H.M.S. Audacity
D.10
1941
(Carlo Marquardt CMP-1220)
- Class: Audacity - 1 escort carrier of 1941
- Displacement: 10,231 tons
- Dimensions: 467'3" (oa) x 56' x 21'7"
- Machinery: 1-shaft MAN diesel, 5,200 bhp = 15 knots
- Armament: 1-4in AA, 4-2pdr AA, 4-20mm AA guns
- Aircraft: 6
- Complement: 480
- Builder: Bremer Vulkan, Vegesack, Germany
- Laid Down:
- Launched: 29 Mar 1939
- Commissioned: 20 Jun 1941
- Service: Built as the German cargo liner Hannover. Owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd and trading to the West Indies, where she sought refuge at Curacao when WWII began. In March 1940 she attempted to run the blockade and return to Germany, but she was captured by the British cruiser HMS Dunedin, despite an attempt at scuttling, and towed to Jamaica. She was briefly renamed Sinbad, and then Empire Audacity when taken over by the Ministry of War Transport on 11 Nov 1940. On 22 Jan 1941 she was sent to Blyth Dry Docks & Shipbuilding Co Ltd to be rebuilt as the first escort carrier for the Royal Navy. After working up in the Clyde, she was renamed HMS Audacity on 31 Jul 1941. Sailed on four convoys to and from Gibraltar, during which her Martlets shot down a number of German aircraft. Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-571 off Portugal, 20 Dec 1941.
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