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| (add image here) | |
| Career |   |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 13 November 1942 |
| Launched: | 21 April 1943 |
| Commissioned (RN): | 27 September 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 February 1946 |
| Fate: | merchant ship; sold for scrap, 1966 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 7,800 tons |
| Length: | 495.66 ft |
| Beam: | 69.5 ft |
| Extreme width: | 111.5 ft |
| Draft: | 26 ft |
| Speed: | 18 knots |
| Complement: | 890 officers and men |
| Armament: | 2 x 5-inch guns, 8 x twin 40mm Bofors, 35 x single 20mm Oerlikon |
| Aircraft: | 18-24 |
The USS Jamaica (CVE-43) (originally AVG-43 then later ACV-43), was an escort aircraft carrier laid down 13 November 1942 as MC Hull 254 and launched under Maritime Commission contract by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., (later Todd-Pacific), Tacoma, Washington, 21 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. C. T. Simard; reclassified CVE-43 on 15 July 1943; acquired by the United States Navy, and transferred to Great Britain under lend-lease 27 September 1943.
One of a large group of escort carriers transferred to the Royal Navy for antisubmarine work in the Atlantic, Jamaica was renamed HMS Shah. She took an active part in the war, heading the hunter-killer group which sank U-198 in the Indian Ocean, 12 August 1944 and taking part in the Burma campaign in 1945. She was returned to the United States 6 December 1945 and sold into merchant service 20 June 1947 as Salta. She was scrapped in Buenos Aires in 1966.
