WILLAPA (CVE-53) / HMS PUNCHER
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.
Operational and Building Data
Built by Seattle-Tacoma. Laid down 21 May 1943, launched 8 Nov 1943. Transferred to RN and commissioned in RN service as HMS Puncher (D79) 5 February 1944. Designation changed from AVG to ACV 20 August 1942; changed from ACV to CVE 15 July 1943, both prior to commissioning.
Initially outfitted as a transport carrier by Burrards at Vancouver, Canada, but refitted as a strike/CAP carrier in the UK. Canadian manned. Served mostly as an Atlantic ASW carrier and as a training carrier. Main reduction gears destroyed 27 November 1944; replaced by gearing from Nabob.
FATE
Used as a troopship immediately postwar. Returned to USN 16 Jan
1946, stricken for disposal 12 March 1946. Converted to a cargo ship, with an altered superstructure
that was originally built for a Liberty Ship and renamed Muncaster Castle (British
flag), 1948. Renamed Bardic in 1954, Bennevis (Ben Line Ltd., Leith) in
1959. Scrapped at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, starting June 1973.
