HMS Dasher (D37) was a British Royal Navy aircraft carrier, of the of converted merchant vessels, and one of the shortest-lived escort carriers. She served in the Second World War and sank on 27 March 1943.

Design and description

The Avenger-class escort carriers were converted U.S. Maritime Commission (USMC) type C3 American merchant ships. Their design was based on the United States Navys (AVG1). To differentiate between the two classes, the Royal Navy ships were prefixed with a 'B' (BAVG). She was converted to an escort aircraft carrier in the Tietjen & Lang shipyards New Jersey and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 2 July 1942.

Dasher had a complement of 555 men and an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of .

Aircraft facilities were a small combined bridge–flight control on the starboard side and above the long wooden flight deck, one aircraft lift , one aircraft catapult and nine arrestor wires. Aircraft could be housed in the half hangar below the flight deck. The government of the time, eager to avoid damage to morale and anxious to avoid any suggestion of faulty US construction, tried to cover up the sinking. The local media were ordered to make no reference to the tragedy.

There were rumours that the authorities ordered the dead to be buried in an unmarked mass grave, but none had been found , and the Royal Navy said that a mass unmarked grave would have been against Admiralty policy and that all sources relating to the sinking of HMS Dasher are in the public domain. A witness said in 2021 that survivors had told her that there was a mortuary where they were taken to identify about fifty bodies laid out, "just dumped". People living nearby saw the bodies over a high wall, "then they all disappeared". They were riddled with tubes made by burrowing teredo worms. A section of this wood featured in the "Flotsam and Jetsam" exhibition in the Millennium Dome and another piece is held by the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats.

There was speculation that one corpse from the sinking was used during the British deception Operation Mincemeat ("The Man Who Never Was"). The case was argued by authors John and Noreen Steele in their 2002 book The Secrets of HMS Dasher. However, it was later determined that the body used was that of Glyndwr Michael, a vagrant who died after ingesting rat poison. His identity was uncovered in 1996 by Roger Morgan, who discovered supporting evidence in the Public Record Office.

References

Sources

Further reading

  • Article of The Shetland Times on the cause of the explosion
  • Ardrossan CWGC Cemetery record
  • Greenock CWGC Cemetery record
  • Chatham CWGC Cemetery record
  • Uboat.net
  • www.wrecksite.eu