USS Block Island (CVE 21)
| Name | USS Block Island (CVE 21) | ||
| Type: | Escort carrier (Bogue) | ||
| Tonnage | 9.393 tons | ||
| Completed | 1942 - Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp, Tacoma WA | ||
| Owner | United States Navy | ||
| Homeport | |||
| Date of attack | 29 May, 1944 | Nationality:  American | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-549 (Detlev Krankenhagen) | ||
| Position | 31.13N, 23.03W - - See location on a map - | ||
| Complement | 957 officers and men (6 dead and 951 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | |||
| Cargo | |||
| History | Built as USS Block Island (AVG 21), on 20 Aug, 1942 reclassified (ACV 21) and on 15 Jul, 1943 finally (CVE 21). The USS Block Island (CVE 21) made two trips to UK with cargoes of US Army fighters and four anti-submarine cruises as part of the hunter-killer group TG 21.11, this group sank six u-boats (U-220 and U-1059 by her aircraft, U-801 and U-66 shared with escort vessels and U-709 and U-603 by the escorts alone). | ||
| Notes on loss | On 29 May 1944, U-549 slipped undetected through the screen of the hunter-killer group TG 21.11, formed around the USS Block Island (CVE 21) and fired at 20.13 hours three T-3 torpedoes on the carrier, one or two of them struck and caused her to sink northeast of Canary Islands. At 20.40 hours the USS Barr (DE 576) was damaged by a Gnat in the stern and a second Gnat missed the USS Eugene E. Elmore (DE 686). But the U-boat was then attacked and sunk by the latter destroyer escort and USS Ahrens (DE 575). | ||
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