HMS Queen (D19)

The USS "St. Andrews" (CVE-49) (originally AVG-49, later ACV-49) was assigned to MC hull 260 on 23 August 1942, a ship to be built to modified C3-S-A1 plans. She was laid down on 12 March 1943 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation of Tacoma, Washington; redesignated CVE-49 on 15 July; and launched on 31 July; sponsored by Mrs. Robert W. Morse; transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease on 7 December; and commissioned the same day as HMS "Queen" (D19) in the Royal Navy.

HMS "Queen" served British and Allied escort forces in protecting the vital convoy supply effort across the North Atlantic in 1944, and in the Pacific campaigns in 1945. After hostilities ceased, she was converted to a troop carrier and used to bring British forces back from the Far East, before being returned to the United States at Norfolk, Virginia, 31 October 1946.

On arrival, "Queen" was decommissioned by the Royal Navy and was taken over by the U.S. Navy. In excess of Navy needs, CVE-49 was slated, in December, for disposal; struck from the Navy Register in July 1947, sold to the N.V. Stoomv, Maats, Nederland Co., Amsterdam, Netherlands and pressed into merchant service as "Roebiah" on 29 July 1947 (renamed "President Marcos" in 1967 and "Lucky One" in 1972). She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1972.

References

*
* "History of HMS Queen" by David Weaver

External links

* [http://sc.info.gov.hk/gb/www.police.gov.hk/police/offbeat/814/eng/n12.htm"Retired CIP brings aircraft carrier back to life"] An article about David Weaver's detailed book "History of HMS Queen"