USS ''Winjah'' (CVE-54) (originally AVG-54, later ACV-54), was a of the
United States Navy, leased to the
Royal Navy during
World War II.
''Winjah'' was laid down on 5 June 1943 at
Tacoma, Washington, by
Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding. She was assigned to the United Kingdom under
lend-lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
on 23 June; she was redesignated CVE-54 on 15 July; launched on 22 November; and delivered to the British on 18 February 1944. From March to August 1945 she was part of the
British Pacific Fleet attached to the
30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron.
Renamed HMS ''Reaper'' (D82), the carrier operated in the Royal Navy for the duration of World War II. After arriving at
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
, on 13 May 1946, ''Reaper'' was decommissioned on 20 May and returned to the United States Government. Authorized for disposal on 14 June, ''Winjah'' was struck from the
Navy Registry
The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...
on 8 July and sold to the
Waterman Steamship Company
Waterman is an American deep sea ocean carrier, specializing in liner services and time charter contracts. It is owned by SEACOR Holdings.
History
Waterman was founded in 1919 in Mobile, Alabama by John Barnett Waterman, Henry Crawford Slaton, ...
of
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
, on 12 February 1947 as ''South Africa Star''. She was scrapped in Japan in May 1967.
Just after World War II, ''Reaper'' was responsible for bringing from
Cherbourg Harbour
Cherbourg Harbour (French: ''rade de Cherbourg''; literally, the "roadstead of Cherbourg"), is a harbour situated at the northern end of the Cotentin Peninsula, on the English Channel coastline, in Normandy, northwestern France. With a surface ...
many examples of former German ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft captured by the American military's
Operation Lusty over to North America, such as the sole examples of the
Arado Ar 234 jet reconnaissance bomber, and the
Heinkel He 219 night fighter, that exist in American aviation museums in the 21st century. The aircraft arrived by air from Germany to
Querqueville Airfield which is under a kilometer away from Cherbourg.
Design and description
These ships were 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.
[ All the ships had a complement of 646 men and an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of .][Cocker (2008), p.82.] Propulsion was provided by two boilers and a steam turbine connected to one shaft, giving 9,350 shaft horsepower (SHP), which could propel the ship at .[Cocker (2008), p.79.]
Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge/flight control on the starboard
Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front).
Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...
side, two aircraft lifts by , one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires
An arresting gear, or arrestor gear, is a mechanical system used to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands. Arresting gear on aircraft carriers is an essential component of naval aviation, and it is most commonly used on CATOBAR and STOBA ...
.[Cocker (2008), p.82.] Aircraft could be housed in the by hangar below the flight deck.[ Her armament comprised: two 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 Dual Purpose guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm Bofors ]anti-aircraft gun
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
s in twin mounts and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons in single mounts.[ The ship had a maximum aircraft capacity of twenty-four aircraft which could be a mixture of Grumman Martlets, Vought F4U Corsairs or ]Hawker Sea Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some versions were built in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd
British variants
Hurricane Mk I
; Hurricane Mk I ( ...
fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
and Fairey Swordfish or Grumman Avenger anti-submarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
torpedo bombers.[
]
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reaper (D82)
Ruler-class escort carriers
Ships built in Tacoma, Washington
World War II aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom
1943 ships