HMS Slinger in 1944
History
United States
Name	Chatham
Builder	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down	25 May 1942
Launched	19 September 1942
Fate	Transferred to Royal Navy
United Kingdom
Name	Slinger
Commissioned	11 August 1943
Decommissioned	12 April 1946
Identification	Pennant number:D26
Fate	Sold as merchant ship, scrapped 1969-1970
General characteristics
Class and type	Bogue-class escort carrier (USA) Ruler-class escort carrier (UK)
Displacement	8,333 tons
Length	496 ft (151 m)
Beam	69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draught	26 ft 3 in (8.00 m)
Propulsion	Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement	646 officers and men
Armament	2 × 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 guns 8 × twin 40 mm Bofors 35 × single 20 mm Oerlikon
Aircraft carried	18-24

USS Chatham (CVE-32) (originally designated AVG-32, then later ACV-32) was built at the Seattle-Tacoma S/Y, Hull #27, Seattle, Washington and transferred to the United Kingdom 11 August 1943 under lend-lease and renamed HMS Slinger (D26). Outfitted by the British as a transport carrier, the ship was mined, off Lowestoft, on 5 February 1944 but returned to service, 17 October.

In early-1945, she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet as a replenishment vessel i.e. carrying spare planes for other carriers, and was attached to the 30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron. In August 1945, she was sent to Hong Kong as a support vessel, and in the autumn made at least two trips to Sydney, returning civilians who had been interned. She returned to UK via Colombo in late-1945.

Following the war, she was returned to United States custody on 27 February 1946 and was sold/converted by Robin Line 21 November 1946 as Robin Mowbray. Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc., purchased Robin Line in 1958. She was scrapped in Kaohsiung Taiwan in 1969-1970.

Design and description

The Ruler class were larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than preceding American built escort carriers. They were also all laid down as escort carriers and not converted merchant ships.^[1] 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).^[1] 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).^[2]

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side, two aircraft lifts 43 feet (13.1 m) by 34 feet (10.4 m), one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires.^[1] Aircraft could be housed in the 260 feet (79.2 m) by 62 feet (18.9 m) hangar below the flight deck.^[1] Armament comprised: two 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 dual purpose guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons in single mounts.^[1] They had a maximum aircraft capacity of twenty-four aircraft which could be a mixture of Grumman Martlet, Vought F4U Corsair or Hawker Sea Hurricane fighter aircraft and Fairey Swordfish or Grumman Avenger anti-submarine aircraft.^[1]