Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company had built a number of tankers and C3 class cargo ships that would ultimately be converted by other shipyards to what became know as the 'Baby Flattop'. The purpose of these conversions was to be able to escort convoys and to protect them in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in an area know as the 'Black Gap'. This was an area where land-based air craft could not reach to protect the convoys from the U-Boats.
The following Sun hulls were converted to meet this need:
1) Seakay (Hull 173) converted to the Santee CVE-29
2) Esso New Orleans (Hull 174) converted to the Chenango CVE-28
3) Mormacland (Hull 184) converted and used by Great Britain as the HMS Archer
4) Mormacmail (Hull 185) converted to the Long Island AVG-1. 'She' was the first small carrier built for the Navy.
5) Rio Hudson (Hull 186) converted and used by Great Britain as the HMS Avenger
6) Rio Parana (Hull 187) converted and used by Great Britain as the HMS Biter
7) Rio de la Plata (Hull 188) converted and used by Great Britain as the HMS Charger
8) Rio de Janerio (Hull 189) converted and used by Great Britain as the HMS Dasher
The Sun Ship Historical Society was fortunate in being contacted by Mr. Bryan J. Dickerson, who was writing a paper on Sun's 'Baby Flattops' and gave us permission to post his work on the website. To access Bryan's paper, click on the Sun logo to the left. Our grateful thanks to Bryan for his work.
Note: This in .pdf format and is a large file. Please give it time to download
