page_title: HMS Arbiter
section_title: Design and description
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Arbiter / Design and description
caption_attribution_description: English: Crews cleaning the twin 40mm Bofors guns after a shoot from the Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Tracker (D24) whilst in the North Atlantic.
context_page_description: USS St. Simon, an escort aircraft carrier originally classified as an auxiliary aircraft carrier, was laid down on 26 April 1943 at Tacoma, Washington, by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation, under a Maritime Commission contract; reclassified as an escort aircraft carrier, CVE-51, on 15 July 1943; launched on 9 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. R. H. Lewis, the wife of Major General R. H. Lewis, Commanding General, Northwestern Sector, Fort Lewis, Washington; assigned to the Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon, for the completion of construction; and delivered to the Royal Navy, under lend-lease, on 31 December 1943.
  Renamed HMS Arbiter, the escort carrier served in the Royal Navy for the duration of World War II. She earned "battle honors" in the Atlantic during 1944, serving on the western approaches to the British Isles, and in 1945 served as one of seven similar ships engaged in operating as an aircraft ferry supporting the British Pacific Fleet's train, bringing up replacement aircraft or providing combat air patrol for replenishment ships.
  Returned to Norfolk, Virginia, on 23 February 1946, she was accepted by the United States Navy on 3 March 1946.
context_section_description: These ships were 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. 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). The ship displaced 11,200 long tons (11,400 t) standard and 15,390 long tons (15,640 t) full load. Propulsion was provided by a General Electric geared steam turbinefed with steam by two Foster Wheeler boilers, and driving one shaft. The machinery was rated at 8,500 shaft horsepower (6,300 kW), giving a speed of 18–18.5 knots (20.7–21.3 mph; 33.3–34.3 km/h).
  Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge/flight control on the starboard side, two aircraft elevators 43 feet (13.1 m) by 34 feet (10.4 m) in size, one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 260 feet (79.2 m) by 62 feet (18.9 m) hangar below the flight deck. Arbiter was armed with two 5"/38 caliber guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts and 35 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon (14 twin and 7 single mounts). The ship could operate a maximum of 30 aircraft or carry as many as 90 in the ferry role.
caption: Twin 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun
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