Ruler-class escort carrier

HMS Puncher
Class overview
Name	Ruler class
Builders	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Attacker class
Succeeded by	None
Built	1942–1943
Planned	23
Completed	23
Lost	2
General characteristics
Type	Escort carrier
Displacement	11,420 long tons (11,600 t)
Length	492 ft 3 in (150.0 m)
Beam	69 ft 6 in (21.2 m)
Draught	25 ft 6 in (7.77 m)
Installed power	9,350 shp (6,970 kW)
Propulsion	1 shaft geared steam turbines
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement	646
Armament	2 × 4-inch DP, AA guns in single mounts 16 × Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun in twin mounts 20 × Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons in single mounts
Aircraft carried	24
Aviation facilities	Hangar 260 ft × 62 ft (79 m × 19 m) Two 42 ft × 34 ft (13 m × 10 m) lifts Nine arrestor wires
Notes	Built in two groups of 8 and 15

The Ruler class of escort aircraft carriers served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. All twenty-three ships were built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation in the United States as Bogue-class escort carriers, supplied under Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom.^[1] They were the most numerous single class of aircraft carriers in service with the Royal Navy.^[2]

As built they were intended for three types of operations, "Assault" or strike, convoy escort, or aircraft ferry.^[3]

After the Second World War some of the escort carriers were scrapped, while others had their flight decks removed and were converted to merchant ships (and all eventually scrapped by the 1970s).