She was the first escort carrier to operate as a convoy escort sailing with convoy, OG74 on September 13th Although she had only a brief active career before being sunk, she had shown that the concept worked.
The idea of converting merchant hulls into vessels capable of operating naval aircraft, was to be taken forward by the US Navy who began utilising merchant 'C3' type freighter hulls for conversions into escort carriers. Charger was the first to be handed over, commissioning as HMS Charger on October 2nd ; however, the USN reclaimed her two days later for duty as a training carrier. The second carrier Archer was a fairly rudimentary conversation and she saw little active service before machinery problems saw her laid up for a considerable time.
Avenger and Dasher were both sunk, Biter being the only one of the initial batch to see continuous active service until the end of the war. The U-Boat treat was increasingly claiming merchant and military vessels on vital convoys; the need for more escort carriers was to become a priority.
Batch 2 was 11 'Bogue' class CVEs, although some 'Casablanca' class vessels were initially earmarked for transfer, but these were diverted to the US navy. Batch 3 was a repeat order for a further 23 Bogue class vessels. By the end of the RN had received 8 US escort carriers and completed two conversions in British shipyards.
During it was to gain a further 30; 27 lend lease and 3 more British conversions. This was to be the height of escort carrier production for the RN, the final four US built vessels and the final British conversion had all arrived by the end of February Thursfield "Failure of the U-Boat Campaign.
