HMS Pursuer (D73)
_underway_in_March_1944.jpg)
HMS Pursuer in March 1944. HMS Furious can be seen in the background
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS St. George |
| Builder: | Ingalls Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | 31 July 1941 |
| Launched: | 18 July 1942 |
| Fate: | Transferred to Royal Navy |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Pursuer |
| Commissioned: | 14 June 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 12 February 1946 |
| Struck: | 28 March 1946 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Attacker class escort carrier |
| 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, one shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW) |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 646 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 20 |
| Service record | |
| Part of: | Home Fleet |
| Operations: | |
The USS St. George (CVE-17) (originally AVG-17 then ACV-17) was laid down on 31 July 1941 as a C3-S-A2 by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Hull 296 of Pascagoula, Mississippi, under Maritime Commission contract as the (second) SS Mormacland for Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc. (MC Hull 163). She was renamed St. George (AVG-17) by the United States Navy on 7 January 1942; and assigned to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease as HMS Pursuer on 24 February 1942.
Launched on 18 July 1942; she was sponsored by Mrs. Mary Ann S. Bartman, reclassified ACV-17 on 20 August 1942, acquired by the US Navy and simultaneously transferred to Britain on 14 June 1943. She was reclassified CVE-17 on 15 July 1943.
Pursuer served in the Home Fleet during World War II, primarily on convoy escort duty. However, on 3 April 1944, she provided fighter support for an air strike on the German battleship Tirpitz in Altenfjord, Norway, which disabled the vessel for three months.
On 26 April 1944 Grumman Wildcats of 882 Naval Air Squadron took part in the successful attack on a German convoy off Bodo, northern Norway. It consisted of four medium-sized supply ships and five escort craft. All four supply vessels and one of the escorts were hit with bombs and three of the supply ships were left on fire, the largest having run aground. While this attack was in progress other naval aircraft penetrated Bodo Harbour, where one large supply ship was hit by bombs and set on fire amidships.
In August and September 1944, the ship served with a British carrier group providing air cover for the landings in southern France, and as an anti-submarine warfare vessel at the Battle of Normandy.
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Wikipedia