&sq=&lang=&file=File:HMS_Hunter_FL10531.jpg) HMS Hunter
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Block Island |
| Namesake | Block Island Sound |
| Builder | Ingalls Shipbuilding |
| Laid down | 15 May 1941, as Mormacpenn |
| Launched | 22 May 1942 |
| Commissioned | 9 January 1943 |
| Out of service | Loaned to Royal Navy 1943-1945 |
| Stricken | 17 January 1947 |
| Fate | Sold into merchant service 1947, scrapped in Spain in 1965 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Hunter |
| Commissioned | 11 January 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 29 December 1945 |
| Renamed | Initially HMS Trailer, before being named HMS Hunter, As merchant ship:Almdijk |
| Fate | Returned to United States 29 December 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Attacker-class escort carrier |
| Displacement | 14,400 tons |
| Length | 491 ft 6 in (149.81 m) |
| Beam | 105 ft (32 m) |
| Draught | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Complement | 646 |
| Armament | |
| Aircraft carried | 20 |
USS Block Island (CVE-8) (originally AVG and then ACV) was an Attacker-class escort aircraft carrier that served during World War II.
The ship was laid down on 15 May 1941 as Mormacpenn under Maritime Commission contract at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Ingalls Shipbuilding, acquired by the United States Navy on 9 January 1943 and simultaneously transferred via the Lend-Lease program to the United Kingdom as Trailer. On 11 January 1943, the ship was renamed HMS Hunter (D80) and commissioned by the Royal Navy. In March 1945 was attached to the 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron. She participated in Operation Jurist and Operation Tiderace in August 1945, the reoccupation of Malaya and Singapore from the Japanese.
The vessel was returned to United States' custody 29 December 1945 and sold into merchant service on 17 January 1947 as Almdijk. In October 1965 the ship was sold for scrapping in Spain.