The jeep carrier Charger spent the war in the relative safety of Chesapeake, as a training platform for Naval aviators, among them Tommy Blackburn, whose VGF-29 mastered the new Wildcats on the small ship.

Originally designated AVG-30, Charger weighed 8,000 tons, and was 492 feet long. She was launched on 1 March 1941 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Chester, Pa.; as Rio La Plata; sponsored by Mrs. F. Espil; commissioned as HMS Charger (BAVG-4), Captain George Abel-Smith, RN, in command: transferred to the U.S. Navy 4 October 1941; reclassified AVG-30, 24 January 1942; commissioned 3 March 1942, Captain T. L. Sprague in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.

Charger's area of operations throughout the war was Chesapeake Bay, and her duty the basic task of training pilots' and ships' crews in carrier operations. Men trained on her decks played an important role in the successful contest for the Atlantic with hostile submarines carried out by the escort carrier groups. Re-classified ACV-30 on 20 August 1942, and CVE-30 on 15 July 1943, Charger left Chesapeake Bay for two ferry voyages, one to Bermuda in October 1942, and one to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in September 1945.

Charger was decommissioned at New York 15 March 1946, and sold 30 January 1947.

Note sister ship Long Island (CVE-1). More photos of Long Island CVE-1

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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).

USS Charger (CVE-30)

US Navy Aircraft Carrier of World War Two