Escort Carriers

Escort carriers, or "Jeep carriers" as they were sometimes called (after the ubiquitous Army vehicle), were developed to provide escort and scouting services that larger carriers could not be spared for. Called "baby flattops" by the press, these carriers saw service in all theatres of the war, and on occasion acquitted themselves admirably against vastly superior enemy forces.

Designated CVE (Carrier, Aviation, Escort), the Jeeps were half-jokingly referred to as "combustible, vulnerable and expendable" by their crews. Smaller, slower and very lightly armed compared to their larger cousins, they were pressed into service as early Anti-Submarine Warfare forces (with several ships and crews becoming quite adept at destroying enemy submarines) and as support for amphibious assaults.

Due to the pressing need for escort carriers early in the war, the first CVEs were created by converting existing merchant vessels, or by taking over merchant ships under construction and rebuilding them as carriers. An exception was the Sangamon-class of escort carriers, which were based on Cimarron-class fleet oilers. Later escorts were designed and built as carriers. Some 38 escort carriers were built in U.S. yards, to U.S. plans, and later transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease provisions. These carriers are included in this compilation.

The Battle of the Atlantic - Hunter-Killer Groups

Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) groups centered on escort carriers operated primarily in the Atlantic, combatting Admiral Doenitz's U-boat forces. These forces were causing unacceptable losses to merchant shipping that was needed to keep the Allied war machine in Europe supplied.

An earlier attempt to provide air cover to the convoys was less than totally successful. The CAM ship was a merchant ship with a catapult fitted to its forward deck, over the cargo hatches. A single older-model fighter aircraft, such as the British Hurricane, was mounted on the catapult, with the pilot standing-by in his cockpit.

Upon the sighting of an enemy submarine or long-range bomber, the fighter would be instantly launched. The pilot would then attempt to destroy or drive away the enemy before returning to his ship.

Unfortunately, there was no provision for the recovery of the aircraft after its mission. The pilot had to either ditch near the ship or bail out of his aircraft and be picked up.

The Battle off Samar - The Saga of Taffy 3

Escort carriers were no less active in the Pacific. In this theatre, the escorts were used as aircraft transports, bringing new aircraft from the factories in the States to replace those lost in battle.

A few were teamed with destroyers and destroyer escorts, forming anti-submarine groups like those used in the Atlantic.

They also operated in support of the island-hopping campaign -- amphibious assaults of Japanese-held islands. One group of escort carriers, with their escorting destroyers, is credited with turning back a vastly superior Japanese surface force during the invasion of the Philippine Islands.

Ninety escort carriers saw service with the United States Navy. Of these, six were destroyed by enemy action:

CVE-56 USS Liscombe Bay: Torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-175, Gilbert Islands, 24 November 1943
CVE-21 USS Block Island: Torpedoed by German submarine U-549, Canary Islands, 29 May 1944
CVE-73 USS Gambier Bay: Sunk by Japanese naval gunfire, Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944
CVE-63 USS Saint Lo: Sunk by kamikaze, Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944
CVE-79 USS Ommaney Bay: Sunk by kamikaze, Mindoro, 4 January 1945
CVE-95 USS Bismarck Sea: Sunk by kamikaze, Iwo Jima, 21 February 1945

Of the carriers transferred to the British under Lend-Lease, two met their end during the war:

D14 HMS Avenger: Torpedoed by U-155 off Gibraltar, 15 December 1942
D37 HMS Dasher: Exploded in the Firth of Clyde during fuelling operations, 27 March 1943

No escort carriers survive to the present day. All have long since been broken up and their metal used for razor blades and automobile parts.

Escort Carrier Classes
Bogue-class		Sangamon-class
Casablanca-class		Commencement Bay-class
Avenger-class		Attacker-class
Ameer-class
Escort Carriers - Single-Ship Classes
CVE-1 USS Long Island	CVE-30 USS Charger	D78 HMS Archer

Dedication

Escort Carriers