Attacker - class escort carrier " Attacker " - class escort carriers were a type of aircraft carrier in service with the British Royal Navy during the Second World War . There were eight ships in the class , all constructed in the United States and supplied under the terms of Lend - Lease to the Royal Navy . The ships served in two different roles : as convoy escort carriers , equipped with both anti - submarine and fighter aircraft , and as strike carriers , equipped with just fighter aircraft . When used as convoy escorts , the ships ' aircraft were successful in deterring German submarines from attacking Allied convoys , with a number of German submarines and aircraft destroyed or damaged by the aircraft . Those carriers operating in the strike role took part in two major landings in the Mediterranean and an operation against the German battleship " Tirpitz " in Norwegian waters . Seven of the ships ended the war in the Far East in the campaigns against the Japanese Empire and were then used to transport home prisoners of war . All eight ships survived the war and were eventually returned to the United States Navy , which sold five of them for conversion into merchant ships . The other three ships were scrapped . Design and description . The " Attacker " class comprised eight ships built in the United States for the Royal Navy during the Second World War . They were all built between 1941 and 1942 by Ingalls Shipbuilding or Western Pipe & Steel shipyards ; both companies completed four ships . They were then supplied under the terms of Lend - Lease to the Royal Navy for their use . The ships had a complement of 646 men . Crew accommodations were significantly different from the normal for the Royal Navy at the time . Instead of food being prepared by separate mess es , it was cooked in the galley and served cafeteria - style in a central dining area . Unlike British - built ships , they were equipped with a modern laundry and a barber shop . The traditional hammocks were replaced by three - tier bunk beds , 18 to a cabin , which were hinged and could be tied up to provide extra space when not in use . The ships had an overall length of , a beam of , and a height of . They displaced at deep load . Propulsion was provided by two steam turbine engines connected to one shaft , giving 8 , 500 brake horsepower ( BHP ) , which could propel the ship at . All the escort carriers had the capacity for up to 24 anti - submarine or fighter aircraft , which could be a mixture of the British Hawker Sea Hurricane , Supermarine Seafire , and Fairey Swordfish , and the American Grumman Wildcat , Vought F4U Corsair and Grumman Avenger . The exact composition of the embarked squadrons depended upon the mission . Some squadrons were composite squadrons for convoy defence , and would be equipped with anti - submarine and fighter aircraft , while other squadrons working in a strike - carrier role would only be equipped with fighter aircraft . Aircraft facilities consisted of a small combined bridge – flight control on the starboard side above the flight deck , two aircraft lifts measuring , and nine arrestor wires . Aircraft could be housed in the hangar below the flight deck . The ships ' armament concentrated on anti - aircraft ( AA ) defence and comprised two 4 - inch AA guns in single mounts , eight Bofors 40 mm AA guns in twin mounts , and 21 Oerlikon 20 mm AA cannons in single or twin mounts as the standard fit . In practice all the ships had slightly different weapons mounted . " Attacker " , " Chaser " , and " Hunter " only had four single 20 mm AA cannons , the rest being double mounts . Of the other ships , " Battler " had two , " Stalker " had six , and " Fencer " had seven single 20 mm cannons . " Pursuer " had four extra 40 mm AA guns , and " Striker " had six extra in place of twin 20 mm mounts . Before any of these ships entered service with the Royal Navy , they went to Burrards shipbuilders in British Columbia for some modifications . These modifications , 150 of them in total , were paid for by the Canadian government . Further modifications to turn the escort carriers into assault carriers were undertaken by the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Dundee , Scotland . This included installing over 100 telephones in a shipboard network . A new briefing room with an army plot for operations ashore was installed and extra cabins were built , providing an additional 140 bunks . The carriers were also fitted for a secondary role of providing oil and provisions for their accompanying destroyers . Fueling could be a lengthy process and was done on the move . It took 40 minutes from firing a line across to starting to pump oil , two hours to pump of oil , and a further 35 minutes to disconnect the hose and secure the equipment . Service history . Convoy escorts . Escort carriers were designed to accompany other ships , forming the escort for convoys . The anti - submarine aircraft employed were initially Fairey Swordfish and later Grumman Avengers , which could be armed with torpedoes , depth charge s , bombs , or the RP - 3 rocket projectile . As well as carrying out their own attacks on U - boats , these aircraft identified target locations for the convoy ' s escorts to attack . Typically anti - submarine patrols would be flown between dawn and dusk . One aircraft would fly about ahead of the convoy , while another patrolled astern . Patrols would last between two and three hours , using both radar and visual observation in their search for U - boats . By 1944 , it was usual to have two escort carriers working as a pair on convoy escort . Experience had shown it was best to have two composite squadrons . One squadron included fighters and the by then obsolete Fairey Swordfish equipped with air - to - surface vessel ( ASV ) radar for night patrols . The other squadron would be equipped with fighters and the Grumman Avenger for long - range day patrols , as they could not be fitted with the ASV radar . The Fleet Air Arm squadrons flying off the " Attacker " class escort carriers did have some successes of their own . The first of six confirmed U - boats destroyed by aircraft flying off " Attacker " class ships was on 10 February 1944 , when two Fairey Swordfish from the 842 Naval Air Squadron on board sank west of Iceland . On 4 March , while on Arctic convoy patrol , Fairey Swordfish from 816 Naval Air Squadron on board so severely damaged with a salvo of RP - 3 rockets that she could not submerge and was sunk by . For the rest of the day " Chaser " s Fairey Swordfish kept the U - boats at bay by identifying their locations to her escorts . They also damaged two other U - boats themselves . The was sunk by RP - 3 rockets fired from a Fairey Swordfish on 5 March , and the on 6 March . Three other U - boats sighted managed to evade an attack in foggy conditions . Operating from " Fencer " , 842 Squadron sank their second submarine , , on 1 May , and sunk and on 2 May 1944 . The carriers ' aircraft could also claim some success against the Luftwaffe ' s long - range bombers . On 1 December 1943 , two Grumman Wildcats from 842 Naval Air Squadron on board " Fencer " shot down a Focke - Wulf Fw 200 that was spying on Convoy OS 60 . The next confirmed air - to - air success came on 24 February 1944 , when four Grumman Wildcats from 881 Naval Air Squadron on board " Pursuer " were scrambled after the ship ' s radar had identified at least three aircraft approaching . The approaching bombers comprised a mixed force of seven Focke - Wulf Fw 200 and Heinkel He 177 s carrying glider bombs . One Fw 200 and one He 177 were shot down by Grumman Wildcats . The rest of the Germans kept their distance due to the combined efforts of the fighters and the ships ' anti - aircraft fire . Off Cape Finisterre in March 1944 , Grumman Wildcat fighters from " Pursuer " shot down a Heinkel He 177 and a Focke - Wulf Fw 200 , and damaged a Fw 200 . In August 1944 , the Arctic convoys had started again , the first one being escorted by " Striker " and , a British - built escort carrier . On board " Striker " was 824 Naval Air Squadron with twelve Fairey Swordfish IIs , ten Grumman Wildcat Vs , and two spares . The Grumman Wildcats shot down a Blohm & Voss BV 138 on 22 August . For Operation Neptune from 5 June 1944 to the middle of the month , five all - fighter escort carriers , including " Fencer " , provided air cover to protect the anti - submarine groups on the flanks of the Normandy invasion fleet . Strike operations . During the Salerno landings , Force V , commanded by Admiral Philip Vian and consisting of , , , and , along with the light fleet carrier , provided air cover . The five carriers were expected to keep a fighter aircraft force of 22 Supermarine Seafire s over the landing area until the ground forces had seized an Italian airfield for use by ground - based aircraft . On the first day , 9 September 1943 , they flew 265 sorties . They had expected to be relieved by 10 September , but a suitable airfield was not captured until 12 September . Of the carriers ' 105 fighters , ten were lost in action and 33 written off in accidents . In exchange , they claimed two German aircraft destroyed and four others probably destroyed . For the landings in the south of France on 15 August 1944 , " Attacker " , " Stalker " , and " Hunter " , each equipped with 24 Supermarine Seafires and " Pursuer " , with 24 Grumman Wildcat s , formed part of the aircraft carrier force dubbed Task Force 88 . The success of the Allied navies against U - boats in the Atlantic forced the Germans to move some of them into the Indian Ocean . To counter this threat , a task force was formed with HMS " Battler " , the cruiser s and , and the destroyer s and . Their objective was to locate and destroy the U - boats and their supply ships and protect the shipping lanes between India , Aden , and South Africa . In March 1944 , one of " Battler " s planes sighted the German supply ship " Brake " and three surfaced U - boats . They guided the " Roebuck " to the supply ship , which was scuttled by her captain . The three U - boats submerged before the start of the action . In April 1944 , aircraft from " Fencer " and took part in Operation Tungsten : the attack on the German battleship " Tirpitz " in the Kaafjord and at Tromsø . Fairey Barracuda bombers from were escorted by Supermarine Seafires , Vought Corsairs , Grumman Hellcat s , and from the two escort carriers , Grumman Wildcats . The Hellcats carried out attacks on the anti - aircraft defences and the Wildcats attacked the " Tirpitz " with machine gun fire , just prior to the Fairey Barracudas bombing run . " Tirpitz " was hit multiple times during the attack , killing over 100 , and wounding over 300 , of her crew . There was some damage to her superstructure but no bombs pierced the armoured deck . On 26 April 1944 , " Pursuer " s aircraft successfully attacked a German convoy off Bodø in northern Norway . The convoy consisted of four merchant ships and five escorts ; of these , all the merchant ships and one of the escorts were bombed and three of the merchant ships were set on fire . At the same time , other aircraft bombed and set on fire a large merchant ship at Bodø Harbour . On 6 May 1944 , while on an anti - shipping sweep in the same area , Grumman Wildcats of 882 Naval Air Squadron from " Searcher " shot down two Blohm & Voss BV 138 seaplanes . Early in 1944 , the trend was for the strike carrier to move eastwards . Firstly " Attacker " , " Hunter " , and " Pursuer " were sent to the Aegean sea to conduct operations against Axis garrisons in the area . They then moved to the Indian Ocean , joining " Fencer " and " Stalker " in supporting the Allied armies in Burma . Here they supported the Fourteenth Army amphibious landings and interdicted Japanese shipping in the Bay of Bengal and the Straits of Malacca . As the war in the east progressed , the British and U . S . Pacific fleets combined . Two more " Attacker " - class ships arrived in the area , " Chaser " and " Striker " . These were used to ferry replacement aircraft for the other carriers , and after the Japanese surrender were given another role : repatriating prisoners of war . When the war was over , the surviving Lend - Lease ships were returned to the U . S . Navy , which now had a surplus of these ships , so some were sold into merchant service . HMS " Attacker " became " Costel Forte " , HMS " Chaser " " Aagtekerk " , HMS " Fencer " " Sydney " , HMS " Stalker " " Rionw " , and HMS " Hunter " " Almdijk " . The other three " Attacker " - class ships , HMS " Battler " , HMS " Pursuer " , and HMS " Striker " , were not sold into merchant service ; all three were scrapped between 1946 and 1948 . Battle honours . All eight ships were awarded battle honours by the Royal Navy .