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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

Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Returned to US	Stricken
*Attacker (US Bogue) Class Escort Carrier*
-	5 Sep 1941	4 Apr 1942	20 Feb 1943	11 Dec 1946	28 Jan 1947
Builder: Western Pipe & Steel Corporation, San Francisco, Calif.

Laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (hull number 197).
Acquired by the USN, designated AVG-14 and named Croatan, after a sound of the North Carolina coast.
Redesignated ACV-14, 20 Aug 1942.
Commissioned into the US Navy as USS Croatan (ACV-14), 20 Feb 1943.
Transferred to the Royal Navy, 27 Feb 1943, and commissioned as HMS Fencer (D64), 1 Mar 1943.
Redesignated CVE-14, 15 Jul 1943.
RN designation temporarily changed to R308 for service in the Pacific, 1945.
Returned to USN at Norfolk, Virginia, 11 Dec 1946. Stricken for disposal, 28 Jan 1947.
Fate: Converted to a passenger ship and renamed Sydney (Italian flag), 1950. Renamed Roma (1967), Galaxy Queen (1970), Lady Tina (1973), and finally Caribia 2 (1973). Scrapped at La Spezia, Italy, starting Sep 1975.

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)**
NS0301401	71k	Undated, Swordfish torpedo aircraft shown on deck.	IWM
NS0301402	85k	Undated, bows on view from the water line.	IWM
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
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
NS0301406	39k	March 26, 1943, as completed (thanks to Robert Hurst).	Haze Gray & Underway
NS0301410	59k	HMS *Fencer* (D64), ex-USS *Croatan* (CVE-14), as seen from a sister ship, plows through rough seas during Arctic convoy operations. Photo Crown copyright.	Robert Hurst
NS0301411	119k	Undated wartime photo of the escort carrier HMS *Fencer's flight deck being cleared of snow and ice in order to permit flying, while escorting an Arctic convoy to Russia. Note the two Wildcats with wings folded, and the two Sworfdish* Mk II TSRs (Torpedo Spotter Reconnaissance) aircraft parked aft, ready for the next sortie. Photo courtesy Tommy Thomson. Photo and text from Swordfish: From The Cockpit, by Donald Payne.	Robert Hurst
NS0301404	74k	HMS *Fencer* at sea, in 1944.	Robert Hurst
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
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
NS0301405	112k	Ex-USS *Croatan, ex-HMS Fencer, as the Italian Caribia 2*. Genoa, Italy, April 1973.	Photo by Gerhard Mueller-Debus