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HMS Battler was originally built a C3 type freighter named Mormacland when her keel was laid for Moore-McCormack Lines in Pascagoula, Mississippi in April, 1941.
Her
name changed twice and ownership shifted from Moore-McCormack,
to the US Navy before she was loaned to the Royal Navy in the Fall of
1942 and commissioned HMS Battler
(D18).
Battler supported
operations in the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and contributed to
the allied invasion at Salerno, Italy. Participating in operation
"Avalanche" in September, Battler
hosted Swordfish of the 834th squadron in their submarine patrols of
the North Front, and later participated in anti-submarine operations,
launching Swordfish that would work in tandem with HMS Roebuck to sink the U-boat supply
ship KMS Brake and damage its
accompanying U-boat.
After a refit in South Africa, Battler supported anti-sub patrols, escorted convoys, took new Wildcat fighters of the 834, and completed a ferrying mission in the Gulf of Suez before returning to the UK where the squadron disbanded in December, 1944. HMS Battler operated as a ferry carrier and a deck landing training carrier before disembarking on her final journey to the Norfolk Naval Dockyard, Virginia.
*Displacement:* 14,400 tons
*Length: *495 ft 6 in
*Beam: *69 ft 6 in
*Draft: *26 ft
*Propulsion:* Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW)
*Speed:* 18 knots (33 km/h)
*Complement: *646
*Aircraft:* 20
2 × 4 in (102 mm)
8 × 40 mm
20 × 20 mm guns
Restored to US possession on February 12, 1946, and given US
designation BAVG 6, Battler
was decommissioned March 28, 1946, sold May
14, 1946 and scrapped by Patapsco Steel Scrap Co.
Read more about HMS Battler
at the Royal
Navy Research Archive, and Wikipedia.
Sources: Public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
and pictures from my father's 1943 Naval Recognition Manual
Continue the discussion at the Ships Forum or email me (photos of WW2 ships welcome).
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