USS Winjah (CVE-54)
|
| Career | |
|---|
| Laid down: | 5 June 1943 |
| Launched: | 22 November 1943 |
| Commissioned (RN): | 18 February 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 July 1946 |
| Fate: | merchant ship |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 7,800 tons |
| Length: | 495' 8" |
| Beam: | 69' 6" |
| Draft: | 26' |
| Speed: | 17.5 knots |
| Complement: | 890 officers and men |
| Armament: | 2 x 5-inch guns, 4 x twin 40mm Bofors, 10 x single 20mm Oerlikons |
| Aircraft: | 28 |
The USS Winjah (CVE-54) (originally AVG-54 then later ACV-54) was a Prince William-class escort aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, leased to the Royal Navy during World War II. Winjah was laid down on 5 June 1943 at Tacoma, Washington, by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Co.; assigned to the United Kingdom under lend-lease on 23 June; redesignated CVE-54 on 15 July; launched on 22 November; and delivered to the British on 18 February 1944. Renamed HMS Reaper (D82), the carrier operated in the Royal Navy for the duration of World War II. After arriving at Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 May 1946, Reaper was decommissioned on 20 May and returned to the United States Government. Authorized for disposal on 14 June, Winjah was struck from the Navy Registry on 8 July and sold to the Waterman Steamship Co., of Mobile, Alabama on 12 February 1947 as the South Africa Star. She was scrapped in Nikara, Japan in May of 1967.
|
|
