USS Charger (CVE-30)

The USS "Charger" (CVE-30) (originally AVG-4, then AVG-30, then later ACV-30) was launched 1 March 1941 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania; as "Rio de la Plata"; sponsored by Mrs. Felipe A. Espil (Courtney Letts de Espil); commissioned as HMS Charger (D27), Captain George Abel-Smith, RN, in command; transferred to the U.S. Navy 4 October 1941, reclassified AVG-30, 24 January 1942; commissioned 3 March 1942, Captain T. L. Sprague in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.

Listed by the US Navy as the sole ship of the "'Charger" Type of 1942 (Class)', it actually had several sister ships in HMS "Avenger", HMS "Biter", and HMS "Dasher", all with similar construction histories and transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease.

"Charger's" area of operations throughout the war was Chesapeake Bay, and her duty the basic task of training pilots and ships' crews in carrier operations. Men trained on her decks played an important role in the successful contest for the Atlantic with hostile submarines carried out by the escort carrier groups. Reclassified ACV-30 on 20 August 1942, and CVE-30 on 15 July 1943, "Charger" left Chesapeake Bay for two ferry voyages, one to Bermuda in October 1942, and one to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in September 1945.

"Charger" was decommissioned at New York 15 March 1946, and sold into merchant service 30 January 1947 as "Fairsea". The ship was disabled by an engine fire 29 January 1969 and due to a lack of spare parts was sold for scrap in Italy in 1969.