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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS BLOCK ISLAND   (ACV-21)
(later CVE-21)


Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Uniform - Yankee - Mike
Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: American Campaign Medal / European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (2 stars) / World War II Victory Medal
Bogue Class Escort Carrier
Ordered Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Stricken
(see below) 19 Jan 1942 6 Jun 1942 8 Mar 1943   28 Jun 1944
Builder: Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash.

Fate: Hit by two torpedoes from German submarine U-549 at 2013, May 29, 1944. A third torpedo struck the escort carrier 10' later, and FBI ("Fighting Block Island") finally sank at 2155.

During this same action USS Barr (DE-576) was hit and damaged by another torpedo, and U-549 was sunk by USS Eugene A. Elmore (DE-686) and USS Ahrens (DE-575).

Six USS Block Island crewmen died during or soon after the attack, and four out of six Wildcat pilots aloft at the time of the attack could not make it to the Canary Islands, where they had been vectored. They remain on active duty.
Specifications
(As commissioned, 1943)
Displacement: 7,800 tons standard; 15,700 tons full load (design)
Dimensions (wl): 465' x 69.5' x 23.25'  /  141.7 x 21.2 x 7.1 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: 16.5 knots
Endurance:
Armament: 2 single 5"/51 (later 5"/38) gun mounts; (1943) 8 twin 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; (1943) 27 single 20-mm/70-cal gun mounts
Aircraft: 24
Aviation facilities: 2 elevators; 1 hydraulic catapult (H 2); Mk 4 mod 5A arresting gear
Crew: 890
Click On Image 
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
CVE-21 Block Island
NS0302104		 160k

A nearly complete Block Island (ACV-21) at the Seattle-Tacoma Shipyard, 1943. She is painted in Measure 22 camouflage scheme, in preparation for duty in the Atlantic.

(U.S. Navy photo, courtesy of The Floating Drydock, from "Naval Camouflage 1914–1945: A Complete Visual Reference," by David Williams.)

 Robert Hurst
CVE-21 Block Island
NS0302101		 40k USS Block Island (CVE-21) underway, October 12, 1943 wearing Ms.22 camouflage. Haze Gray & Underway
CVE-21 Block Island
NS0302102		 135k

Shortly after leaving Norfolk, October 15, 1943, on her first anti-submarine cruise, with aircraft from Composite Squadron 1 (VC-1) on deck—9 FM-1 Wildcats (forward) and 12 TBF-1C Avengers. Position 36-54' N, 75-22' W, course 090. Photographed from a blimp of squadron ZP-14.

U.S. National Archives photo #80-G-87149.

 Courtesy of Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
CVE-21 Block Island
NS0302103		 43k Sinking after being torpedoed by German submarine U-549, May 29, 1944 (port side view). Haze Gray & Underway

For more photos and information about this ship, see:
View the USS Block Island (ACV-21 / CVE-21)
DANFS History entry located on the Naval Historical Center Web Site.
Crew Contact and Reunion Information
Date:  
Place:  
Name: Bill MacInnes
Address: 6650 Richard Street — San Diego, CA 92115
Phone:  
E-mail: Wmacinnes@aol.com
Web site: USS Block Island Association
Remarks:  
Related Links
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
USS Block Island web page
World War II Damage Report located on the NAVSEA 05P4 web site
Official U.S. Navy Carrier Website
Escort Carrier Sailors & Airmen Association
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Last update: 21 December 2009