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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

(BAVG-4)  /  HMS CHARGER   (D27)  /
USS CHARGER   (AVG-30)

(later ACV-30 and CVE-30)




Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Whiskey - Uniform - Sierra

Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: American Campaign Medal / World War II Victory Medal

Charger Class Escort Carrier
Ordered Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Stricken
(see below) 19 Jan 1940 1 Mar 1941 3 Mar 1942 (USN) 15 Mar 1946 29 Mar 1946
Builder: Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pa.

Specifications
(As commissioned, 1942)
Displacement: 8,000 tons standard; 15,000+ tons full load
Dimensions (wl): 465' x 69.5' x 26.25'  /  141.7 x 21.2 x 8 meters
Dimensions (max.): 492' x 111.25'  /  150 x 33.9 meters
Armor: None
Power plant: 2 Doxford diesels (6-cylinder); 1 shaft; 8,500 bhp
Speed: 16 knots
Endurance:
Armament: 1 single 5"/51 gun mount; 2 single 3"/50-cal gun mounts; 10 single 20-mm/70-cal machine guns
Aircraft: 30+
Aviation facilities: 1 elevator; 1 hydraulic catapult
Crew: 856

Click on Thumbnail
for Full Size Image
Size Image Description Source
BAVG-2, BAVG-3, BAVG-4
NS030100304
53k Rio Hudson, Rio Parana and Rio de la Plata just prior to conversion. Hazegray & Underway
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303001
66k Good overhead, port side view. USN
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303002
60k Port side, late war image. USN
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303003
137k Good overhead, starboard side view. USN
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303010
56k

USS Charger (CVE-30) underway circa 1942, location unknown.

Robert Hurst
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303011
96k

USS Charger (CVE-30) at anchor circa 1942, location unknown.

Robert Hurst
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303004
112k

USS Charger underway in 1943. For most of her career she was camouflaged in Measure 22, the graded system. Measure 22, introduced in June 1942, was intended for use in areas where bright weather and fair visibility predominated.

Hull, from boot-topping to the lowest point of the main deck edge, was painted navy blue; the upper edge of this band was parallel to the horizon. Vertical surfaces above this blue band were painted haze gray. Flight deck was stained deck blue.

Photo by Edward L. Walger PH2 USN, 1942-1945.

Barbara Walger
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303004a
117k

Official USN photo, taken in January 1944 but otherwise very similar to NS0303004, above.

David Buell
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303007
96k

A Grumman F6F Hellcat that came in too low... 1943.

Photo by Edward L. Walger PH2 USN, 1942-1945.

Barbara Walger
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303012
78k

USS Charger (CVE-30) underway in January 1944, showing a very basic radar fit: SC-2 air search and the smaller SG surface search antenna below it; at the masthead is the YE aircraft homing beacon.

Robert Hurst
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303005
125k

USS Charger anchored in Hampton Roads, 1944.

The island was built out over the side of the ship, to entirely clear the flight deck, and was not supported by the hull or the hangar side, thus requiring dedicated supports (one of them clearly visible under the island structure). Charger was armed with a single 5"/51 gun, aft, and two single 3"/50s forward (visible here); a light battery of .50-cal machine guns was initially planned, but, as shown, 20-mm machine cannon were mounted instead.

The "X" superimposed on the ship's hull number, aft, indicated that the flight deck was not usable for landings.

Photo by Edward L. Walger PH2 USN, 1942-1945.

Barbara Walger
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303006
93k

A Grumman F4F Wildcat landing aboard Charger. Taken from a Coast Guard cutter in October 1944.

Photo by Edward L. Walger PH2 USN, 1942-1945.

Barbara Walger
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303008
114k

Two performances by the ship's band.

Steven C. Irwin
CVE-30 Charger
NS0303009
94k

For more photos and information about this ship, see:

View the HMS Charger (D27)/USS Charger (AVG-30 / ACV-30 / CVE-30)
DANFS History entry located on the Hazegray & Underway Web Site.

Crew Contact and Reunion Information Web Sites
U.S.Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

Related Links
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Official U.S. Navy Carrier Website
Escort Carrier Sailors & Airmen Association

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This page was created by Paul Yarnall and is maintained by Fabio Peña
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Last update: 20 January 2008