HMS Slinger (D26)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Chatham and HMS Slinger.
History
United States
Name: USS Chatham
Builder: Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down: 25 May 1942
Launched: 19 September 1942
Fate: Transferred to Royal Navy
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Slinger
Commissioned: 11 August 1943
Decommissioned: 12 April 1946
Fate: Sold as merchant ship, scrapped 1969-1970
General characteristics
Class and type:
Displacement: 8,333 tons
Length: 496 ft (151 m)
Beam: 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draught: 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m)
Propulsion: Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW)
Speed: 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement: 646 officers and men
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 18-24

The USS Chatham (CVE-32) (originally designated AVG-32, then later ACV-32) was built at the Seattle-Tacoma S/Y, Hull #27, Seattle WA and transferred to the United Kingdom 11 August 1943 under lend-lease and renamed HMS Slinger (D26). Outfitted by the British as a transport carrier, the ship was mined on 5 February 1944 but returned to service, 17 October. In 1945, she was transferred for service in the Pacific as a fighter carrier. Following the war, she was returned to United States custody on 27 February 1946 and was sold/converted by Robin Line 21 November 1946 as Robin Mowbray. Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc purchased Robin Line in 1958. She was scrapped in Kaohsiung Taiwan in 1969-1970.

Design and description

These ships were all larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than all the preceding American built escort carriers. They were also all laid down as escort carriers and not converted merchant ships.[1] All the ships had a complement of 646 men and an overall length of 492 feet 3 inches (150.0 m), a beam of 69 feet 6 inches (21.2 m) and a draught of 25 ft 6 in (7.8 m).[1] Propulsion was provided by one shaft, two boilers and a steam turbine giving 9,350 shaft horsepower (SHP), which could propel the ship at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).[2]

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side, two aircraft lifts 43 feet (13.1 m) by 34 feet (10.4 m), one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires.[1] Aircraft could be housed in the 260 feet (79.2 m) by 62 feet (18.9 m) hangar below the flight deck.[1] Armament comprised: two 4 inch Dual Purpose guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons in single mounts.[1] They had a maximum aircraft capacity of twenty-four aircraft which could be a mixture of Grumman Martlet, Vought F4U Corsair or Hawker Sea Hurricane fighter aircraft and Fairey Swordfish or Grumman Avenger anti-submarine aircraft.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cocker (2008), p.82.
  2. Cocker (2008), p.79.

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 27, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.