HMS Khedive (D62)

HMS Khedive
History
United States
Name	USS Cordova
Namesake	Cordova Bay in Alaska
Builder	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down	22 September 1942
Launched	30 January 1943
Fate	Transferred to Royal Navy
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Khedive
Commissioned	25 August 1943
Decommissioned	19 July 1946
Identification	Pennant number:D62
Fate	Sold as merchant ship; for scrap 1975
General characteristics
Class and type	Bogue-class escort carrier (USA) Ruler-class escort carrier (UK)
Displacement	16,620 tons (full)
Length	495 ft 7 in (151.05 m)
Beam	69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draught	26 ft (7.9 m)
Propulsion	Steam turbines, 1 shaft, 8,500 shp (6.3 MW)
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement	646 officers and men
Armament	2 × 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 guns 8 × twin 40 mm Bofors 35 × single 20 mm Oerlikon
Aircraft carried	18-24

USS Cordova (CVE-39) (originally AVG-39 then later ACV-39) was an escort carrier launched 27 December 1942 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding of Tacoma, Washington; sponsored by Mrs. A. E. Mitchell. Reclassified CVE-39 on 15 July 1943, Cordova was transferred to the Royal Navy on 25 August 1943, as HMS Khedive (D62)

Khedive served as the command ship for the Allied landings in southern France, in August 1944. From April to August 1945, she was with the East Indies Fleet as part of the 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron. Khedive was to take part in the invasion of Singapore in September 1945, codenamed Operation Tiderace. But with the Japanese surrender, she was merely deployed to the island for security.

She was returned to United States custody on 26 January 1946 and sold into merchant service 23 January 1947 as Rempang (later Daphne). She was sold for scrap in Spain in 1975.

Design and description

These ships were all larger and had a greater aircraft capacity than all the preceding American built escort carriers. They were also all laid down as escort carriers and not converted merchant ships. All the ships had a complement of 646 men and an overall length of 492 feet 3 inches (150.0 m), a beam of 69 feet 6 inches (21.2 m) and a draught of 25 ft 6 in (7.8 m). Propulsion was provided by a steam turbine, two boilers connected to one shaft giving 9,350 shaft horsepower (6,970 kW), which could propel the ship at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side, two aircraft lifts 43 feet (13.1 m) by 34 feet (10.4 m), one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the 260 feet (79.2 m) by 62 feet (18.9 m) hangar below the flight deck. Armament comprised: two 4"/50, 5"/38 or 5"/51 Dual Purpose guns in single mounts, sixteen 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns in twin mounts and twenty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons in single mounts. They had a maximum aircraft capacity of twenty-four aircraft which could be a mixture of Hellcat, Vought F4U Corsair or Hawker Sea Hurricane fighter aircraft and or Grumman Avenger anti-submarine aircraft.

References

• Cocker, Maurice (2008). Aircraft-Carrying Ships of the Royal Navy. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-4633-2.