire in #2 hold on 3 December 1972, and was scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan soon thereafter.

Bibliography

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• Cocker, Maurice (2008). Aircraft-Carrying Ships of the Royal Navy. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-4633-2.
• Hobbs, David (1996). Aircraft Carriers of the Royal and Commonwealth Navies. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-252-1.
• Morison, Samuel (2002). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07062-4.
• Poolman, Kenneth (1972). Escort Carrier 1941–1945. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0273-8.
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