HMS Fencer (D64)
HMS Fencer
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Croatan |
| Laid down: | 5 September 1941 |
| Launched: | 4 April 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 20 February 1943 and immediately transferred under lend lease to the Royal Navy |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Fencer |
| Commissioned: | 20 February 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 December 1945 |
| Struck: | 28 January 1947 |
| Fate: | Sold as a merchant ship; scrapped 1975 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: |
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| Displacement: | 14,400 tons |
| Length: | 491 ft 6 in (149.81 m) |
| Beam: | 105 ft (32 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW) |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 646 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 20 aircraft |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | British Pacific Fleet (1944-45) |
| Operations: |
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HMS Fencer (D64) was an Attacker-class escort aircraft carrier that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
She was commissioned by the United States Navy as USS Croatan (CVE-14) (originally AVG-14 then ACV-14), a Bogue-class escort carrier, but was transferred on 20 February 1943 under the Lend-Lease program to the United Kingdom and commissioned by the Royal Navy as HMS Fencer the same day.
As an anti-submarine warfare carrier, Fencer escorted Atlantic, Russian and African convoys, even participating in a strike on the German battleship Tirpitz before being transferred to the Pacific. Following World War II, she returned to the United States 21 December 1946, stricken for disposal on 28 January 1947 and sold into merchant service 30 December as Sydney.
The ship went through a series of renamings, first to Roma in 1967, then Galaxy Queen in 1970, Lady Dina in 1972 and finally Caribia in 1973 before being scrapped in Spezia in September 1975.
There were eight Attacker class escort carriers in service with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. They were built between 1941 and 1942 by Ingalls Shipbuilding and Western Pipe & Steel shipyards in the United States, both building four ships each.
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