Great Passenger ships that were redesigned as carriers

[dseehafer]

Greetings all,

 

Following in the theme of a previous thread of mine - 

 

I figured I'd follow with more conversion stories. This time, as the title suggests, we'll be looking at passenger ships, including giant ocean liners, that were redesigned as aircraft carriers. Please note that some of these ships never left the paper, for one reason or another, though, there are a few in this list that were actually converted.

 

Let us begin!

 

Aquila, ex-SS Roma

 

The 706 foot, 30,000 ton Italian Liner SS Roma, of 1926 vintage, was selected in late-1941 to be converted into an aircraft carrier for Italy. She was nearing completion by the time of the armistice in 1943, upon which she was promptly seized by the Germans. She would be damaged by an Allied air attack and later partially scuttled by Italian divers in 1945. Aquila was finally scrapped in 1952. 

 

SS Roma

 

 

 

As Aquila

 

 

 

 

Taiyo, Un'yo, and Chuyo, ex- Kasuga Maru, Yawata Maru, and Nitta Maru

 

The Taiyo class escort carriers were converted from three sister ships originally built as cargo-liners (the third was converted while still under construction), all three were sunk during the war.

 

Before

 

 

 

After

 

 

 

 

Hiyo and Junyo, ex-Izumo Maru and Kashiwara Maru

 

Originally designed and laid down as fast luxury passenger liners these two were purchased by the Japanese Navy and completed as aircraft carriers. Hiyo was sunk during the Battle of the Phillippine Sea but Junyo would survive the war only to be scrapped between 1946-47.

 

Before (designed)

 

 

 

After (completed)

 

 

 

 

Shinyo, ex-Scharnhorst

 

Shinyo was a Japanese escort carrier converted from the German ocean liner SS Scharnhorst. Scharnhorst was completed in 1935 and worked the Pacific trade, notably, she was one of the fastest liners on that route. Scharnhorst was in Kure harbor when war broke out in Europe, making a safe return to Germany too risky for the ship to take. After suffering substantial carrier losses at the Battle of Midway in 1942 the Japanese purchased the stranded liner from the Germans to be converted into an escort carrier. The conversion was completed at the tail end of 1943 and Shinyo would serve for less than a year as an escort carrier before being torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine Spadefish.

 

Before

 

 

 

After

 

 

 

 

Elbe class carriers, ex-SS Gneisenau and SS Potsdam

 

Gneisenau and Potsdam were the sister ships of the aforementioned SS Scharnhorst. It was May 1942 when the Germans decided to convert the pair into aircraft carriers and work on Potsdam was started in December of that same year. However, construction was canceled a few months later in February 1943. Potsdam served the rest of the war as an accommodation ship and was given to Britain after the war where she resumed life as an ocean liner as the Empire Fowrey. Work on Gneisenau never actually started and she served as a troop transport until striking a mine and sinking in February 1943.

 

Before

 

 

 

After (designed)

 

 

 

 

Jade 1, ex-SS Europa

 

SS Europa was a massive German ocean liner built in 1928. Equally as impressive as her size was her speed, when completed she and her sister Bremen were the fastest liners in the world, a title they would share for more than 7 years. Europa began WWII as a German troop transport, though, the role carrier aircraft played in the sinking of Bismarck and the near torpedoing of Tirpitz at sea convinced the Germans that they needed aircraft carriers to protect their capital ships. In May 1942 plans to convert the massive Europa into a carrier were drawn up, though, tests showed that the carrier would be unstable in heavy seas and the project was abandoned. Had she been converted, at 956 feet in length she would have been the longest warship of WWII.

 

Before

 

 

 

After (designed)

 

 

 

USS Laffeyete, ex-SS Normandie

 

Upon her completion in 1935 Normandie was the largest, fastest, and most luxurious ocean liner in the world. An engineering marvel, the very symbol of France. Her career was a short one, after the fall of France in 1940, she was seized by the United States while in New York. The US at one point planned to convert her into a massive aircraft carrrier, though, she caught fire and capsized before this could become a reality. Had she been converted, she would have been the longest warship of WWII (at 1,029 feet she was even longer than the Europa conversion would have been), and at over 80,000 tons she'd have been even larger than the Yamato.

 

Before

 

 

 

After (designed)

 

 

 

 

 

 

USS Sable and USS Wolverine, ex-Greater Buffalo and Seeandbee

 

These two were originally large passenger paddle wheelers on the Great Lakes, they were converted to training aircraft carrrier during WWII and operated out of Chicago. Many thousands of USN pilots qualified on their decks, including President George H. W. Bush, despite this, they are realatively unknown today.

 

Before

 

 

 

After

 

 

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head... did I miss any? Let me know!

[dseehafer]

Sparviero, ex-MS Augustus

 

The diesel-powered sister to the aforementioned SS Roma (steam-powered). The idea to convert her into a carrier was originally thought up in 1936 but was abandoned and later resumed in 1942. Like her sister, she was nearly completed, though, never handed over to the Navy. She was scrapped by 1952.

 

Before

 

 

 

After

 

 

 

 

As a carrier, she looks nothing like the Aquila. Aquila's hull was extensively modernized and included the addition of a curved bow... Sparviero's hull retain's the same lines she had as a liner with no fancy bow or even an Island on deck.

 

 

[Goose21891]

Sparviero originally MS Augustus

Kaiyou formerly Argentina Maru

HMS Argus formerly Conte Rosso

 

[dseehafer]

7 minutes ago, Goose21891 said:

Sparviero originally MS Augustus

 

Thank you, added. 

[Aivris]

The Junyo is such a beautiful carrier. Thanks for the list!

[Doomlock]

Nice list! I didn't realize that Hiyō and Jun'yō were conversions too. 

[Herr_Reitz]

Seems to me the thought process must have been "we need carriers now!" for these conversions. They were all a one-way street, right? No stories of carriers being converted into passenger liners or cargo ship? 

 

It would also seem - meaning one might think - the reduction in time to create a carrier would be offset by the lack of purpose-built ships of war. Surely a ship designed to go to war would be far more able to fulfill the role than a conversion? Any idea as to how successful these conversions ended up being for their nation? 

 

I too enjoy your posts! Keep 'em up! 

[DiEsmitty]

Wow side wheel powered carriers, now that is a premium I would like to see.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

A lot of expediency in fielding carriers in the pre-war days.  Conversions of all kinds of stuff, for better or worse.  Hell, even 9 Cleveland-class CLs were converted to become Independence-class CVLs just so the US could have some extra flight decks before the Essex-class Tidal Wave arrive.  They weren't passenger liners, sure, but they gave up 9 Cruisers to have flight decks, so the need was urgent.

[Goose21891]

9 hours ago, Herr_Reitz said:

Seems to me the thought process must have been "we need carriers now!" for these conversions. They were all a one-way street, right? No stories of carriers being converted into passenger liners or cargo ship? 

 

It would also seem - meaning one might think - the reduction in time to create a carrier would be offset by the lack of purpose-built ships of war. Surely a ship designed to go to war would be far more able to fulfill the role than a conversion? Any idea as to how successful these conversions ended up being for their nation? 

 

I too enjoy your posts! Keep 'em up! 

If I recall, Izumo Maru (Hiyou) and Kashiwara Maru (Junyou) were designed from the outset to be quickly converted into carriers.

[Herr_Reitz]

Ah.... sneaky sneaks then... 

[MrDeaf]

7 hours ago, Goose21891 said:

If I recall, Izumo Maru (Hiyou) and Kashiwara Maru (Junyou) were designed from the outset to be quickly converted into carriers.

Almost all of the converted carriers were built government subsidies that, under contract, would allow the government to appropriate the ships if war was to break out.

Nittamaru, Yawatamaru, Kasugamaru, Kashiwaramaru and Izumomaru were built in anticipation of the 1940 Tokyo Olympics.

NYK, in particular, were built with specs to compete with Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Potsdam

[_hat_]

Dseehafer, your hell on wheels with your research. Maybe you can confirm or deny something for me.

The USS Coral Sea (CV-43), on which I served, was explained to me as having a round bottomed hull because she was first laid as a BB, but the Navy converted her as a CV. And boy, would she roll in heavy seas.

I've never found mention of the conversion in my readings, but was she different?

[dseehafer]

1 hour ago, _hat_ said:

Dseehafer, your hell on wheels with your research. Maybe you can confirm or deny something for me.

The USS Coral Sea (CV-43), on which I served, was explained to me as having a round bottomed hull because she was first laid as a BB, but the Navy converted her as a CV. And boy, would she roll in heavy seas.

I've never found mention of the conversion in my readings, but was she different?

 

I haven't seen anything either, I'm afraid. The closest thing I could find was that she was originally classified as an "Aircraft Carrier" (CV-43) but was later re-classified as a "Large Aircraft Carrier" (CVB-43) in July 1943, just before she was laid down.

 

Also, thank you for your service!