Bogue-class escort carrier

The Bogue class displaced 8,390 long tons (8,520 t) at standard load and 13,980 long tons (14,200 t) at full load. The ships had a waterline length of 465 ft (142 m) with an overall length of 495 ft 8 in (151.08 m). Their beam was 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) at the waterline with a maximum beam of 111 ft 6 in (33.99 m). The draft was 24 ft 8 in (7.52 m) at full load and 21 ft (6.4 m) at light load.[4]

The previous Long Island and Charger-class escort carriers had suffered from reliability issues with their diesel engines so it was decided that the Bogues would use two water-tube boilers, built by Foster-Wheeler, feeding steam to an Allis-Chalmers steam turbine engine connected to a single shaft. This produced 8,500 bhp (6,300 kW), which could propel the ship at 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph). They could sail 26,300 nmi (48,700 km; 30,300 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph).[4]

Landing of a US Navy Grumman TBF-1 Avenger on the escort carrier Card on 9 December 1942.

The US Navy escort carrier Barnes underway in the Pacific Ocean, on 1 July 1943, transporting US Army Air Forces Lockheed P-38 Lightning and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft.

The Bogue class had the capacity for up to 24 anti-submarine or fighter aircraft, which could be a mixture of the Grumman Wildcat, Vought F4U Corsair and Grumman Avenger. The exact composition of the embarked squadrons depended upon the mission. Some squadrons were composite squadrons for convoy defence, and would be equipped with anti-submarine and fighter aircraft,[5] while other squadrons working in a strike-carrier role would only be equipped with fighter aircraft.[6] When utilised in ferry service the ships could carry up to 90 aircraft between both the flight and hangar decks. Aircraft facilities consisted of a small combined bridge–flight control island on the forward starboard side of the ship. The flight deck was 440 ft × 82 ft (134 m × 25 m), with nine arresting wires and three barriers at the stern, along with one hydraulic catapult on the port side at the bow, which was able to launch a 3.5 short tons (3.2 t) aircraft at 61 kn (113 km/h; 70 mph). Two 6.5 short tons (5.9 t) elevators were placed on the flight deck, one at the stern and one near the bow. The hangar deck was 262 ft × 62 ft × 18 ft (79.9 m × 18.9 m × 5.5 m) and fully enclosed, which was larger than the previous Long Island class. The hangar deck retained the camber at the bow and stern of the main deck of the merchant ships they were built on. Since the elevators were placed near the ends of the flight deck, pulleys were required for handling planes on and off of them on the hangar deck, which was difficult in normal conditions, and impossible in rough seas. The ships were also equipped with derricks for retrieving seaplanes and loading and unloading aircraft.[7][4]

The Bogue class was equipped with a variety of weapons, which varied throughout the war and from ship to ship. The early ships were equipped with two 5-inch (130 mm)/51 caliber guns for surface targets, on sponsons at either side of the stern, these were soon refit with two 5-inch/38 caliber dual-purpose guns, and standardized on the remaining ships of the class.[8] For anti-aircraft (AA) cover they were only equipped with ten 20-millimeter (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons. This was later augmented with up to eight twin mounted 40-millimeter (1.57 in) Bofors AA guns and an additional 10 to 18 Oerlikons in single or twin mounts.[7][4]

After the war, the 10 remaining Bogue class escort carriers retained in US service were re-designated as "helicopter escort carriers" (CVHE) in 1955, and five of these were re-designated as "utility escort carriers" (CVU) in 1958, then aircraft ferry (AKV) in 1958, and operating under US Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) during the Vietnam War.[8]

Built from the keel up as escort carriers. All were built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation. General characteristics as the Attacker class, except for displacement and armament.