HMS Hunter (D80)
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HMS Hunter (D 80) was one of the eight Attacker- class escort aircraft carriers in the Royal Navy . The ships had started as C3-S-A1 cargo ships for American shipping companies, then taken over by the US Navy and completed as AVG , then ACV and finally CVE . They were taken over by the US Navy as escort carriers for the Bogue class . Of the 45 girders completed in two groups, 31 were passed on to the Royal Navy as part of the lend lease program immediately after completion .
The ship, which was built as Mormacpenn , then USS Block Island (CVE-8), entered service on January 11, 1943 by the Royal Navy as the fourth ship of the class and was named Hunter in honor of the destroyer Hunter, which was lost in Narvik . The escort carrier Hunter belonged in September 1943 with the three previously completed sister ships to the "Force V" off Salerno , which ensured the air defense of the Allied landing area. The wearer was awarded the Battle Honors "Salerno 1943", "Atlantic 1943-44", "South France 1944", "Aegean 1944" and "Burma 1945" during the Second World War .
History of the ship
The ship was started on May 15, 1941 as a cargo ship Mormacpenn of the type C3-S-A1 at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula (Mississippi) . At the end of 1941, the US Navy took over the unfinished ship and had it completed as the escort aircraft carrier USS Block Island of the Bogue class. The ship was launched on May 22, 1942. When it was completed in January 1943, the ship was transferred to the Royal Navy. It was not given the originally planned name Trailer , but was renamed HMS Hunter (D 80) to commemorate the fleet destroyer Hunter, which was lost in Narvik .
The escort aircraft carriers of this class could take up to 18 aircraft of different types on board. The hangar placed on the cargo ship's hull was 260 ft. × 62 ft. (79.25 m × 18.9 m). The machines could be transported to the flight deck via two elevators of 42 ft. × 34 ft. (12.8 m × 10.3 m). The flight deck with its size of 480 ft. × 70 ft. (146 m × 21 m) was limited on the starboard side by a narrow bridge / control tower. The armament consisted of two individual 4-inch multi-purpose guns , four 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and 21 20-mm Oerlikon cannons .
The new escort carrier was the fourth ship of the Bogue or Attacker class in the Royal Navy after HMS Attacker (D02) , Battler (D18) and Stalker (D90) . The Hunter accompanied by the first tests in the Caribbean an American Truppengeleitzug part of the way to Casablanca . In Dundee , the ship was adapted to British systems. It was not until August 1943 that the final preparations for an operational mission began. With Swordfish Squadron 834 on board, the ship was supposed to move to the Mediterranean . Several aircraft were damaged in bad weather and one machine went overboard. The carrier went back to the Clyde , took replacement aircraft and also the Seafire Squadron 899 on board. The Hunter then accompanied the troop escort KMF 22 / WS 33 to Gibraltar .
There the escort formed the "Force V" with the three aforementioned sister ships and the Unicorn , which was supposed to protect the landing forces against air attacks by the Axis powers when allied forces landed on the Italian mainland until land airfields were created. This carrier group was protected by the flak cruisers Euryalus , Charybdis and Scylla as well as nine Hunt destroyers, including the Polish Slazak and Krakowiak , who were also supposed to strengthen the air defense over the landing area with their guns. The operations management of the hunting machines was carried out by the hunter command ship Ulster Queen .
Via Malta, the association with the landing forces moved to Salerno, where the main Allied landing on the Italian mainland took place on September 9, 1943 ( Operation Avalanche ). All porters deployed for hunting protection on site used Seafire -LIIc machines, which proved to be very difficult to use in the prevailing operating conditions (low wind, low speeds of the porters) and led to many accidents. On the 12th the Hunter was able to deliver five machines to the landing site at Paestum , and on the 14th the escort carrier was released from the mission. He was back in Dundee on September 30th to be passed. The ship was not ready for operation again until April 1944.
The next intensive operation took place in August 1944 during the Allied landing in southern France ( Operation Dragoon ) with similar tasks as before Salerno. This time two supporting organizations were set up. The Hunter served in the second formation together with the sister ship Stalker and two escort carriers of the US Navy. This association was secured by the two old British flak cruisers Caledon and Colombo and six destroyers of the US Navy. During this mission, the carrier associations withdrew from the landing area to Sardinia at night . During this mission, the Seafire deployed again not only provided hunting protection due to the lower German air force presence, but also ground support, for which the Air Force 807 had also been trained since spring. On August 27, after thirteen days of deployment, the escort was withdrawn from the support of the landing forces and, from August 30, 1944, was deployed with the "British Aegean Force". On October 31, the escort carrier was released from the association after three longer deployments in the Aegean Sea, together with the sister ships Attacker and Stalker , and returned to Great Britain.
The overtaken ship began its voyage to Ceylon for the Eastern Fleet on February 21, 1945 , where it joined the “21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron” on March 8 with the flak cruiser Royalist and escort carriers Stalker and Khedive . The association supported the planned landing of the Allies at Rangoon , which took place from May 2, 1945. In the middle of the month, the escort accompanied an Allied ship formation that was supposed to intercept Japanese ships that were evacuating the Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Avenger bombers of the escort carrier Emperor , who belonged to the association, discovered the heavy cruiser Haguro , which was operating nearby and was finally found by the British destroyers during the night and sunk with torpedoes .
In June and July 1945, the Hunter transported aircraft from Ceylon to Burma with the sister ship Attacker in order to form attack formations for the further advance to Malaya . The planned further attack operations were not carried out due to American objections. The development in the Far East with the dropping of the American atomic bombs and the radio address of the Tenno to the Japanese people led to the abandonment of further attack operations. The predominantly British associations advanced via Penang to Singapore , where the Japanese capitulated.
Post war history
After attending the formal surrender of the Japanese in Singapore, the Hunter returned to Great Britain. The British equipment was disembarked there and the ship was returned to the USA at the end of 1945 and returned on December 29, 1945.
Rebuilt again to a freighter with turbine drive in Mobile with 8526 GRT and 12,828 tdw, the ship came into service on January 17, 1947 as Almdijk for Holland Amerika Lijn . In October 1965 the ship was sold to Spain for demolition, which took place in Valencia .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Cocker: Aircraft Carrying Ships. P. 80.
- ↑ Sturtivant: The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. P. 298.
- ↑ Sturtivant, p. 392.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 9-16 September 1943, Tyrrhenian Sea, Operation Avalanche
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. August 15, 1944, Mediterranean Sea, Operation Dragoon
- ↑ Sturtivant, p. 188.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. September 24th - October 13th 1944, Mediterranean / Aegean Sea
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. April 27 - May 7, 1945, Indian Ocean, Operation Dracula : Landing near Rangoon.
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. 10-16 May 1945, Indian Ocean
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War. August 27 - September 2, 1945, Indian Ocean
literature
- Maurice Cocker: Aircraft-Carrying Ships of the Royal Navy. The History Press, Stroud 2008, ISBN 978-0-7524-4633-2 .
- Kenneth Poolman: Escort Carrier 1941-1945. Ian Allen, London 1972, ISBN 0-7110-0273-8 .
- Ray Sturtivant: The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. Air-Britain (Historians), Tonbridge 1984, ISBN 0-85130-120-7 .
