Allied Warships

USS Block Island (ii) (CVE 21)

Escort carrier of the Bogue class

US Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH106576

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Escort carrier
Class	Bogue
Pennant	CVE 21
Built by	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. (Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	19 Jan 1942
Launched	6 Jun 1942
Commissioned	8 Mar 1943
Lost	29 May 1944
Loss position	31° 13'N, 23° 03'W

History	On 29 May 1944 U-549 slipped undetected through the screen of the hunter-killer group TG 21.11, formed around USS Block Island (CVE 21) and sank the escort carrier with three torpedoes hit about 300 nautical miles west-north-west of the Canary Islands in position 31º13'N, 23º03'W. The U-boat also damaged the destroyer escort USS Barr (DE 576) with a Gnat homing torpedo, but was eventually sunk by USS Eugene E. Elmore (DE 686) and USS Ahrens (DE 575). Hit by U-boat Sunk on 29 May 1944 by U-549 (Krankenhagen).
U-boat Attack	See our U-boat attack entry for the USS Block Island (ii)

Commands listed for USS Block Island (ii) (CVE 21)

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	Commander	From	To
1	T/Capt. Logan Carlisle Ramsey, USN	8 Mar 1943	10 Mar 1944
2	T/Capt. Francis Massie Hughes, USN	10 Mar 1944	29 May 1944

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Notable events involving Block Island (ii) include:

28 Oct 1943
German U-boat U-220 was sunk in the North Atlantic, in position 48°53'N, 33°30'W by depth charges from two Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the American escort carrier USS Block Island.

10 Mar 1944
Capt F M Hughes, I believe , was CO 10/3/44 & survived her loss 29/5/44 (1)

17 Mar 1944
German U-boat U-801 was sunk in the mid-Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands, in position 16°42'N, 30°28'W, by a Fido homing torpedo from 2 Avenger aircraft (VC-9) of the US escort carrier USS Block Island and depth charges and gunfire from the US destroyer USS Corry and the US destroyer escort USS Bronstein.

19 Mar 1944
German U-boat U-1059 was sunk south-west of the Cape Verde Islands, in position 13°10'N, 33°44'W by depth charges from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier Block Island (VC-6).

6 May 1944
German U-boat U-66 was sunk west of the Cape Verde Islands, in position 17°17'N, 32°29'W, by depth charges, ramming and gunfire from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft of the US escort carrier USS Block Island and by the destroyer escort USS Buckley.