Avenger class escort carrier

HMS Avenger
Class overview
Name:	Avenger class escort carrier
Builders:	Sun Shipbuilding Company
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Long Island class escort carrier
Succeeded by:	Attacker class escort carrier
Built:	1941–1942
Planned:	3
Completed:	3
Lost:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Escort carrier
Displacement:	8,200 long tons (8,300 t)
Length:	492.25 ft (150.04 m)
Beam:	66.25 ft 6 in (20.35 m)
Draught:	23.25 m (76.3 ft)
Installed power:	8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion:	4 x diesel engines 1 x shaft
Speed:	16.5 kn (19.0 mph; 30.6 km/h)
Complement:	555
Armament:	3 x 4 inch DP,AA guns in single mounts 15 x 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons in single or twin mounts
Aircraft carried:	15
Aviation facilities:	Hangar 190 ft (58 m) x 47 ft (14 m) one 42 feet (13 m) x 34 feet (10 m) lift 9 x arrestor wires
Notes:	Class only had a half hangar for aircraft stowage

There were three Avenger class escort carriers in service with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. All three were originally American merchant ships in the process of being built at the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Chester, Pennsylvania. The ships laid down in 1939 and 1940 were launched and delivered to the Royal Navy by 1942.^[1][2]

The ships had a complement of 555 men and an overall length of 492.25 feet (150.04 m), a beam of 66.25 feet (20.19 m) and a height of 23.25 ft (7.09 m).^[1] Their displacement was 8,200 long tons (8,300 t) at normal load and 9,000 long tons (9,100 t) at deep load. Propulsion was provided by four diesel engines connected to one shaft giving 8,500 brake horsepower (BHP), which could propel the ships at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).^[3]

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side and above the 410 feet (120 m) long wooden flight deck, one aircraft lift 43 by 34 feet (13 × 10 m), one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 190 by 47 feet (58 × 14 m) half hangar below the flight deck.^[3][4] Armament comprised three single mounted 4 inch dual purpose anti-aircraft guns and fifteen 20 mm cannons on single or twin mounts.^[3] They had the capacity for fifteen aircraft which would typically be a mixture of Grumman Martlet or Hawker Sea Hurricane fighter aircraft and Fairey Swordfish or Grumman Avenger anti-submarine aircraft.^[3] The three ships in the class were HMS Avenger, HMS Biter and HMS Dasher. A fourth ship the USS Charger was built at the same time to the same design but was commissioned in the U.S. Navy.^[3]

Service history

HMS Avenger

Main article: HMS Avenger (D14)

HMS Biter

Main article: HMS Biter (D97)

HMS Dasher

Main article: HMS Dasher (D37)

See also

Media related to Avenger class escort carrier at Wikimedia Commons

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Cocker (2008), p.78.
2. ^ "Sun Shipbuilding, Chester PA". Ship Building History. http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/inactive/sun.htm. Retrieved 1 October 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Cocker (2008), p.79.
4. ^ Poolman (1972), p.29.

References

Bibliography

• Cocker, Maurice (2008). Aircraft-Carrying Ships of the Royal Navy. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 9780752446332. 
• Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger (1980). 
• Poolman, Kenneth (1972). Escort Carrier 1941–1945. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0711002738.