1
9 4 4
January
Contractor's trials
20th
Build completion and formally transferred
to Royal Navy
Commissioned as HMS
SMITER at Tacoma.
Carried out sea
trials
February
15th
Passage to Esquimalt
to carry out modification work to suit
RN service.
March
Under modifications by HM Canadian
Dockyard Esquimalt.
31st
Took passage to San
Francisco
April
Deployed at San Francisco
May
8th
Sailed from San Francisco
for Panama
Transit of Panama Canal
Passage to Norfolk
Va.
23rd
Arrived at Norfolk
June
1st
Embarked AVENGER aircraft for transport to
UK
5th
Sailed from Norfolk
to New York.
Embarked CORSAIR aircraft at New York for transport to UK
(Note:
Passage with routine convoy to be
confirmed.).
On arrival in Clyde disembarked aircraft.
20th
Arrived at Liverpool
Nominated for service as a Ferry Carrier
25th
Sailed for New
York to embark aircraft
July
Embarked aircraft in New York for delivery to UK
7th
Took passage to Clyde
from New York.
(Note Passage details to be confirmed.)
21st
Disembarked aircraft on arrival.
Taken in hand for
defect repair in Clyde
shipyard.
August
Under repair
September
Further repair arranged in commercial
shipyard at Newport,
Glam.
14th
Took passage to Newport.
October
Under repair to electrical system at
Newport in commercial shipyard
to
Nominated for service as a Deck Landing
Training Carrier on completion.
November
December
2nd
Sailed from Newport for Clyde on
completion of post repair trials.
Deployed for training
in Clyde
area.
1
9 4 5
January
Refit arranged at Rosyth
Passage to Forth
15th
Taken in hand for refit by HM Dockyard,
Rosyth.
(Note:
Modification of petrol distribution to be
confirmed)
February
Under refit
to
Nominated for conversion to suit
deployment in support of convoy defence..
April
Conversion arranged in Clyde shipyard.
Allocated for service
in East Indies Fleet.
Pennant Number for visual signalling
purposes was changed to R321 to conform
with US Navy
identity for this type of warship.)
May
Passage to Clyde
on completion of trials
26th
Taken in hand for conversion
June
Under conversion
July
On completion of trials prepared for foreign
service
7th
Sailed from Clyde
for Colombo.
(Note: No
Squadron personnel were embarked)
August
On passage to Colombo
(Note:
Work-up for Fleet service in Mediterranean
to be confirmed.)
Passage from Colombo
to join Fleet in Trincomalee.
September
1st
Deployed at Trincomalee.