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HMS Nabob British aircraft carrier, uboat.net
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HMS Nabob was a British escort aircraft carrier that served briefly but dramatically during the Second World War. Built in the United States under the Lend-Lease programme, the ship was originally laid down as USS Edisto at the Seattle–Tacoma (in the State of Washington) Shipbuilding Corporation in October 1942. Launched in March 1943, she was transferred to the Royal Navy in September 1943 and commissioned as HMS Nabob (D77), a Ruler-class escort carrier derived from the American Bogue class. She never entered U.S. naval service, reflecting the urgency with which Britain needed carriers to protect Atlantic and Arctic convoys.
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| British Nabob slideserve.com |
Above image: The warship Nabob after the war was misused in 1856 to carry immigrants with the full knowledge of the captain. It was forbidden to misuse the warship for any other purpose except to transport sailors and the captain's behavior was a controversial one. .........
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| HMS Nabob -Bogue escort Class aircraft carrier reddit.com |
HMS Nabob carried a complement of about 640 officers and men and typically embarked Fairey Avenger torpedo bombers and Wildcat fighters for anti-submarine and fleet support duties. Her most notable action occurred on 22 August 1944 during Operation Goodwood, when the German submarine U-354 torpedoed her off northern Norway. The explosion tore a large hole near the engine room, caused severe flooding, knocked out electrical power, and left the ship listing and immobilised. Despite this, disciplined damage-control efforts saved the carrier. Over 200 crew were evacuated, yet Nabob astonishingly managed to steam more than 1,000 miles back to port under her own power, albeit with a skeleton crew and her stern deep in the water. The episode underlined both the danger posed by U-boats and the professionalism of Allied naval crews.
After the war, HMS Nabob was deemed uneconomical to repair and was returned to the United States, eventually being scrapped in 1947. Importantly, claims that the warship was later “misused” to carry immigrants are based on a historical misunderstanding. The vessel involved in the 1856 immigrant voyage to South Australia was an entirely different ship, a civilian sailing vessel also named Nabob. That earlier Nabob made multiple government-chartered emigrant voyages and became controversial due to complaints about its captain’s conduct, but it had no connection whatsoever to the WWII aircraft carrier.
The shared name Nabob—derived from the Indian word Nawab—adds a final irony. While evocative of wealth and power, the name’s colonial associations contrast sharply with the wartime carrier’s real legacy: a short, hazardous service defined not by luxury, but by endurance, discipline, and survival at sea.
https://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/ESCORT/NABOB.htm
source: https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/nabob1856.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nabob_(D77)
https://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/ESCORT/NABOB.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruler-class_escort_carrier
K. N/ Jayaraman
