Attacker Class Escort Carrier - Design and Description

Design and Description

The Attacker class comprised eight ships built in the United States for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. They were all built between 1941 and 1942 by Ingalls Shipbuilding or Western Pipe & Steel shipyards; both companies completed four ships. They were then supplied under the terms of Lend-Lease to the Royal Navy for their use. The ships had a complement of 646 men. Crew accommodations were significantly different from the normal for the Royal Navy at the time. Instead of food being prepared by separate messes, it was cooked in the galley and served cafeteria-style in a central dining area. Unlike British-built ships, they were 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.

The ships had an overall length of 492.25 feet (150.04 m), a beam of 69.5 feet (21.2 m), and a height of 23.25 ft (7.09 m). They displaced 11,420 long tons (11,600 t) at deep load. Propulsion was provided by two steam turbine engines connected to one shaft, giving 8,500 brake horsepower (BHP), which could propel the ship at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph).

All the escort carriers had the capacity for up to 24 anti-submarine or fighter aircraft, which could be a mixture of the British Hawker Sea Hurricane, Supermarine Seafire, and Fairey Swordfish, and the American Grumman Wildcat, Vought F4U Corsair and Grumman Avenger. The exact composition of the embarked squadrons depended upon the mission. Some squadrons were composite squadrons for convoy defence, and would be equipped with anti-submarine and fighter aircraft, while other squadrons working in a strike-carrier role would only be equipped with fighter aircraft. Aircraft facilities consisted of a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side above the 450-by-120-foot (140 by 37 m) flight deck, two aircraft lifts measuring 42 by 34 feet (13 by 10 m), and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 260 by 62 feet (79 by 19 m) hangar below the flight deck.

The ships' armament concentrated on anti-aircraft (AA) defence and comprised two 4-inch AA guns in single mounts, eight Bofors 40 mm AA guns in twin mounts, and 21 Oerlikon 20 mm AA cannons in single or twin mounts as the standard fit. In practice all the ships had slightly different weapons mounted. Attacker, Chaser, and Hunter only had four single 20 mm AA cannons, the rest being double mounts. Of the other ships, Battler had two, Stalker had six, and Fencer had seven single 20 mm cannons. Pursuer had four extra 40 mm AA guns, and Striker had six extra in place of twin 20 mm mounts.

Before any of these ships entered service with the Royal Navy, they went to Burrards shipbuilders in British Columbia for some modifications. These modifications, 150 of them in total, were paid for by the Canadian government. Further modifications to turn the escort carriers into assault carriers were undertaken by the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Dundee, Scotland. This included installing over 100 telephones in a shipboard network. A new briefing room with an army plot for operations ashore was installed and extra cabins were built, providing an additional 140 bunks. The carriers were also fitted for a secondary role of providing oil and provisions for their accompanying destroyers. Fueling could be a lengthy process and was done on the move. It took 40 minutes from firing a line across to starting to pump oil, two hours to pump 96 long tons (98 t) of oil, and a further 35 minutes to disconnect the hose and secure the equipment.