USS Estero (CVE-42)
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| Career | Missing image USN-Jack.png United States Navy Jack  |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 31 October 1942 |
| Launched: | 22 March 1943 |
| Commissioned (RN): | 3 November 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 May 1946 |
| Fate: | merchant ship; sold for scrap, 1974 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 16,620 tons (full) |
| Length: | 495.66 ft |
| Beam: | 69.5 ft |
| Extreme width: | 111.5 ft |
| Draft: | 26 ft |
| Speed: | 18 knots |
| Complement: | 890 officers and men |
| Armament: | 2 x 5-inch guns, 8 x twin 40mm Bofors, 35 x single 20mm Oerlikon |
| Aircraft: | 24 |
The first USS Estero (CVE-42) (previously AVG-42 then later ACV-42) was an escort aircraft carrier launched 22 March 1943 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Washington, and sponsored by Mrs. C. N. Ingraham. She was reclassified CVE-42 on 15 July 1943. Completed in October 1943, she was transferred to the Royal Navy on 3 November 1943 and commissioned the same day as HMS Premier. She served in World War II as an ASW escort carrier in European waters and additionally as a ferry carrier. She was returned to United States custody 2 April 1946, she was stricken on 21 May 1946 and was sold into merchant service as the Rhodesia Star (later renamed Hong Kong Knight) in 1947. She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1974.
| Bogue-class escort carrier |
| Royal Navy |
| Battler | Attacker | Hunter | Chaser | Fencer | Stalker | Pursuer | Striker | Searcher | Ravager | Tracker | Slinger | Atheling | Emperor | Ameer | Begum | Trumpeter | Empress | Khedive | Speaker | Nabob | Premier | Shaha | Patroller | Rajah | Ranee | Trouncer | Thane | Queen | Ruler | Arbiter | Smiter | Puncher | Reaper |
| United States Navy |
| Bogue | Card | Copahee | Core | Nassau | Altamaha | Barnes | Block Island | Breton | Croatan | Prince William |
| List of escort aircraft carriers of the United States Navy |
| List of escort aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy |