HMS Hunter (D80)

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	Steam turbines 1 shaft 8,500 shp (6,300 kW)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	646
Armament	2 × 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 8 × 40 mm 20 × 20 mm guns
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.