HMS Stalker (D91)
USS Hamlin (CVE-15) was one of a large group of escort aircraft carriers built on Maritime Commission C-3 hulls and transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend Lease during World War II. The ship was launched by Western Pipe and Steel Company, San Francisco, California, on 5 March 1942, as AVG-15, aircraft escort vessel. She was sponsored by Mrs. William H. Shea. Her designation was changed to ACV-15, auxiliary aircraft carrier, 20 August 1942, and she was acquired and simultaneously transferred to the United Kingdom 21 December 1942. Hamlin's designation was changed to CVE-15, escort aircraft carrier, 15 July 1943.
HMS Stalker January 1943 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USS Hamlin |
| Namesake | Hamlin Sound in South Carolina |
| Builder | Western Pipe and Steel Company |
| Laid down | 6 October 1941 |
| Launched | 5 March 1942 |
| Fate | Transferred to Royal Navy 21 December 1942 |
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Stalker |
| Commissioned | 21 December 1942 |
| Decommissioned | 29 December 1945 |
| Stricken | 20 March 1946 |
| Fate | Sold as a merchant ship; scrapped 1975 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Attacker-class escort carrier |
| Displacement | 14,400 tons |
| Length | 491 ft 6 in (149.81 m) |
| Beam | 105 ft (32 m) |
| Draught | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6,300 kW) |
| Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Complement | 646 |
| Armament | |
| Aircraft carried | 20 |
| Service record | |
| Operations: |
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Renamed HMS Stalker (D91), the escort carrier played a vital part in allied operations in the Atlantic. She participated in the Salerno landings in September 1943, providing effective on the spot air support for assault forces. Stalker also took part in the important landings in southern France in August 1944. From March to April 1945 she was attached to the 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron. Returned to the United States 29 December 1945, she was struck from the Navy Register 20 March 1946 and sold to Waterman Steamship Corp. of Mobile, Alabama, 18 December 1946. Waterman in turn sold her to the Netherlands in August 1947 where she was converted to the merchant ship Riouw. Later renamed Lobito in 1968, she was scrapped in Taiwan in September 1975.