The Bogue class were a class of 45 escort carriers built in the United States for service with the US Navy and the Royal Navy, through the Lend-Lease program, during World War II. Following the war, ten Bogue-class ships were kept in service by the US Navy and were reclassified for helicopter and aircraft transport operations. The first 22 ships of the class were converted from finished, or near finished, Maritime Commission C3-S-A1 and C3-S-A2 ships, with 11 retained by the US Navy, and the other 11 transferring to the Royal Navy, where they were renamed and grouped as the Attacker-class escort carrier. USS Prince William (CVE-31) was the last of the USN ships built and comprised all of the lessons learned in the earlier ships, sometimes it is referred to as its own subclass of the Bogue class. The remaining 23 ships were built from the keel up on C3-class designs and classified as Ruler-class escort carrier, or the Ameer-class. Following the war, those ships that served with the Royal Navy were returned to the United States and were either scrapped or converted for mercantile use.

Construction and design

The Bogue-class escort carriers were based on the Maritime Commission's Type C3 cargo ships hull. They all were named for sounds. All of the ships for the US Navy and half of the ships for the Royal Navy were built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation, some of the early Royal Navy ships were produced by Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Western Pipe and Steel Company of San Francisco, California.

Specifications

The Bogue class displaced 8390 LT at standard load and 13980 LT at full load. The ships had a waterline length of 465 ft with an overall length of 495 ft. Their beam was 69 ft at the waterline with a maximum beam of 111 ft. The draft was 24 ft at full load and 21 ft at light load.

Propulsion and power

The previous Long Island-class escort carrier and Charger-class escort carriers had suffered from reliability issues with their diesel engines so it was decided that the Bogues would use two water-tube boilers, built by Foster-Wheeler, feeding steam to an Allis-Chalmers steam turbine engine connected to a single shaft. This produced 8500 bhp, which could propel the ship at 18 kn. They could sail 26300 nmi at 15 kn.

Aircraft facilities

The Bogue class had the capacity for up to 24 anti-submarine or fighter aircraft, which could be a mixture of the Grumman Wildcat, Vought F4U Corsair and Grumman Avenger. The exact composition of the embarked squadrons depended upon the mission. Some squadrons were composite squadrons for convoy defence, and would be equipped with anti-submarine and fighter aircraft, while other squadrons working in a strike-carrier role would only be equipped with fighter aircraft. When utilised in ferry service the ships could carry up to 90 aircraft between both the flight and hangar decks. Aircraft facilities consisted of a small combined bridge–flight control island on the forward starboard side of the ship. The flight deck was 440 ×, with nine arresting wires and three barriers at the stern, along with one hydraulic catapult on the port side at the bow, which was able to launch a 3.5 ST aircraft at 61 kn. Two 6.5 ST elevators were placed on the flight deck, one at the stern and one near the bow. The hangar deck was 262 × and fully enclosed, which was larger than the previous Long Island class. The hangar deck retained the camber at the bow and stern of the main deck of the merchant ships they were built on. Since the elevators were placed near the ends of the flight deck, pulleys were required for handling planes on and off of them on the hangar deck, which was difficult in normal conditions, and impossible in rough seas. The ships were also equipped with derricks for retrieving seaplanes and loading and unloading aircraft.

Armament

The Bogue class was equipped with a variety of weapons, which varied throughout the war and from ship to ship. The early ships were equipped with two 5 in/51 caliber guns for surface targets, on sponsons at either side of the stern, these were soon refit with two 5-inch/38 caliber dual-purpose guns, and standardized on the remaining ships of the class. For anti-aircraft (AA) cover they were only equipped with ten 20 mm Oerlikon cannons. This was later augmented with up to eight twin mounted 40 mm Bofors AA guns and an additional 10 to 18 Oerlikons in single or twin mounts. After the war, the 10 remaining Bogue class escort carriers retained in US service were re-designated as "helicopter escort carriers" (CVHE) in 1955, and five of these were re-designated as "utility escort carriers" (CVU) in 1958, then aircraft ferry (AKV) in 1958, and operating under US Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) during the Vietnam War.

Transfer to the Royal Navy

Thirty-four of the 45 ships of the Bogue class were transferred to the Royal Navy under the provisions of the Lend-Lease program; they were given new names for their RN service and returned to the US Navy after the war. Out of the first group of 22 ships, 11 were transferred to the RN and reclassified as Attacker-class escort carrier. These ships had been converted from Maritime Commission Type C3 cargo ships that were finished or had already been laid down. A second group of 23 ships were built from the keel up, based on C3-S-A1 or C3-S-A1 plans, and transferred to the RN and reclassified as Ruler-class escort carrier, or Ameer class, in British service, and sometimes as the Prince William class by the US Navy. As delivered, these carriers required modifications to conform to Royal Naval standards. The Attacker class ships had their conversions carried out in drydocks in United Kingdom, but due to these ports being overwhelmed 19 of the 23 ships of the Ameer class were converted by Burrard Dry Dock at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. These included extending the flight deck, fitting redesigned flying controls and fighter direction layout, modifications to the hangar, accommodation and store rooms, extra safety measures, oiling at sea arrangements, gunnery and other internal communications, extra wireless and radio facilities, ship blackout arrangements and other changes necessary for British service. The consequential delays in getting these ships into active service caused critical comments from some in the US Navy.

Ships of class

Converted from C-3 cargo ships.

First group

Second group

Built from the keel up as escort carriers. All were built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation. General characteristics as the Attacker class, except for displacement and armament.