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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

ALTAMAHA (ACV-6) / HMS BATTLER (D18)

Battle Honours

Atlantic 1943-1945 — Salerno 1943

Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Returned to US	Stricken
*Attacker (US Bogue) Class Escort Carrier*
-	15 Apr 1941	4 Apr 1942	31 Oct 1942	12 Feb 1946	28 Mar 1946
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss.

Built as the US mercantile Mormacmail (3rd), under a Maritime Commission contract (hull number 160,) for the Moore-McCormack Lines.
Acquired by the USN before launch. Designated AVG-6 and named Altamaha, 7 Jan 1942, after a river and a sound in the state of Georgia, but name cancelled on 17 Mar 1942.
Redesignated ACV-6, 20 Aug 1942.
Transferred to the RN and commissioned as HMS Battler, 31 Oct 1942.
Redesignated CVE-6, 15 Jul 1943.
Returned to USN in Norfolk Navy Yard, 12 Feb 1946.
Fate: Sold on 14 May 1946 to the Patapsco Steel Scrap Co., Bethlehem, Pa., and subsequently scrapped.

Specifications
(As converted, 1942)
Displacement: 7,800 tons standard; 14,170 tons full load
Dimensions (wl): 465' x 69.5' x 24' 8" / 141.7 x 21.2 x 7.5 meters
Dimensions (max.): 495' 8" x 111.5' / 151.1 x 34 meters
Armor: None
Power plant: 2 boilers (285 psi); 1 steam turbine; 1 shaft; 8,500 shp
Speed: 18+ knots
Endurance: 27,300 nautical miles @ 11 knots
Armament: 2 single 4"/50 gun mounts; 4 twin 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; 8 twin and 10 single 20-mm/70-cal gun mounts
Aircraft: 15+
Aviation facilities: 2 elevators; 1 hydraulic catapult (H 2); 9 arresting wires and 3 barriers
Crew: 646

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By And/Or Copyright
NS0300601	68k	Bows on view from a just launched aircraft.	IWM
NS0300602	69k	Starboard side image underway.	IWM
NS0300603	91k	Very good image showing details of bow and island.	IWM
NS0300606	43k	HMS *Battler*, date and place unknown.	Haze Gray & Underway
NS0300607	104k	HMS *Battler* at anchor, date and location unknown. She was used for convoy escort duties, carrying Seafires and Swordfish.	Hugh Davies (text courtesy of Robert Hurst)
NS0300609	61k	HMS *Battler* (D18) on her sea trials.	Courtesy of Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
NS0300608	48k	HMS *Battler, ex-Altamaha* (CVE-6), tied up to a buoy in May 1943, location unknown. Note that, unlike her American counterparts, her US-built YE radio homing beacon is not fitted at the masthead.	Robert Hurst
NS0300604	33k	HMS *Battler* underway, August 1943. Place unknown.	Robert Hurst
NS0300605	48k	HMS *Battler* as seen from HMS Hunter in an angry sea on passage to the Mediterranean for Operation Avalanche at Salerno, Italy (September 1943). Note the overhang of the sponsons from the flight deck catwalk (the Goofers).	Robert Hurst
NS0300610	107k	Four-bladed Seafires prepare to take off from HMS *Battler*, September 1943.	Gary Evans, via Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
NS0300611	74k	Seafire taking off from HMS *Battler, 1943. HMS Hunter* and battleship HMS Ramillies in background.	Gary Evans, via Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers