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NavSource Online: Escort Carrier Photo Archive

USS PYBUS (ACV-34)  /  HMS EMPEROR




Contributed by Tommy Trampp


Battle Honours

Atlantic 1943–44 — Norway 1944 — Normandy 1944 — South France 1944 — Aegean 1944 — Malaya 1945 — Burma 1945 — East Indies 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. 13).

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Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Name
Pybus Bay
NS0303417
106k

AVG-34 (later ACV-34 and CVE-34) was named Pybus for a bay on the east coast of Admiralty Island, 5 miles west of The Brothers and 53 miles east of Sitka, Alexander Archipelago, Alaska (NS0303417).

Assigned for transfer to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease agreement, she was placed in service as HMS Emperor. "Emperor" is "the sovereign or supreme male monarch of an empire." The ship's Coat of Arms is a golpe, rayed gold, on a blue field and charged with an emperor's crown.

(Map courtesy of Google Maps Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman.. Ship's badge courtesy of Tommy Trampp)

NavSource
Emperor
NS0303416
16k
Construction
Pybus
NS0303418
503k

The photo shows the Earl of Athlone, Governor General of Canada, his wife Princess Alice and Captain J.L. McGuigan, 4 May 1943, aboard the escort carrier Pybus (ACV‑34), despite the cold weather and being surrounded by construction grime. The carrier was fitting out at the Sea-Tac Shipyard and she was approximately three weeks before commissioning. USS Pybus was decommissioned on 6 August 1943, being simultaneously transferred to the Royal Navy, as HMS Emperor (D98).

Source: Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio, Photo No. EW-433.

Mike Green
HMS Emperor (D98)
HMS Emperor
NS0303418
80k

Looking aft from the carrier's island on the snow-covered and crowded flight deck as HMS Emperor (D98) makes her way through the snow-covered pack-ice waters off Newfoundland. Her cargo of Grumman Hellcat fighters is destined for the Fleet Air Arm. This was Emperor's maiden voyage under the Union Jack and heavy U-Boat activity in the Atlantic forced the convoy to make a northerly track.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection, Photo No. © IWM(A 23070).

Mike Green
HMS Emperor
NS0303402
258k HMS Emperor was outfitted as a strike/CAP carrier. Provided fighter cover for a strike on German battleship Tirpitz; served as an ASW patrol ship at Normandy and supported invasion of southern France before transferring to the Pacific. Maureen Ross
HMS Emperor
NS0303413
59k

Undated image of the escort carrier HMS Emperor at anchor, at Greenock, Scotland. Photo taken by unknown Royal Navy official photographer. Photo # FL 11445 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303410
194k

HMS Emperor (D98) at anchor, Greenock, Scotland, 10 January 1943. Photo taken by Lt. S.J. Beadell, Royal Navy official photographer. Photo ID A21343 from the offical collections of the Imperial War Museum.

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303411
80k

HMS Emperor (D98)—ex-USS Pybus (ACV-34)—underway in the Atlantic, circa 1944, heading for England, with her decks loaded with Grumman Hellcats.

Photo and text from 100 Years of British Naval Aviation, by Christopher Shores.

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303422
57k

Starboard side view of HMS Emperor (D98) moored at Greenock, Scotland, 22 February 1944.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection, by Beadell, S.J. (Lt), Photo No. A 21920, © IWM.

Mike Green
HMS Emperor
NS0303414
55k

Fleet Air Arm Hellcat pilots of the escort carrier HMS Emperor (D98) studying a model of the German battleship KMS Tirpitz and her hide-out in Alten Fjord on the flight deck, just before the Operation Tungsten attack, which left the Tirpitz blazing, began, April 1944. Two of their aircraft can be seen in the distance. Photo taken by Lt. H.A. Mason, Royal Navy official photographer. Photo # A 22651 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303421
72k

HMS Emperor (D98) and light cruiser HMS Royalist (89), as seen from HMS Pursuer (D73) underway off the Norwegian northern coast in April 1944.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection by Davies, F.A (Lt), Photo No. © IWM(A 23058).

Mike Green
HMS Emperor
NS0303421a
92k

As seen from HMS Pursuer (D73), HMS Emperor (D98) and HMS Striker (D12), along with an escorting destroyer, battle heavy swells in April 1944. The ships were operating in Northern waters, off the coast of Norway.

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

HMS Emperor
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).

HMS Emperor
NS0303412
127k

A Grumman Hellcat, the first aircraft in the fighter escort, begins her take-off run from the deck of HMS Emperor (D98), during Operation Tungsten, the attack on the battleship KMS Tirpitz, Kaafjord, Norway, on 3 April 1944. Photo Imperial War Museum.

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303412a
83k

Three Fairey Barracuda TBR Mk.IIs photographed from the deck of HMS Emperor, return from the second strike in Operation Tungsten, the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz, 3 April 1944. The carrier in the background is HMS Victorious. Photo Imperial War Museum.

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303407
126k

Grumman Hellcats on the flight deck of HMS Emperor (D98), foregound, 4 April 1944. In the background are other HM ships of the British Home Fleet: the nearest to Emperor is the fleet aircraft carrier HMS Furious (47), followed by the escort carriers HMS Searcher (D40) and HMS Pursuer (D73) and the light cruiser HMS Jamaica (44). The previous day they had taken part in the attack on the German battleship KMS Tirpitz in Alten Fjord which left her blazing. Photo by Lieutenant H A Mason, Royal Navy official photographer. Imperial War Museum photo no: A 22649.

Robert Hurst
Larger copy submitted by Mike Green
HMS Emperor
NS0303403
44k HMS Emperor underway with Hellcats of 800 NAS on deck. One of them is painted with stripes from Operation Dragoon (the invasion of Southern France, August 1944). Haze Gray & Underway
HMS Emperor
NS0303415
195k

A U.S. Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat assigned to VGF-1 aboard USS Tulagi (CVE-72) launching from the Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Emperor (D98). One of the carrier's own Hellcats of No.800 Naval Air Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, is seen parked forward during the invasion of Southern France, circa August 1944. Photo taken by unknown Royal Navy official photographer. Photo No. A. 25503 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303423
595k

Undated picture of a Grumman Hellcat Mk.I (FN 376) of No.800 Squadron based aboard the escort carrier HMS Emperor. Photo courtesy Charles E. Brown.

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

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303408
67k

Destroyer HMS Tuscan and aircraft carrier HMS Emperor seen from either HMS Attacker or HMS Stalker, with either Stalker or Attacker in the background, 14 October 1944. The three escort carriers were part of the strike force for Operation Manna, a series of strikes in the Aegean Sea.

Courtesy of Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
HMS Emperor
NS0303404
65k Left to right, the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, the escort carrier HMS Emperor, and the French battleship Richelieu during Operation Sunfish in the East Indies, April 1945.

(See NS0303912g for a larger, uncropped copy of this photo.)

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303409
80k

An FAA Avenger belonging to either No. 845 or No. 851 Squadrons is shown taking off from HMS Emperor. Photo taken in May 1945, during the hunt for the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro. These two squadrons normally operated from the escort carrier HMS Shah, but on this day Shah's catapult became defective. Imperial War Museum.

Robert Hurst
HMS Emperor
NS0303401
74k Entering Singapore, September 1945, with 800 Squadron's Hellcats lined up on deck. The cruiser steaming astern is HMS Ceylon, and the French battleship Richelieu is in the background. IWM
HMS Emperor
NS03-cve34-pab5ta
258k Trincomalee, 1945. Jack Price, via Carl Berrington
Jeff Bloom
Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers
HMS Emperor
NS0303405
77k Captain of HMS Emperor, Sir Charles Edward Madden, inspecting the crew with Gunnery Warrant Officer Frank Bulley accompanying him (1945). Alfred and Colin Bulley, sons of Gunnery Warrant Officer Frank Bulley
HMS Emperor
NS0303406
92k Gunnery Warrant Officer Frank Bulley. Alfred and Colin Bulley, sons of Gunnery Warrant Officer Frank Bulley
HMS Emperor
NS0303419
45k

Framed between the guns of HMS Indomitable (92), HMS Emperor (D98) steams through the Bitter Lakes on her way through the Suez, 20 November 1945.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection, by Morgan, C.H. (Sub Lt.), Photo No. © IWM (A 31032).

Mike Green

For more information and photos of this ship, see:

Read the
USS Pybus (ACV-34 / CVE-34) / HMS Emperor DANFS History entry

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

Trying to contact anyone who knew twins Eddie and George Pole, Telegraphists on HMS Emperor (D98).
Eddie Pole recently lost his twin brother and would love to know about anyone else.

Please read "Telegraphist A.E. Pole"
and contact Ruth Clinch at ruth.clinch@ntlworld.com.


Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway World Aircraft Carrier Pages By Andrew Toppan.
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Last update: 5 November 2023