HMS Attacker (D02)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | USS Barnes |
| Builder: | Western Pipe and Steel Company |
| Laid down: | 17 April 1941 |
| Launched: | 27 September 1941 |
| Acquired: | December 1941 |
| Reinstated: | 5 January 1946 |
| Fate: | Sold into Merchant service February 1947 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Attacker |
| Commissioned: | 30 September 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 5 January 1946 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | returned to the USN 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: |
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| Displacement: | 11,420 long tons (11,600 t) deep load |
| Length: | 492.25 ft (150.04 m) |
| Beam: | 69.5 ft (21.2 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 bhp (6,300 kW) |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Complement: | 646 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 24 |
HMS Attacker (D02) was an Attacker-class escort aircraft carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
Converted from the merchantman Steel Artisan, she was commissioned by the United States Navy on 30 September 1942 as USS Barnes (CVE-7), a Bogue-class escort carrier, but simultaneously transferred under the Lend-Lease program to the United Kingdom and commissioned by the Royal Navy as HMS Attacker the same day.
Attacker served throughout the war, first as a convoy escort in the Atlantic. After further conversion by the Royal Navy in October 1943 as an assault carrier, the ship was busily engaged in the Mediterranean and later the Pacific theatres of war. In late August, Attacker witnessed the Japanese surrender of Penang in Malaya, as part of Operation Jurist.
She had been laid down on 17 April 1941 as the merchantman Steel Artisan (hull 160) under Maritime Commission contract by Western Pipe and Steel Company, San Francisco, California for the Ithanian Steamship Company and was launched in late September. She was then requisitioned for conversion to a carrier in December 1941 to be named USS Barnes but selected for transfer under Lend-Lease to the British.
HMS Attacker was the lead ship in the Attacker class of eight escort carriers, just one of the 38 escort carriers built in the United States for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was built at the Western Pipe & Steel shipyards, who also built three other ships in the class. Once completed she was supplied under the terms of Lend-Lease agreement to the Royal Navy. There was a ships complement of 646 men, who lived in crew accommodation that was significantly different from the arrangements that were normal for the Royal Navy at the time. The separate messes no longer had to prepare their own food, as everything was cooked in the galley and served cafeteria style in a central dining area. They were also 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.
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