HMS Archer (D78) explained

-- Pre-WWII career --> Ship Name: Mormacland Ship Owner: United States Maritime Commission Ship Operator: Moore-McCormack Lines Ship Registry: New York Ship Ordered: C3 Ship Builder: Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania Ship Yard Number: 184 Ship Laid Down: 1 August 1939 Ship Launched: 14 December 1939 Ship Completed: 24 April 1940 Ship Identification: US Official Number 239370 Hide Header: title Ship Country: United Kingdom Ship Name: HMS Archer (BAVG-1) Ship Identification: Pennant number BAVG-1, D78 Ship Commissioned: 17 November 1941 Hide Header: yes Ship Decommissioned: 6 November 1943 Ship Struck: 26 February 1946 Ship Honours: Atlantic 1943–44, Biscay 1944 <	-- Post-WWII career --> Hide Header: title Ship Name: 1945: Empire Lagan 1946: Archer 1948: Anna Salén 1955: Tasmania 1961: Union Reliance Ship Owner: 1945: Ministry of War Transport 1946: United States Maritime Commission 1948: Rederi Pulp AB 1955: Compagnia Navigazione Tasmania SA 1961: China Union Lines Ship Operator: 1944: Blue Funnel Line 1945: A Holt & Co 1946: United States Maritime Commission 1948: Sven Salén, Sweden 1949: Rederi Pulp AB 1955: Hellenic Mediterranean Lines 1961: China Union Lines, Taiwan Ship Registry: 1945: London 1946: United States 1948: Stockholm 1955: Piraeus 1961: Taipei Ship Fate: Scrapped in New Orleans in 1962 Ship Displacement: standard full load (HMS Archer) Ship Tonnage: (Mormacland) (Empire Lagan) (Anna Salén, Tasmania) (Tasmania, Union Reliance) (Mormacland) Ship Length: 461feet (Mormacland) 468feet (Empire Lagan) Ship Beam: 69feet (Mormacland, Empire Lagan) Ship Depth: 29feet (Mormacland) 39feet (Empire Lagan) Ship Propulsion: 4 × 7 -ylinder SCSA diesel engines (Busch-Sulzer Bros Diesel Engine Co, St Louis) 2060hp (each) driving a single screw through electro-magnetic couplings and single reduction gearing. Ship Range: at Ship Complement: 555 (HMS Archer) Ship Armament: 3 × 4 in (102 mm) guns, 4 × twin and 7 × single machine guns. (HMS Archer) 7 × 20 mm guns AA guns 4 twin 20 mm AA guns (HMS Archer) Ship Aircraft: 15 (HMS Archer) Ship Notes: Aviation facilities:- 1 lift, 1 catapult, 9 arrester wires and 3 barriers. (HMS Archer) Ship Capacity: 1,500 passengers (Anna Salén, Tasmania)

HMS Archer was a built by the United States in 1939–1940 and operated by the Royal Navy during World War II. She was built as the cargo ship Mormacland, but was converted to an escort carrier and renamed HMS Archer. Her transmission was a constant cause of problems which led to her being withdrawn from front-line service. She was used as a stores ship and then as an accommodation ship before a refit and subsequent use as a merchant aircraft ferry ship, Empire Lagan.

She was returned to the US Navy, then laid up as Archer before being sold into merchant service and converted to a passenger ship, Anna Salén. She was used to take emigrants to Australia and Canada in the early 1950s. She was sold and renamed Tasmania and after further service as an emigrant ship was converted back to a cargo ship. She was later sold and renamed Union Reliance. She was scrapped after a collision and fire in 1961.

Description and construction

Mormacland was laid down as a Type C3 cargo ship on 1 August 1939, under United States Maritime Commission contract (MC Hull 46),^[1] by the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania, as Yard number 184.^[2] She was launched on 14 December 1939 and completed on 24 April 1940.^[1]

She was powered by four seven-cylinder^{[3] [2]} two-stroke single-acting diesel engines. These drove a single screw^[2] via Westinghouse electro-magnetic slip couplings and Falk single reduction gears. The engines were built by Busch-Sulzer Brothers Diesel Engine Co, St Louis, Missouri with 20½ inches bore and 27 inches stroke (520 mm by 690 mm). They developed a total of 2060hp each. As HMS Archer, she had a range of 14550nmi at 10kn.^[4] The propulsion system was also used on the four sister ships built by Sun Shipbuilding in 1939: Mormacpenn, Mormacyork, Mormacland and Mormacmail

HMS Archer was the only in service with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was converted from the American merchant ship Mormacland which was built at the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. She was laid down on 1 August 1939, launched on 14 December 1939 and delivered on 24 April 1940.^{[5] [6]}

She was converted to an escort aircraft carrier at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co, Newport News, Virginia and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 17 November 1941.

Archer had a complement of 555 men and an overall length of, a beam of and a height of 23.25feet.^[5] She displaced 82000NaN0 at normal load and 90000NaN0 at deep load. Propulsion was provided by four diesel engines connected to one shaft giving

Notes and References

1. Web site: A history of HMS Archer . Royal Navy Research Archive . 18 March 2009.
2. Book: Sawyer. L. A.. Mitchell. W. H. . 1995. The Empire Ships. 425. Lloyd's of London Press Ltd. London, New York, Hamburg, Hong Kong. 1-85044-275-4 .
3. Diesel Propelling Engines For Maritime Commission C-3 Type Cargo Vessels. The Log. January 1940. 18–20.
4. Web site: (BAVG-1) / HMS Archer (D78) . navsource . 18 March 2009.
5. Cocker (2008), p.78.
6. Web site: 1 October 2010. Ship Building History. Sun Shipbuilding, Chester PA. 10 February 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120210150426/http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/inactive/sun.htm. dead.