USS Charger
United States Navy escort carrier
title: "USS Charger" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1941-ships", "charger-class-escort-carriers", "ships-built-by-the-sun-shipbuilding-&-drydock-company", "world-war-ii-escort-aircraft-carriers-of-the-united-states"] description: "United States Navy escort carrier" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Charger" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary United States Navy escort carrier ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox ship"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| section1 | {{Infobox ship/image |
| image | USS Charger (CVE-30) underway at sea, in 1943.jpg |
| image_caption | USS Charger CVE-30 |
| section2 | {{Infobox ship/career |
| country | United States |
| flag | |
| name | *Rio de la Plata (1941) |
| namesake | Royal Navy name retained |
| ordered | 29 November 1939 |
| builder | Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania |
| original_cost | $2,720,800 (1939 contract) |
| yard_number | 188 |
| laid_down | 19 January 1940 |
| launched | 1 March 1941 |
| acquired | 1 August 1941 (delivery to Navy for conversion) |
| commissioned | 3 March 1942 |
| decommissioned | 15 March 1946 |
| reclassified | *D27 (R.N. pennant 1941) |
| fate | *Sold into merchant service, 30 January 1947 |
| section3 | {{Infobox ship/characteristics |
| class | |
| displacement | 15125 LT |
| length | 492 ft |
| beam | *69 ft |
| *{{convert | 111 |
| draft | 26 ft |
| speed | 17 kn |
| complement | 856 officers and enlisted |
| armament | *1 × 5 in gun |
| aircraft | 30+ |
| :: |
|section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= USS Charger (CVE-30) underway at sea, in 1943.jpg |image_caption=USS Charger CVE-30
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United States |flag= |name=*Rio de la Plata (1941)
- Charger (1941–47)
- Fairsea (1947–69) |namesake=Royal Navy name retained |ordered=29 November 1939 |builder=Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania |original_cost=$2,720,800 (1939 contract) |yard_number=188 |laid_down=19 January 1940 |launched=1 March 1941 |acquired=1 August 1941 (delivery to Navy for conversion) |commissioned=3 March 1942 |decommissioned=15 March 1946 |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= |reclassified=*D27 (R.N. pennant 1941)
- AVG-30, 24 January 1942
- ACV-30, 20 August 1942
- CVE-30, 15 July 1943 |refit= |struck= |reinstated= |homeport= |motto= |nickname= |honors= |fate=*Sold into merchant service, 30 January 1947
- Sold for scrap, 1969 |notes=
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class= |displacement= 15125 LT |length= 492 ft |beam=*69 ft
- 111 ft extreme width |draft= 26 ft |depth= |hold_depth= |propulsion= |speed= 17 kn |range= |boats= |capacity= |troops= |complement=856 officers and enlisted |armament=*1 × 5 in gun
- 2 × 3"/50 caliber guns
- 10 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon |armor= |aircraft=30+ |aircraft_facilities= |notes=
USS Charger (CVE-30) was an escort carrier of the United States Navy during World War II converted from a commercial C3-P&C cargo/passenger liner hull built as Rio de la Plata intended for the Moore-McCormack company's American Republics Line serving the east coast of South America.The others were Rio Hudson, Rio Parana and Rio de Janeiro. The ship was requisitioned for conversion to an escort carrier type intended for Royal Navy use and initially commissioned as HMS Charger (D27). Days later the transfer was rescinded with the ship returning to U.S. Navy control to become USS Charger which operated throughout the war as a training ship on the Chesapeake Bay with two ferry missions to Bermuda and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
After decommissioning in March 1946 the ship was sold in January 1947 to become the Italian Fairsea engaged largely in refugee and immigrant voyages from Europe to Australia. After a disabling engine room fire in January 1969 the ship was sold for scrap in Italy.
Construction
The United States Maritime Commission (MC) accepted Sun Shipbuilding's bid to build the four C3-P&C cargo/passenger liners on 29 November 1939 at a cost of $2,720,800 each. Rio de la Plata was planned as the third of four ships to be built by the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania for the Moore-McCormack company.
The modified C3 type was intended for Moore-McCormack's American Republics Line for serving the east coast of the United States to South America and the first large U.S. passenger ships to be fitted with diesel engines. Two six cylinder Sun Doxford diesels with over 9,000 shaft horsepower drove a single propeller through reduction gears for a design speed of 17.5 knots. The ships were designed to carry 196 passengersKarsten-Kunibert Krueger-Kopiske has passenger capacity at 216. with all passenger spaces air conditioned, another first for passenger ships. The passenger design was not completed due to requisitioning for war service. The passenger-cargo design was to be a 17,500 ton displacement, vessel, 492 ft length overall and 465 ft length between perpendiculars. Cargo capacity, with conditioned air to avoid moisture, was to be 440000 cuft (bale measure) with 40000 cuft of refrigerated space. Passengers were to be quartered in 76 staterooms, 22 single cabins, 34 double cabins and 20 cabins with private verandahs.
The keel for Rio de la Plata, MC hull 61, yard hull 188, was laid 19 January 1940 with launch on 1 March 1941 and delivery on 2 October 1941. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Felipe A. Espil (Courtney Letts de Espil).
On 20 May 1941, the United States Maritime Commission requisitioned all four unfinished combiliners, for conversion to military use.
Career
United States Navy
On 1 August 1941 the four ships were delivered to the Navy for conversion before completion as commercial vessels. Conversion for naval duties was by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia. Intended for transfer to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease, the former Rio de la Plata was commissioned on 2 October 1941 as HMS Charger (D27). However, the transfer was rescinded and the ship returned to United States control on 4 October 1941. The vessel was reclassified AVG-30 on 24 January 1942 and commissioned as USS Charger on 3 March 1942, Captain T. L. Sprague USN in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.Listed by the United States Navy as the sole ship of the "Charger Type of 1942 (Class)", she actually had several sister ships in , , and , all with similar building histories and transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease.
Chargers 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 Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in September 1945. Charger was decommissioned at New York on 15 March 1946.
File:USS Charger (AVG-30) in port, in June 1942 (80-G-13144).jpg |Charger stern view (AVG-30) File:Barrier crash of a Douglas SBD-4 Dauntless aboard USS Charger (ACV-30) on 16 March 1943 (80-G-38875).jpg |SBD-4 Dauntless crash on Charger (ACV-30) File:Ship's canteen aboard USS Charger (ACV-30) 1942 (28626729288).jpg |Canteen aboard Charger (ACV-30) File:USS Charger (ACV-30) preparing a perscription in the ship's dispensary, 1942 (28626728878).jpg |Ship’s dispensary on Charger (ACV-30) File:USS Charger (CVE-30) underway at sea, circa in 1945.jpg |Flight Deck of Charger (CVE-30) File:FM-2 aboard USS Charger (CVE-30), May 1944.jpg |FM-2 "Wildcat" aboard Charger File:USS Charger (AVG-30) underway in 1942 (80-G-13143).jpg |Aft view of Charger (AVG-30) underway
Post-war service
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/StateLibQld_1_141391_Fairsea_(ship).jpg" caption="The ship as ''Fairsea''"] ::
The ship was sold into merchant service on 30 January 1947 to the Vlasov group. After conversion the vessel became the passenger liner Fairsea, nominally for Vlasov's Italian managed Sitmar Line. Successive accommodation upgrades secured the vessel's long-term employment, mainly as a migrant carrier from Europe to Australia.
Among the immigrants arriving aboard Fairsea in 1958 was the Gibb family with future Bee Gees Barry, Maurice and Robin; and their infant brother, solo singer Andy. Also aboard were Kylie Minogue's parents and Skyhooks guitarist Red Symons.
Fairsea was disabled by an engine-room fire between Tahiti and Panama on 29 January 1969. Primarily due to a lack of spare parts she was sold for scrap in Italy in 1969, the last of the four to cease operation. Her last surviving former sister Biter (later the French Navy's Dixmude), had been returned to the United States and sunk as a target in 1966.
Footnotes
References
References
- (January 1939). "Sun Gets Four C3 Motorships". J.S. Hines.
- Colton, Tim. (28 March 2014). "Sun Shipbuilding, Chester PA". ShipbuildingHistory.
- (October 1940). "New Combination Liners for American Republics Line". J.S. Hines.
- Karsten-Kunibert Krueger-Kopiske. (2007). "Outboard Profiles of Maritime Commission Vessels – The C3 Cargo Ship, Sub-Designs and Conversions".
- (September 1941). "Navy Takes Rio Ships". J.S. Hines.
- (September 1941). "Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company". J.S. Hines.
- Naval History And Heritage Command. "Charger". Naval History And Heritage Command.
- "10 pound Pom arrival lists go online". Perth Now.
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