HMS Battler (D18)

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Career

Laid down:	15 April 1941
Launched:	4 April 1942
Commissioned (USN):	31 October 1942
Decommissioned (USN):	1946?
Commissioned (RN):	31 October 1942
Decommissioned (RN):	12 February 1946
Stricken:	28 March 1946
Fate:	Scrapped
General Characteristics
Displacement:	14,400 tons
Length:	491 ft 6 in (150 m)
Beam:	105 ft (32 m)
Draught:	26 ft (7.9 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW)
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h)
Range:
Complement:	646 officers and enlisted
Armament:	2 × 4 in (102 mm), 8 × 40 mm, 20 × 20 mm guns
Aircraft:	20
Motto:

The USS Altamaha (CVE-6) (originally AVG-6) was a Bogue-class escort aircraft carrier that served during World War II as HMS Battler (D18) in the Royal Navy.

She was laid down on 15 April 1941 as Mormactern (hull 160) under Maritime Commission contract at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Ingalls Shipbuilding. On 7 January 1942 she was named Altamaha but the name was canceled on 17 March 1942. She was launched on 4 April 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Phillip Seymour, wife of Capt. Seymour. She was redesignated ACV on 20 August 1942. She was acquired by the United States Navy on 31 October 1942 and simultaneously transferred via the Lend-Lease program to the United Kingdom and the same day renamed Battler

[edit] Service

Battler served the Royal Navy throughout World War II, operating for the most part on convoy escort and antisubmarine warfare missions in the North Atlantic. In September 1943, she supported the invasion of Italy at Salerno. She was redesignated CVE-6 by the American Navy on 15 July 1943. She was returned to the custody of the United States on 12 February 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 28 March 1946. She was sold on 14 May 1946 to the Patapsco Steel Scrap Co., Bethlehem, Pa., and was subsequently scrapped.