Ruler-class escort carrier

The Ruler class of escort aircraft carriers served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. All twenty-three ships were built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation in the United States as Bogue-class escort carriers, supplied under Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom. They were the most numerous single class of aircraft carriers in service with the Royal Navy.

HMS Puncher
Class overview
Name	Ruler class
Builders	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Attacker class
Succeeded by	None
Built	1942–1943
Planned	23
Completed	23
Lost	2
General characteristics
Type	Escort carrier
Displacement	11,420 long tons (11,600 t)
Length	492 ft 3 in (150.0 m)
Beam	69 ft 6 in (21.2 m)
Draught	25 ft 6 in (7.77 m)
Installed power	9,350 shp (6,970 kW)
Propulsion	1 shaft geared steam turbines
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement	646
Armament	2 × 4-inch DP, AA guns in single mounts 16 × Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun in twin mounts 20 × Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons in single mounts
Aircraft carried	24
Aviation facilities	Hangar 260 ft × 62 ft (79 m × 19 m) Two 42 ft × 34 ft (13 m × 10 m) lifts Nine arrestor wires
Notes	Built in two groups of 8 and 15

As built they were intended for three types of operations, "Assault" or strike, convoy escort, or aircraft ferry.

After the Second World War some of the escort carriers were scrapped, while others had their flight decks removed and were converted to merchant ships (and all eventually scrapped by the 1970s).

Design and description

These ships were all larger and had greater aircraft capacity than all preceding American built escort carriers. They were laid down as escort carriers and were not converted merchant ships. All the ships had a complement of 646 men and an overall length of 492 feet 3 inches (150.0 m), a beam of 69 feet 6 inches (21.2 m) and a draught of 25 ft 6 in (7.8 m). Propulsion was provided by one shaft, two boilers and a steam turbine giving 9,350 shaft horsepower (6,970 kW), which could propel the ship at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side, two aircraft 43-by-34-foot (13.1 by 10.4 m) lifts, one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 260-by-62-foot (79.2 by 18.9 m) hangar below the flight deck. Armament comprised: two 4-inch (102 mm)/50-calibre dual purpose guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts and twenty 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon in single mounts. They had a maximum capacity for twenty-four carrier-based aircraft which could be a mixture of Grumman Martlet, an American carrier-based fighter aircraft, or Vought F4U Corsair, another type of American carrier-based fighter aircraft, or Hawker Sea Hurricane fighter aircraft (a navalised Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft), and Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber, or Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber / anti-submarine aircraft.

Ships

First group

• HMS Patroller
• HMS Puncher (crewed by the Royal Canadian Navy)
• HMS Reaper
• HMS Slinger
• HMS Smiter ^X
• HMS Speaker ^XX
• HMS Trouncer
• HMS Trumpeter ^X

Second group

• HMS Arbiter
• HMS Ameer ^XX
• HMS Atheling ^X
• HMS Begum ^X
• HMS Emperor ^XX
• HMS Empress
• HMS Khedive ^X
• HMS Nabob ^X (crewed by the Royal Canadian Navy) (torpedoed 22 August 1944, by U-354 west of the North Cape)
• HMS Premier ^X
• HMS Queen ^X
• HMS Rajah
• HMS Ranee
• HMS Ruler ^XX
• HMS Shah ^X
• HMS Thane (torpedoed 15 January 1945, by U-1172 in the Clyde estuary).

^X = Fitted for anti-submarine warfare.

^XX = Fitted for strike-operations.

All the others were mainly used for aircraft transport with an added strike capability.

Bibliography

• Cocker, Maurice (2008). Aircraft-Carrying Ships of the Royal Navy. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-4633-2.