HMS Shah (D21)
Curtiss P-40s on her deck.
| |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Jamaica |
Builder | Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation |
Laid down | 13 November 1942 |
Launched | 21 April 1943 |
Fate | Transferred to Royal Navy 27 September 1943 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Shah |
Namesake | Shah of Persia |
Commissioned | 27 September 1943 |
Decommissioned | 7 February 1946 |
Identification | Pennant number D21 |
Honours and awards | Burma 1945 |
Fate | Returned to US ownership. Sold as merchant ship Salta; sold for scrap 1966 |
Badge | On a Field Blue, a Shah's crown Gold. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type |
|
Displacement | 7,800 tons |
Length | 495 ft 7 in (151.05 m) |
Beam | 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) |
Draught | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
Propulsion | Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6,300 kW) |
Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
Complement | 890 officers and ratings |
Armament |
|
Aircraft carried | 12–24 |
USS Jamaica (CVE-43) (originally AVG-43 then later ACV-43), was an escort carrier of World War II that served in the British Royal Navy as HMS Shah (D21). Returned to the United States at war's end, she was converted into a merchant vessel and she was sold into civilian service in 1946 as Salta. She was ultimately scrapped in 1966.
Design and description
HMS Shah was a Ruler-class escort carrier in the Royal Navy. The ships in this class were all larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than all preceding American-built escort carriers. Their hulls were designed as merchant ships but they were laid down as escort carriers and were not later conversions. All had a complement of 646 officers and ratings and an overall length of 492 feet 3 inches (150.0 m), a beam of 69 feet 6 inches (21.2 m) and a draught of 25 ft 6 in (7.8 m).[1] Propulsion was provided a steam turbine, two boilers connected to one shaft giving 9,350 brake horsepower (6,970 kW), which could propel the ship at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).[2]
Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the
Military service as Shah
MC Hull 254 was laid down 13 November 1942 and
She was transferred to the
Jamaica was renamed Shah, with a RN pennant number of D21. Commanded by William John Yendell,[5] her initial air complement was 851 Naval Air Squadron with 12 Grumman Avenger II torpedo bombers and a flight of Grumman Wildcat fighters.[3]
After
Her duties were chiefly convoy defence and trade protection against German U-boats operating in the Indian Ocean with a shore base at Trincomalee. She took an active part in the war, heading the hunter-killer group which sank U-198 in the Indian Ocean on 12 August 1944. Alerted to the submarine's presence in the area, 851's Avengers located the U-boat and attempted to attack her, and directed the other ships in the group, HMS Begum, the River-class frigate HMS Findhorn and the Black Swan-class sloop HMIS Godavari to a point where the U-boat was depth charged resulting in it sinking.
Shah was transferred to the
The Hellcats that survived the earlier landing accident were flown off Shah and she briefly returned to
Disembarking her aircraft at Trincomalee on 26 August, she then sailed to the Clyde naval base via Aden and the Suez Canal where she was prepared for return to the United States. Arriving at Norfolk on 16 October, she was formally handed over to the United States on 26 November 1945.[3]
Merchant service as Salta
She was sold into merchant service to Argentina on 20 June 1947 as Salta, named after the
In 1963 she was the first ship on scene at the rescue of passengers and crew from the Greek liner Lakonia when it caught fire in the Atlantic. At the time she was under the command of Captain José Barrere, on its way from Genoa, Italy, to Buenos Aires. Salta rescued 475 people and took aboard most of Lakonia's lifeboats. Salta was scrapped in Buenos Aires in 1966.
Notes
References
- Cocker, Maurice (2008). Aircraft-Carrying Ships of the Royal Navy. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-4633-2.
- by Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason RN (Rtd) (2006). "HMS SHAH (D 21) - Ruler-class Escort Aircraft Carrier". SERVICE HISTORIES of ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS in WORLD WAR 2. naval-history.net.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
External links
- History and Photos at royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk
- Photo gallery at Navsource.org