HMS Nabob (D77)

HMS "Nabob" (D77) was a "Bogue"-class escort aircraft carrier which served in the Royal Navy during 1943 and 1944. The ship was built in the United States as USS "Edisto" (CVE-41) (originally AVG-41 then later ACV-41) but did not serve with the United States Navy.

She was laid down on 20 October 1942, launched 22 March 1943, and transferred under Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom on 7 September 1943 prior to her commissioning as HMS "Nabob" (D77) into the Royal Navy. She served as an anti-submarine warfare carrier and the ship's crew was drawn from personnel provided by the Royal Canadian Navy. Flight crew were Royal Navy personnel (852 and 856 Naval Air Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm).

On 22 August 1944, while returning from a strike against the German battleship "Tirpitz" (Operation Goodwood), she was torpedoed by "U-354" in the Barents Sea and sustained heavy damage. Five days later she steamed into Scapa Flow under her own power but had lost 21 men.

She was eventually judged not worth repairing, was beached and abandoned then cannibalized for other ships and decommissioned on 30 September 1944. She was returned to United States custody and sold into merchant service 26 October 1946 as the merchant "Nabob" (later renamed "Glory"). She was sold for scrap in Taiwan in 1977.

"Nabob" is one of three Royal Navy escort carriers built in the United States which is listed as lost in action during World War II.

ee also

* List of aircraft carriers
* List of ship launches in 1943
* List of ship commissionings in 1943
* List of ship decommissionings in 1944

References

*
* [http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/ESCORT/NABOB.htm]