HMS Smiter (D55)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Vermillion and HMS Smiter.

HMS Smiter
History
United States
NameUSS Vermillion
NamesakeVermillion Bay in Louisiana
BuilderSeattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down10 May 1943
Launched27 September 1943
FateTransferred to Royal Navy
United Kingdom
NameHMS Smiter
Commissioned20 January 1944
Decommissioned6 May 1946
IdentificationPennant number:D55
FateSold as merchant ship SS Artillero; wrecked 1967
General characteristics
Class and type
Displacement7,800 tons
Length495 ft 8 in (151.08 m)
Beam69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draught26 ft (7.9 m)
PropulsionSteam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW)
Speed17.5 knots (32.4 km/h)
Complement890 officers and men
Armament
Aircraft carried28

USS Vermillion (CVE-52) (previously AVG-52 then later ACV-52) was laid down on 10 May 1943 by the

escort aircraft carrier, on 10 June 1943; assigned to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease
on 23 June 1943; launched on 27 September 1943; and accepted by Britain on 20 January 1944.

Service history

Commissioned in the

Navy Registry
on 6 May 1946.

On 28 January 1947, she was sold to the

Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Norfolk, Virginia, for conversion to mercantile service. She was subsequently resold to Compania Argentina de Navigacion Dodero, S.A., and entered mercantile service in 1948 at Buenos Aires as SS Artillero (renamed President Garcia in 1965). She was wrecked off Guernsey in July 1967, deemed a total loss and was scrapped at Hamburg
in November of the same year.

Design and description

These ships were all larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than all the preceding American built escort carriers. They were also all laid down as escort carriers and not converted merchant ships.[1] All the ships had a complement of 646 men 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 by one shaft, two boilers and a steam turbine giving 9,350 shaft horsepower (SHP), 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

anti-submarine aircraft.[1]

anti-aircraft gun
.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Cocker (2008), p.82.
  2. ^ Cocker (2008), p.79.

References

  • Cocker, Maurice (2008). Aircraft-Carrying Ships of the Royal Navy. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press.
    ISBN 978-0-7524-4633-2
    .

External links
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