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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS CROATAN   (ACV-14)  /  HMS FENCER   (D64)
(later CVE-14)


Battle Honours

Atlantic 1943-1944 — Norway 1944 — Arctic 1944 — Pacific 1945
Attacker (US Bogue) Class Escort Carrier
Ordered Laid down Launched Commissioned Returned to US Stricken
- 5 Sep 1941 4 Apr 1942 20 Feb 1943 11 Dec 1946 28 Jan 1947
Builder: Western Pipe & Steel Corporation, San Francisco, Calif.
Specifications
(As converted, 1943)
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
HMS Fencer (D64 / R308)
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301401		 71k Undated, Swordfish torpedo aircraft shown on deck. IWM
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301402		 85k Undated, bows on view from the water line. IWM
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301407		 113k

Stern view of HMS Fencer, ex-USS Croatan (AVC-14), in San Francisco Bay on 26 March 1943. US Navy photo #2051-43.

 Darryl Baker
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301408		 106k

Broadside view of HMS Fencer, ex-USS Croatan (AVC-14), in San Francisco Bay on 26 March 1943. US Navy photo #2052-43.

 Darryl Baker
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301406		 39k March 26, 1943, as completed (thanks to Robert Hurst). Haze Gray & Underway
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301404		 74k

HMS Fencer at sea, in 1944.

 Robert Hurst
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301409		 147k

HMS Fencer (ex-USS Croatan), left, is painted "as delivered," but HMS Striker (ex-Prince William) has the "false hull" scheme already applied. Both ships have arrived in Australia direct from the U.K. to join the British Pacific Fleet (BPF), early 1945.

 Courtesy of Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301403		 86k

Picture taken Dec. 20, 1945 in Grand Harbour, Malta, when she was trooping. I was aboard her as a passenger.

© Robert M. Morgan

 © Robert M. Morgan
Commercial Service
CVE-14 Croatan/HMS Fencer
NS0301405		 71k Ex-USS Croatan, ex-HMS Fencer, as the Italian Caribia 2. Genoa, Italy, April 1973. Photo by Gerhard Mueller-Debus
View the USS Croatan (ACV-14 / CVE-14)  /  HMS Fencer (D64)
DANFS History entry located on the Hazegray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact and Reunion Information
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Related Links
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Official U.S. Navy Carrier Website
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Last update: 1 June 2008