HMS Smiter (D55)

The USS "Vermillion" (CVE-52) (previously AVG-52 then later ACV-52) was laid down on 10 May 1943 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation as a "Bogue"-class auxiliary aircraft carrier; redesignated an escort aircraft carrier, CVE-52, on 10 June 1943; assigned to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease on 23 June 1943; launched on 27 September 1943; and accepted by Britain on 20 January 1944.

Commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS "Smiter" (D55), a "Ruler"-class escort carrier, she served the British throughout the remainder of World War II. She returned to the United States at Norfolk, Virginia on 20 March 1946 and was officially transferred back to the United States Navy on 6 April 1946. She was immediately determined to be surplus to the needs of the Navy and was designated for sale. Her name was struck from the Navy Registry on 6 May 1946.

On 28 January 1947, she was sold to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Norfolk, Va., for conversion to mercantile service. She was subsequently resold to Compania Argentina de Navigacion Dodero, S.A., and entered mercantile service in 1948 at Buenos Aires as the SS "Artillero" (renamed "President Garcia" in 1965). She was wrecked off Guernsey in July 1967, deemed a total loss and was scrapped at Hamburg in November of the same year.

References

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External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/v2/vermillion.htm history.navy.mil: USS "Vermillion"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/052.htm navsource.org: USS "Vermillion" (CVE-52) / HMS "Smiter"]
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/carriers/cve52.txt hazegray.org: USS "Vermillion"]