H.M.S. Archer
D.78
1943
(Spider Navy SN-2-04B)
- Class: Archer - 1 escort carrier of 1941
- Displacement: 10,220 tons
- Dimensions: 465' (wl) 492' (oa) x 69'6" x 22'
- Machinery: four 7-cyl Sulzer diesels; 1-shaft 8,500 bhp = 16.5 knots
- Armament: 1-4in, 4-40mm (2x2), 6-20mm AA guns
- Aircraft: 15
- Complement: 555
- Builder: Sun Shipbuilding, Chester, PA
- Laid Down: 7 Jun 1939
- Launched: 14 Dec 1939
- Commissioned: 17 Nov 1941
- Service: Converted from a standard American C3 hull (ex-Mormacland) at Newport News and designated BAVG-1 for transfer to Britain under lend lease as HMS Archer. Escorted convoys to Sierra Leone and South Africa before participating in North African landings in Nov 1942. In May 1943, while on ASW duty in the Atlantic, one of her Swordfish scored the first U-boat kill by rocket fire. However, continual machinery issues caused her to be laid up as a stores ship in Aug 1943. Decommissioned in Mar 1945 and returned to USA in Jan 1946. Reconverted to merchant Empire Logan in 1946, Anne Salem in 1949, Tasmania in 1955, and Union Reliance in 1961; scrapped from March 1962
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