A LENS ON VANCOUVER'S PAST

S.S. ALBLASSERDYK [transiting Burrard Inlet]
June 31, 1963

CVA 447-3051.1

 

Also nicknamed "jeep carriers" or "baby flattops", 45 C3 hulls and engines were converted for naval use as Bogue-class escort carriers. After the war, a number were converted to freighters - including the ALBLASSERDYK. Note the similar hulls and sterns.

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A smaller and slower type of aircraft carrier, the Bogue-class escort carrier was typically half the length and a third of the displacement of the larger fleet carrier. More lightly armed and armored and carrying fewer planes, escort carrier were built upon a commercial C3 ship hull that was cheaper and could be built quicker. However, their lack of protection made escort carriers particularly vulnerable, and several were sunk with great loss of life. 

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In 1948, ALBLASSERDYK was allocated to the Holland-America Line by the Netherlands government and would primarily called at ports on the U.S. East Coast. On occasion, she would steam up the North Pacific Coast.