History
United States
Name	Rio de la Plata (1941) Charger (1941–47) Fairsea (1947–69)
Namesake	Royal Navy name retained
Ordered	29 November 1939
Builder	Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania
Cost	$2,720,800 (1939 contract)
Yard number	188
Laid down	19 January 1940
Launched	1 March 1941
Acquired	1 August 1941 (delivery to Navy for conversion)
Commissioned	3 March 1942
Decommissioned	15 March 1946
Reclassified	D27 (R.N. pennant 1941) AVG-30, 24 January 1942 ACV-30, 20 August 1942 CVE-30, 15 July 1943
Fate	Sold into merchant service, 30 January 1947 Sold for scrap, 1969
General characteristics
Class and type	Charger-class escort carrier
Displacement	15,125 long tons (15,368 t)
Length	492 ft (150 m)
Beam	69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) 111 ft 2 in (33.88 m) extreme width
Draft	26 ft 3 in (8.00 m)
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement	856 officers and enlisted
Armament	1 × 5 in (130 mm) gun 2 × 3"/50 caliber guns 10 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Aircraft carried	30+

USS Charger (CVE-30) was an escort carrier of the United States Navy during World War II converted from a commercial C3-P&C cargo/passenger liner hull built as Rio de la Plata intended for the Moore-McCormack company's American Republics Line serving the east coast of South America.^{[note 1]} The ship was requisitioned for conversion to an escort carrier type intended for Royal Navy use and initially commissioned as HMS Charger (D27). Days later the transfer was rescinded with the ship returning to U.S. Navy control to become USS Charger which operated throughout the war as a training ship on the Chesapeake Bay with two ferry missions to Bermuda and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

After decommissioning in March 1946 the ship was sold in January 1947 to become the Italian Fairsea engaged largely in refugee and immigrant voyages from Europe to Australia. After a disabling engine room fire in January 1969 the ship was sold for scrap in Italy.

Construction

The United States Maritime Commission (MC) accepted Sun Shipbuilding's bid to build the four C3-P&C cargo/passenger liners on 29 November 1939 at a cost of $2,720,800 each.^[1] Rio de la Plata was planned as the third of four ships to be built by the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania for the Moore-McCormack company.^[2]

The modified C3 type was intended for Moore-McCormack's American Republics Line for serving the east coast of the United States to South America and the first large U.S. passenger ships to be fitted with diesel engines. Two six cylinder Sun Doxford diesels with over 9,000 shaft horsepower drove a single propeller through reduction gears for a design speed of 17.5 kn (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h). The ships were designed to carry 196 passengers^{[note 2]} with all passenger spaces air conditioned, another first for passenger ships. The passenger design was not completed due to requisitioning for war service.^[3][4] The passenger-cargo design was to be a 17,500 ton displacement, 9,800 DWT vessel, 492 ft (150.0 m) length overall and 465 ft (141.7 m) length between perpendiculars. Cargo capacity, with conditioned air to avoid moisture, was to be 440,000 cubic feet (12,459.4 m³) (bale measure) with 40,000 cubic feet (1,132.7 m³) of refrigerated space. Passengers were to be quartered in 76 staterooms, 22 single cabins, 34 double cabins and 20 cabins with private verandahs.^[3]

The keel for Rio de la Plata, MC hull 61, yard hull 188, was laid 19 January 1940 with launch on 1 March 1941 and delivery on 2 October 1941.^[2] The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Felipe A. Espil (Courtney Letts de Espil).

On 20 May 1941, the United States Maritime Commission requisitioned all four unfinished combiliners, for conversion to military use.

Career

United States Navy

On 1 August 1941 the four ships were delivered to the Navy for conversion before completion as commercial vessels.^[5][6] Conversion for naval duties was by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia. Intended for transfer to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease, the former Rio de la Plata was commissioned on 2 October 1941 as HMS Charger (D27), Captain George Abel-Smith RN in command. However, the transfer was rescinded and the ship returned to United States control on 4 October 1941. The vessel was reclassified AVG-30 on 24 January 1942 and commissioned as USS Charger on 3 March 1942, Captain T. L. Sprague USN in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.^{[7][note 3]}

Charger's area of operations throughout the war was Chesapeake Bay, and her duty the basic task of training pilots and ships' crews in carrier operations. Men trained on her decks played an important role in the successful contest for the Atlantic with hostile submarines carried out by the escort carrier groups. Reclassified ACV-30 on 20 August 1942, and CVE-30 on 15 July 1943, Charger left Chesapeake Bay for two ferry voyages, one to Bermuda in October 1942, and one to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in September 1945. Charger was decommissioned at New York on 15 March 1946.^[7]

• USS Charger
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  Charger stern view (AVG-30)
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  SBD-4 Dauntless crash on Charger (ACV-30)
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  Canteen aboard Charger (ACV-30)
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  Ship’s dispensary on Charger (ACV-30)
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  Flight Deck of Charger (CVE-30)
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  FM-2 "Wildcat" aboard Charger
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  Aft view of Charger (AVG-30) underway

Post-war service

The ship was sold into merchant service on 30 January 1947^[7] to the Vlasov group. After conversion the vessel became the passenger liner Fairsea, nominally for Vlasov's Italian managed Sitmar Line. Successive accommodation upgrades secured the vessel's long-term employment, mainly as a migrant carrier from Europe to Australia.

Among the immigrants arriving aboard Fairsea in 1958 was the Gibb family with future Bee Gees Barry, Maurice and Robin. Also aboard were Kylie Minogue's parents and Skyhooks guitarist Red Symons.^[8]

Fairsea was disabled by an engine-room fire between Tahiti and Panama on 29 January 1969. Primarily due to a lack of spare parts she was sold for scrap in Italy in 1969, the last of the four to cease operation. Her last surviving former sister Biter (later the French Navy's Dixmude), had been returned to the United States and sunk as a target in 1966.