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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

PRINCE WILLIAM (ACV-19)  /  HMS STRIKER
(later CVE-19)

HMS Striker, ship's badge
Contributed by Tommy Trampp



Battle Honours

Atlantic 1943-1944 — Arctic 1944 — Norway 1944 — Okinawa 1945

CLASS - BOGUE
Displacement 7,800 Tons, Dimensions, 495' 8" (oa) x 69' 6" x 26' (Max)
Armament 2 x 5"/51 4 x 40mm, 10 x 20mm, 28 Aircraft.
Machinery, 8,500 SHP; Allis-Chambers, Geared Turbines, 1 screw
Speed, 17.5 Knots, Crew 890.
FATE
Stricken, 28 March 1946 (Navy Dept. Bulletin, 46-714, p. 12).

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Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Name
Prince William
NS0303116
106k

AVG-19 was named Prince William for a sound, or inlet, 70 miles wide, 30 miles N off the Gulf of Alaska, E of Kenai Peninsula. The sound was named by Captain Cook, RN, in 1778.

Designated for transfer to the United Kingdom under the Lend-Lease Agreement, she was renamed and launched as Striker, 7 May 1942; redesignated ACV–19, 20 August 1942; delivered to the US Navy, 28 April 1943; and transferred to the Royal Navy, 18 May 1943.

(The name Prince William was subsequently assigned to ACV-31.)

(Map courtesy of Google Maps.)

NavSource
HMS Striker (D12)
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301903
59k

Western Pipe & Steel Co. (builder's) trials, San Francisco bay, May 1943.

NS0301903a: Same as photo NS0301903, colorized by Yu Chu.

From the collection of C.P.O. Richard Webb
via Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers

NS0301903a submitted by Yu Chu
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301903a
75k
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301904
67k
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301905
43k
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301906
59k
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301910
64k

HMS Striker, ex-Prince William (ACV-19), seen 45° off centerline off San Francisco, Calif., May 20, 1943.

Mare Island Naval Ship Yard Ship Files, U.S. National Archives, San Francisco (MINY photo #3773-43).

Tracy White, Researcher @ Large
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301901
38k

HMS Striker, with 40-mm Bofors fitted at the stern and in the forward deck-edge gun tubs. The HF/DF mast is prominent before the bridge. Photo courtesy of Ray Burt

Photo and text from Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, by Roger Chesneau.

Robert Hurst
CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301911
203k

An undated photo of a Fairey Swordfish of No. 824 Squadron aboard the escort carrier HMS Striker preparing for an anti-submarine patrol, location unknown. This photo gives a good idea of the restricted deck area of a wartime escort carrier. Photo Imperial War Museum.

Photo and text from British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, by Owen Thetford.

Robert Hurst
CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301913
102k

An irreparably damaged Swordfish being unceremoniously consigned to the "oggin"—after having been stripped of all useful components for spares. This "burial at sea" was conducted aboard the escort carrier HMS Striker. Photo Les Sayer Collection.

Photos and text from Swordfish: From The Cockpit, by Donald Payne.

Robert Hurst
CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301913a
87k
CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301918
56k

A Fairey Swordfish badly damaged after a crash landing aboard the escort carrier HMS Striker is cannibalized for any thing useful before being shoved overboard, circa 1944, location unknown. Photo taken by unknown Royal Navy official photographer. Photo # A 23320 from the collections of the Imperial War Museum.

Robert Hurst
Croatan (CVE-14) / HMS Fencer
NS0301423
2.49M

HMS Fencer (D64) seen from the flight deck of HMS Striker (D12), ex-Prince William (ACV-19), during operations in the Atlantic, February 1944. A Sea Hurricane of 824 Squadron is parked on the aft end of Striker's flight deck. Photo: Richard Webb.

Courtesy of Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301912
68k

A No. 824 Squadron Swordfish Mk II that came to grief after "doing the splits" on board the escort carrier HMS Striker, April 1944. The aircraft cannot, unfortunately, be positively identified, but it carries an interesting emblem, apparently depicting a mouse jumping over the nose of a cat, on the engine panelling. Photo Ad Hoc Publications.

Photo and text from Swordfish: From The Cockpit, by Donald Payne.

Robert Hurst
CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301920
58k

Starboard bow view of HMS Striker (D12) moored off Greenock, Scotland, on 25 February 1944. Worn camouflage shows wear from North Atlantic operations.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection, by Beadell, S.J. (Lt), Photo No. © IWM (A 21974).

Mike Green
CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301919
76k

As seen from HMS Pursuer (D73), HMS Striker (D12), HMS Searcher (D40) in heavy seas off the Norwegian northern coast in April 1944.

Source: Imperial War Museums, Admiralty Official Collection by Davies, F.A (Lt), Photo No. © IWM(A 23066).

Mike Green
CVE-17 + CVE-19 + CVE-34
NS0303421a
107k

As seen from HMS Pursuer (D73), HMS Emperor (D98), HMS Striker (D12) and an unidentified escort destroyer fight heavy seas off the Norwegian northern coast in April 1944.

Source: Imperial War Museums, Admiralty Official Collection by Davies, F.A (Lt), Photo No. © IWM(A 23067).

Mike Green
CVE-17 + CVE-19 + CVE-34
NS0303421b
65k

As seen from HMS Pursuer (D73), HMS Emperor (D98), HMS Striker (D12) and an unidentified escort destroyer fight heavy seas off the Norwegian northern coast in April 1944.

Source: Imperial War Museums, Admiralty Official Collection by Davies, F.A (Lt), Photo No. © IWM(A 23063).

CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301916
10k

A Fairey Swordfish Mk II of No. 824 Squadron Fleet Air Arm takes off from the escort carrier HMS Striker during an anti-submarine sweep, June 1944. Photo taken by Lt. F.A. Davies, Royal Navy official photographer. Photo ID: A 24499 from the photographic collections of the Imperial War Museum.

Robert Hurst
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301907
86k

Sub-Lieutenant E.C. Godden in Sea Hurricane Mk.IIc, NF674 'R' flies into the barrier after failing to catch a wire, June 7, 1944.

From the collection of C.P.O. Richard Webb
via Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301908
88k

Sub-Lieutenant P.A. Clark in Sea Hurricane Mk.IIc, NF694 'U' Uniform, flies into the barrier after failing to catch a wire, June 13, 1944.

From the collection of C.P.O. Richard Webb
via Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
CVE-19 / HMS Striker
NS0301909
98k

HMS Striker underway in the North Atlantic circa summer 1944. Striker operated in Northern waters between April and October on convoy protection duties.

From the collection of C.P.O. Richard Webb
via Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
CVE-19 Prince William / HMS Striker
NS0301902
60k

Shown here is HMS Striker as seen from the British-built escort carrier HMS Vindex during Operation Victual, the passage of Convoy JW59 to Russia, August 1944.

Robert Hurst
CVE-19 Prince William / HMS Striker
NS0301915
105k

Escort carriers HMS Striker and HMS Vindex astern as seen from the battleship Arkhangel'sk (ex-HMS Royal Sovereign) while en route to Murmansk, Russia. Photo navsource.narod.ru.

Photo and text from Battleships at War: HMS Royal Sovereign and her Sister Ships, by Peter C. Smith.

Robert Hurst
CVE-19 Prince William/HMS Striker
NS0301914
87k

A Fairey Swordfish Mk II of No 824 Squadron on her nose after a "prang" on board the escort carrier HMS Striker, in August 1944. Photo courtesy Philip Jarrett.

Photo and text from Swordfish: From The Cockpit, by Donald Payne.

Robert Hurst
CVE-19 Prince William / HMS Striker
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
CVE-19 Prince William / HMS Striker
NS0301921
320k

HMS Striker (R315) moored in Sydney Harbour in February 1945. Photograph taken from HMS Indefatigable (R7). Author's Collection.

Image scanned from The British Pacific Fleet: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strike Force, by David Hobbs (Seaforth Publishing).

Robert Hurst

PRINCE WILLIAM (ACV-19) / HMS STRIKER History
View This Vessels
DANFS History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

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Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
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Last update: 21 March 2021