HMS Audacity

HMS Audacity, after her conversion to an escort carrier
History
United Kingdom
Name
  • Hannover (1939–40)
  • Sinbad (1940)
  • Empire Audacity (1940–41)
  • HMS Empire Audacity (1941)
  • HMS Audacity (1941)
Owner
  • Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen (1939–40)
  • Ministry of War Transport (1940–41)
  • Royal Navy (1941)
Operator
  • Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen (1939–40)
  • Cunard White Star Line (1940–41)
  • Royal Navy (1941)
Port of registry
  • Nazi Germany Bremen (1939–40)
  • United Kingdom Kingston, Jamaica (1940)
  • United Kingdom London (1940–41)
  • United Kingdom Royal Navy (1941)
BuilderBremer Vulkan, Vegesack
Launched29 March 1939
Commissioned20 June 1941
Identification
  • Code Letters DOVB (1939–40)
  • Code Letters GLZX (1940–41)
  • Pennant number D10 (1941)
Honours and
awards
Atlantic 1941
Captured7 March 1940
FateSunk by U-751, 21 December 1941
General characteristics
TypeEscort carrier
Tonnage5,537 GRT
Displacement11,000 long tons (11,177 t)
Length
  • 441 ft 9 in (134.65 m) (Hannover)
  • 467 ft 3 in (142.42 m) (HMS Audacity)
Beam56 ft 3 in (17.15 m)
Draught
  • 23 ft 1 in (7.04 m) (Hannover)
  • 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m) (HMS Audacity)
Installed power5,200 hp (3,900 kW)
Propulsion
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
ComplementAs HMS Audacity: 480[1]
Sensors and
processing systems
Type 79B air warning radar
Armament
Aircraft carried
  • Operational Use: 6[1]
  • Storage: 8
Aviation facilitiesNone; aircraft stored on flight deck[1]

HMS Audacity was a British escort carrier of the Second World War and the first of her kind to serve in the Royal Navy. She was originally the German merchant ship Hannover, which the British captured in the West Indies in March 1940 and renamed Sinbad, then Empire Audacity. She was converted and commissioned as HMS Empire Audacity, then as HMS Audacity. She was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in late 1941.

  1. ^ a b c Ford, Roger (2001) The Encyclopedia of Ships, pg. 362. Amber Books, London. ISBN 978-1-905704-43-9