HMS Stalker (D91)

	HMS Stalker January 1943
History
United States
Name	USS Hamlin
Namesake	Hamlin Sound in South Carolina
Builder	Western Pipe and Steel Company
Laid down	6 October 1941
Launched	5 March 1942
Fate	Transferred to Royal Navy 21 December 1942
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Stalker
Commissioned	21 December 1942
Decommissioned	29 December 1945
Stricken	20 March 1946
Fate	Sold as a merchant ship; scrapped 1975
General characteristics
Class and type	Attacker-class escort carrier
Displacement	14,400 tons
Length	491 ft 6 in (149.81 m)
Beam	105 ft (32 m)
Draught	26 ft (7.9 m)
Propulsion	Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	646
Armament	2 × 5"/51 guns; 8 × 40 mm AA; 20 × 20 mm guns AA;
Aircraft carried	20
Service record
Operations:	Salerno landings (1943); Operation Dragoon (1944); Operation Tiderace (1945);

USS Hamlin (CVE-15) was one of a large group of

San Francisco, California, on 5 March 1942, as AVG-15, aircraft escort vessel. She was sponsored

by Mrs. William H. Shea. Her designation was changed to ACV-15, auxiliary aircraft carrier, 20 August 1942, and she was acquired and simultaneously transferred to the United Kingdom 21 December 1942. Hamlin's designation was changed to CVE-15, escort aircraft carrier, 15 July 1943.

Renamed HMS Stalker (D91), the escort carrier played a vital part in allied operations in the

Navy Register 20 March 1946 and sold to Waterman Steamship Corp. of Mobile, Alabama, 18 December 1946. Waterman in turn sold her to the Netherlands in August 1947 where she was converted to the merchant ship Riouw. Later renamed Lobito in 1968, she was scrapped in Taiwan

in September 1975.

Design and description

There were eight

Western Pipe & Steel shipyards in the United States, both building four ships each.^[1]

The ships had a complement of 646 men and accommodation of Royal Navy mess hall control food. The separate messes no longer had to prepare their own food, as everything was cooked in the galley and served cafeteria style in a central dining area. They were also equipped with a modern laundry and a barber shop. The traditional hammocks were replaced by three tier bunk beds, eighteen to a cabin which were hinged and could be tied up to provide extra space when not in use.^[2]

The ships dimensions were; an

deep load.^[3] Propulsion was provided by four diesel engines connected to one shaft giving 8,500 brake horsepower (6,300 kW), which could propel the ship at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph).^[4]

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the

anti-submarine aircraft.^[3]

References

^ Cocker (2008), p.79.
^ Poolman (1972), pp.74–75.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cocker (2008), p.80.
^ Cocker (2008), pp.80–81.
^ Poolman (1972), p.57.

Bibliography

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

Poolman, Kenneth (1972). Escort Carrier 1941–1945. London: Ian Allan.
ISBN 0-7110-0273-8
.

External links

[co79-1] Cocker (2008), p.79.

[2] Poolman (1972), pp.74–75.

[co80-3] Cocker (2008), p.80.

[4] Cocker (2008), pp.80–81.

[5] Poolman (1972), p.57.

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