Service History
Battler served in the Royal Navy from November 1942 until the end of World War II, serving for the most part as convoy escort in the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans. She travelled the globe extensively — USA, UK, Gibraltar, Malta, Salerno, Palermo, Suez, Aden, Cochin (India), Bombay, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, Maldives, Sydney and the Panama Canal.
In September 1943, Battler supported the allied invasion of Italy at Salerno. In March 1944, as part of force CS4, she helped to disrupt U-boat operations in the Indian Ocean when her aircraft guided destroyers onto the German supply ship Brake and two U-boats. Brake was destroyed by gunfire from destroyer Roebuck and one of the U-boats was damaged by Battler's aircraft.
Battler was returned to the U.S. on 12 February 1946 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 March. She was sold on 14 May to the Patapsco Steel Scrap Co., Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and was subsequently scrapped.
Read more about this topic: HMS Battler (D18)
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