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)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	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.