Archer

CountryUnited Kingdom
Ship ClassArcher-class Escort Carrier
BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding
Commissioned18 Nov 1941
Displacement9,000 tons standard; 12,860 tons full
Length492 feet
Beam70 feet
Draft22 feet
Machinery4 x diesels driving 1 shaft
Power Output8,500 shaft horsepower
Speed16 knots
Crew555
Aircraft16

Contributor:

ww2dbaseHMS Archer was built by the United States and trasferred to the Royal Navy in November 1941 under the Lend-Lease policies. She made aviation history as the carrier that launched the very first aircraft to land on the Ascension Island in the South Atlantic (piloted by Lt. E. Dixon-Child, Sub Lt. P. Shaw, and PO W. Townsend) on a search and rescue mission. After the war, she entered merchant service and was renamed several times (Empire Lagan 1946, Anna Salen 1949, Tasmania 1955, Union Reliance 1961). She was scrapped in New Orleans, United States, in 1962.

ww2dbaseSource: Fleet Air Arm Archive

Last Major Revision: Feb 2005

Escort Carrier Archer Interactive Map

Archer Operational Timeline

18 Nov 1941 Archer was commissioned into service.
23 May 1943 A British Fleet Air Arm Swordfish launched from the escort carrier HMS Archer sank the German submarine U-752 with a rocket attack.




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Document(s):
» UK Aircraft Carrier Functions
» UK Aircraft Carrier Time Operational

Random Photograph

TBM Avenger being tested with Rocket Assisted Take-Off (RATO), 1943. Location unknown.

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