1 9 4 1
October
6th Laid down by the
Western Pipe & Steel Corporation in San
Francisco as a C3 type merchant ship.
December
26th Requisition by US Navy for conversion to
an escort aircraft carrier identified as CVE15
1 9 4 2
March
5th Launched as USS HAMLIN.
December
21st Formal transfer to Royal Navy
Commissioned for RN service as HMS STALKER.
30th Build completion and commenced sea trials.
British radar
was fitted during build.
1 9 4 3
January Trials
and shakedown for service in continuation.
30th Sailed for New York.
February
27th Arrived in New York.
(Note : Ship carried out exercises on passage to east coast
via Panama
Canal.)
March
5th Sailed with convoy UGF6 carrying a
load of US aircraft for Casablanca.
16th Aircraft unloaded for US use at Casablanca.
19th Passage to Gibraltar
20th Arrived in Gibraltar.
28th Sailed for the Clyde in routine Fast Convoy MKFll. during passage to Liverpool,
April
5th Detached on
arrival in Clyde and joined
Western Approaches Command.
Passage to Sheerness.
17th Taken in hand in
for modification to RN standards by HM Dockyard, Chatham.
May Under conversion and fit of RN equipment.
Nominated for support of planned allied landings on Italian
mainland.
(Operation AVALANCHE).
June
26th Sailed for the Clyde from Sheerness.
(Note : One source suggested that 833 Squadron SWORDFISH and
SEAFIRE aircraft were
embarked before sailing. This is most likely to have been
done on arrival in Clyde.)
July Worked-up for operational service in Clyde.
19th Carried out repair
work in the Clyde.
August
3rd Allocated to Force V in the Western Mediterranean and sailed for Gibraltar with HM Escort
Aircraft
Carrier ATTACKER.
9th Arrived in Gibraltar.
Embarked
880 Squadron and SEAFIRE aircraft and disembarked SWORDFISH Flight of 833
Squadron.
September
1st Took
passage from Gibraltar to join
Force V in Malta.
5th Arrived at Malta for
AVALANCHE deployment.
Joined
HM Escort Aircraft Carriers BATTLER, HUNTER, ATTACKER and HM Light
Fleet
Aircraft UNICORN In Task Force 88.
(Note : Other ships in TF88 were HM Cruisers EURYALUS, SCYLLA
and CHARYBDIS with HM
Destroyers CLEVELAND, HOLCOMBE, ATHERSTONE. LIDDESDALE. FARNDALE
CALPE, Polish
destroyers ORP SLAZAK and ORP KRAKOWIAK.)
8th Provided air
cover during passage of assault convoy.
9th Provided air
cover during assault landings at Salerno.
(Note : HMS ULSTER QUEEN a Landing Ship converted for use as
a Fighter Direction Ship
was used for control of aircraft during the landings.
265 sorties were flown and air
attacks on anchorage ware repulsed.
Sustained some casualties in a landing-on accident.
10th Retained off beach head Instead of
planned withdrawal due to delay in provision
of airfield ashore.
(Note:
Enemy air attacks on the anchorage Include use of radio controlled bombs
for the first time in the Mediterranean theatre. See above
references.)
One
source records visit to Bizerta.)
12th Landed Squadron aircraft to operate from
captured airfield.
Released
from AVALANCHE and took passage to Bizerta with Force
V.
(For
details of AVALANCHE see ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY by C Bamett
and the Naval Staff History.)
13th Arrived at Bizerta
20th Took passage to Gibraltar from Bizerta
after Force V was disbanded.
(Note : Some sources record passage to Palermo. Destination
to be confirmed.)
24th At Gibraltar and 833 Squadron aircraft
re-embarked
30th Part of escort from Gibraltar for military convoy MKF24
and provided air cover
during passage to UK.
(Note : MKF24 is not recorded in THE ALLIED CONVOY SYSTEM by
A Hague
and this date is to be confirmed.)
October Nominated for further conversion
for use as an Assault Carrier.
6th Detached from
MKF24 on arrival In Clyde.
833 and 880 Squadron aircraft
and personnel landed.
Passage
to Liverpool for refit
11th Taken in hand for
refit.
(Note : Ship was required for future landing operations.)
Improved
facilities were provided in Operations Room for command and
control during assault operations. See RADAR AT SEA by D Howse.)
November Under refit.
December
16th On completion of post refit trials took
passage from Liverpool to Clyde.
Deployed
in NW Approaches for work-up and flying exercises based at Belfast
809 and 897 SEAFIRE Squadrons
embarked.
1 9 4 4
January Work-up
in continuation.
Further
refit and conversion work arranged at Thames commercial shipyard
(Note : Modification to Petrol distribution system to be
confirmed.
This
change was arranged as a matter of high priority after loss of HMS DASHER.)
February
28th Passage to Thames.
March Under
refit.
(Note : Lift was replaced by one from HMS SLINGER.)
See Chronology for HMS SLINGER.)
April
28th Refit work completed and took passage to
join Home Fleet at Scapa Flow for deployment in
planned attack on Norwegian coast shipping with HMS STALKER
and HMS HUNTER.
(Operation
HOOPS
(Note : This operation was cancelled.)
May Released
from Home Fleet service.
14th Joined routine Convoy KMS51 with 809 (Seafire) NAS embarked.
23rd Detached from KMS51
25th At Gibraltar.
June Passage
to Algiers
3rd At Algiers.
July Deployed in Mediterranean for defence of convoys in
western Mediterranean.
Nominated
for support of allied landings in south France
(Operation
DRAGOON – Formerly ANVIL).
(See
ENGAGE THE ENEMY MORE CLOSELY and INVASION OF THE SOUTH OF
FRANCE
(HMSO).)
Took passage to Malta to join
Carrier Task Force (TF88).
Joined Carrier Task Force ships in Malta for
preparatory exercises.
Allocated
for service in Task Group 88.2 with HMS STALKER to provide air cover
and gunfire spotting during landings.
(Note : For details of all ships involved see INVASION OF THE
SOUTH OF FRANCE (HMSO)
and BRITISH INVASION FLEETS by J de Winser.)
Took passage to Malta to join
Carrier Task Force (TF88).
August Joined
Carrier Task Force ships in Malta for preparatory exercises.
2nd Worked-up off Malta with ships of TF88
15th Arrived in Assault
area and commenced flying operations.
Deployed
in position south of beaches and carried cut patrols, gunfire spotting, shore
attacks and other duties as required by Air Task Force
Commander.
Damaged
Corvette UJ 6081 which was later sunk by US destroyer USS SOMERS
16th Support of
landings in continuation.
to (Note :
Carriers retired to south of beach heads overnight and went to Maddalena to
26th replenish. See above references for
details.
27th Completed operations off southern France. Her aircraft had flown a
total of 337 sorties
Fall
of Shot reporting during bombardments by HM Battleship RAMILLIES. USN major
warships.
For
details of DRAGOON see Naval Staff History.)
28th Released from DRAGOON and returned to RN
control by CinC
Mediterranean.
Took passage to Alexandria.
September
2nd Arrived at Alexandria and joined British Aegean
Force for support of operations to occupy
Islands in East Mediterranean.
(Note:
Other ships In British Aegean Force Included H M Escort Aircraft Carriers
ATTACKER,
EMPEROR, SEARCHER, PURSUER, KHEDIVE, HM Cruisers
BLACK
PRINCE, ARGONAUT, ROYALIST, AURORA, AJAX, ORION and
COLOMBO with destroyers of
24th Flotilla and HUNT Class destroyers.
See WINE DARK SEA by Lew Lind.)
Deployed
for attacks on Crete and Rhodes (Operation OUTING I)
Returned
to Alexandria to replenish and re-arm..
14th Relieved HMS ATTACKER on station.
25th Deployed with HM Cruiser BLACK PRINCE.
HM Destroyer TENACIOUS and
HM Escort Destroyer CATTISTOCK (Operation CABLEGRAM).
26th Covered minesweeping operations off Kithera.
27th Provide air
support during bombardment of Lythia by HM Destroyer CALPE.
28th Deployed in Aegean for attacks on shipping
taking stores and personnel
to to Rhodes
and Leros.)
30th Returned to Alexandria to replenish and resumed
CABLEGRAM deployment.
October
5th Sailed from Alexandria with HM Cruiser BLACK
PRINCE, HM Destroyer TENACIOUS
to and HM
Escort Destroyer CATTISTOCK.
10th (Note: During CABLEGRAM successful
attacks were made on evacuation craft off Leros,
Kos and Piskopi
13th Carried out strikes on shore targets
before landings in Greece,
15th Provided air cover during main landings
in Greece (Operation MANNA)
17th Carried cut air attacks on railways and
shipping off Cape Stavros.
19th Carried out
bombing attack on Rhodes during
return passage to Alexandria.
For
details see Military History of Mediterranean operations.)
20th Sailed for Alexandria
(Note : 277 sorties flown and five SEAFIRE aircraft lost.)
21st Arrived at Alexandria and prepared for return to UK
29th Sailed for the UK via Gibraltar with HMS HUNTER and HMS
STALKER.
809 Squadron remained on board.
November
10th Arrived at Plymouth.
Nominated
for service in East Indies Fleet based in Ceylon after refit at Gibraltar
29th Sailed for Gibraltar with 809 NAS embarked.
December
3rd Taken in hand for
refit by HM Dockyard, Gibraltar.
1 9 4 5
January Under refit.
February
21st On completion of post refit trials took
passage to join 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron,
in East Indies Fleet.
March Passage
to Trincomalee via Red Sea.
Arrived
at Trincomalee and prepared for operational service in Squadron.
Nominated for support of landings at Rangoon (Operation
DRACULA).
(For
details of East Indies Fleet operations In 1945 see
THE FORGOTTEN FLEET
by J Winton, OPERATION PACIFIC by Edwin Gray and WAR WITH JAPAN (HMSO).
April
23rd Sailed with
Squadron from Trincomalee to Akyab on coast of Burma.
(Note :Other ships to Squadron were HM Cruiser ROYALIST, HM
Escort Carriers
HUNTER, KHEDIVE and EMPEROR. HM Cruiser PHOEBE was attached
to
act as Fighter Direction Ship. HM Destroyers VENUS, VIRAGO,
VIGILANT
and SAUMAREZ ware deployed as screen.)
30th Provided air cover and air strikes on
coastal targets during passage of assault convoys from Akyab
May
2nd Provided air cover and support
during landings at Rangoon. (Operation DRACULA)
(Note :Air Operations at Rangoon and on Tenasserim
coasts with Escort Aircraft Carriers
in Squadron included
70 CAP sorties over the force, 4
fighter-bomber and 10 strike
attacks and air cover for a total of 124 hours by the
ship.).
5th Deployed with Squadron ships for
series of air attacks on Japanese bases on the coast
of
southern Burma between Mergui
and Victoria Point until 6th May.
(Part of Operation BISHOP by East
Indies Fleet.)
9th Returned to Trincomalee with Squadron.
June Deployed
with Squadron In Eastern Fleet.
Nominated
for reconnaissance operations and shipping attacks in northern Sumatra
and Malacca Strait off southern Malaya with ships of Squadron
(Operation BALSAM).
18th Deployed In Force 63 with HMS ROYALIST,
HMS KHEDIVE and HMS AMEER for
a series of photo reconnaissance flights over southern Malaya (Operation BALSAM).
(Note : Covered by HM Cruiser SUFFOLK screened by destroyers of
11th Flotilla.
HMS ROTHERHAM, RACEHORSE, RELENTLESS, REDOUBT and ROEBUCK.)
20th On completion of reconnaissance flights
carried out attacks on air fields.
July
5th Deployed with
Squadron for exercises off Trincomalee.
7th Operational
training off Trincomalee with HMS EMPRESS.
(Note :
Other Escort Carriers of Squadron provided cover during minesweeping
in Nicobar area and off Malayan west coast (Operation COLLIE).
August Deployed
with Squadron at Trincomalee
(Note : Planned landings in southern Malaya (Operation ZIPPER) were
delayed due
to problems related to return of personnel under the PYTHON
Scheme.
Passage in Indian Ocean prior to
approval for landings.
(Note : Intended landings in Malaya again delayed by US
insistence.)
See above references and Final Report of SEAC (HMSO).)
September Deployed
with East Indies Fleet covering force in Malacca Straits.
(Note:
Ships of covering force included HM Battleship NELSON, French battleship
RICHELIEU.
9th Launched aircraft for reconnaissance
in Port Swettenham area.
Provided air cover during landings near Port Swettenham
(Operation JURIST.)
10th Entered Singapore with ships of Squadron for support of
re-occupation.
13th
