The United States Navy had a sizable fleet of escort aircraft carriers during World War II and the early Cold War era that followed.

Historical overview

Prior to the creation of the escort carrier hull classification symbol (CVE) on 15 July 1943, these ships were designated as Auxiliary aircraft escort vessels (AVG) until 20 August 1942 and then Auxiliary aircraft carriers (ACV). These ships were both quicker and cheaper to build than larger fleet carriers and were built in great numbers to serve as a stop-gap measure when fleet carriers were too few. However, they were usually too slow to keep up with naval task forces and would typically be assigned to amphibious operations, often seen in the Pacific War's island hopping campaign, or to convoy protection in the war in the Atlantic. To that end, many of these ships were transferred to the Royal Navy as part of the US-UK lend-lease program. Note that many of the lower-numbered carriers were transferred to the Royal Navy, where they received new names but retained their original BAVG hull symbols. The new names are mentioned in each article individually. While some of these ships were kept for a time in reserve after the war, none survive today, as they have all since been sunk or retired and scrapped. The following are the classes and stand-alone ships of the US Navy's escort carriers:

Notes and references