- HMS Puncher (D79)
USS "Willapa" (AVG-53/ACV-53/CVE-53) was a "Bogue"-class
escort aircraft carrier (originally an auxiliary aircraft carrier) in theUnited States Navy , leased to theUnited Kingdom ."Willapa" was laid down on 21 May 1943 at
Seattle, Washington , by theSeattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation and reclassified CVE-53 on 10 June 1943. Launched on 8 November 1943, the ship was transferred underlend-lease to theRoyal Navy on 5 February 1944 to be manned by aCanadian crew.Renamed HMS "Puncher" (D79), the carrier served the
Royal Canadian Navy except forFleet Air Arm personnel in theAtlantic andMediterranean for the duration of hostilities. Stationed with Home Fleet atScapa Flow , "Puncher" initially served in a training role, but was re-tasked to strike andconvoy air protection (CAP) after her sister ship, HMS "Nabob" was torpedoed offNorway in 1944. Also part of her squadron was the US escort carrier USS "Shamrock Bay". "Puncher" also provided convoy air protection on theMurmansk /Arkhangelsk convoy route which she did six times. Strike operations included German occupiedNorway against industrial and shipping targets such as the steel works atNarvik on the west coast of Norway.Fleet Air Arm squadrons assigned to "Puncher" includedFairey Barracuda fighter/bombers,Fairey Firefly fighter/bombers, American-built Hellcat (Wildcat) fighters and Avenger torpedo bombers. The Barracuda was one of the largest carrier-borne aircraft in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and required rocket assistance to take flight from the smallflight deck .The
Admiralty had determined that, in the post-war world, Canada would have her own aircraft carriers. Both HMS "Puncher" and HMS "Nabob" were crewed by RCN crews to establish the knowledge base for the future carriers assigned to Canada, HMCS "Warrior" (ex HMS "Warrior"), HMCS "Magnificent" (ex HMS "Magnificent") ("The Maggie"), and HMCS "Bonaventure" (ex HMS "Powerful") ("The Bonnie").Decommissioned on 16 February 1946 at
Norfolk, Virginia , and returned to American custody on that day, the escort carrier was struck from theNavy Registry on 12 March 1946, having never seen active service with theUnited States Navy .Initially sold to William B. St. John, of
New York City , on 9 January 1947, the carrier was subsequently resold to a British firm on 4 February 1947 and converted for mercantile service. She later served successively as "Muncaster Castle", "Bardic" and "Ben Nevis" until she was scrapped inTaiwan in 1973.See also
*
List of aircraft carriers
*List of ship launches in 1943
*List of ship commissionings in 1944
*List of ship decommissionings in 1946 References
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.