Merchant aircraft carrier
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A merchant aircraft carrier was a limited-purpose aircraft carrier operated under British and Dutch civilian registry during World War II. MAC ships were adapted by adding a flight deck to a bulk grain ship or oil tanker enabling it to operate anti-submarine aircraft in support of Allied convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic.
MV Rapana, an oil tanker converted into a merchant aircraft carrier (MAC). MACs were introduced to provide air cover for convoys until sufficient escort carriers became available to replace them.
Fairey Swordfish at an airshow in 1988. This aircraft was assigned to 'L' Flight of 836 NAS on board the MAC ship Rapana during World War II
Fairey Swordfish landing on the deck of the Empire MacKay in the North Atlantic in 1944
Members of the air party and two Swordfish aircraft on the snow-covered flight deck of MV Ancylus.
HMS Audacity
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HMS Audacity was a British escort carrier of the Second World War and the first of her kind to serve in the Royal Navy. She was originally the German merchant ship Hannover, which the British captured in the West Indies in March 1940 and renamed Sinbad, then Empire Audacity. She was converted and commissioned as HMS Empire Audacity, then as HMS Audacity. She was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in late 1941.
HMS Audacity, after her conversion to an escort carrier
MV Hannover listing before her capture on 6 March 1940
Model of Audacity in the Merseyside Maritime Museum.