HMS Attacker (D02)

HMS Attacker (D02)

HMS Attacker (D02) was an American-built Attacker-class escort aircraft carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

Converted from the merchantman Steel Artisan, she was commissioned by the United States Navy on 30 September 1942 as USS Barnes (CVE-7) but simultaneously transferred under the Lend-Lease program to the United Kingdom and commissioned by the Royal Navy as HMS Attacker (D02) the same day.

Attacker served throughout the war, first as a convoy escort in the Atlantic. After further conversion by the Royal Navy in October 1943 as an assault carrier, the ship was busily engaged in the Mediterranean and later the Pacific theatres of war. In late August, Attacker witnessed the Japanese surrender of Malaya in Penang, as part of Operation Zipper.