Rapana
1943
(Warrior K-16)
- Class: Rapana - 7 merchant aircraft carriers of 1942
- Displacement: 7,986 grt / 12,267 dwt
- Dimensions: 481 x 59 x 27.5 ft.
- Machinery: 1-shaft Sulzer diesel, B.H.P. 4,000 = 11.5 knots
- Armament: 1-4 in., 2-40mm A.A., 6-20mm A.A. guns
- Aircraft: 4
- Complement: 118
- Builder: Witton-Fijenoord, Schiedam, Netherlands
- Launched: Apr 1935
- Commissioned: Jul 1943
- Notes: Merchant Aircraft Carrier (M.A.C.), one of seven tanker conversions designed by John Lamb of the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company. (Two Dutch sisters were also converted and operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy.) They had no hangar or lift, requiring them to park their aircraft on deck. The conversion reduced oil capacity by about 1,000 tons only and speed by about 1/2 knot. To minimize the risk of fire, only black oil was carried, and the ships often acted as oilers for convoy escort. Rapana was rebuilt at Smith's Dock and was the first M.A.C. tanker in service. Returned postwar for commerical service, she was renqmed Rotula in 1950. Scrapped at Hong Kong in 1958.
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