HMS Dasher (D37)

HMS Dasher (D37) was a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, of the Avenger class - converted merchant vessels - and one of the shortest lived escort carriers.

Dasher started out as the merchantman Rio de Janeiro built by Sun Shipbuilding. She was laid down 14 March 1940, launched 12 April 1941. Acquired by USN on the 20 May 1941. She was converted at Tietjen & Lang, transferred to the Royal Navy and finally commissioned into RN service as HMS Dasher (D37) 2 July 1942.

She participated in Operation Torch and saw limited service as convoy escort. After doing some aircraft ferry operations in the Mediterranean Dasher sailed to the Clyde in March 1943 and embarked a Fairey Swordfish squadron.

She escorted one convoy successfully, but shortly after leaving with the second, Dasher suffered engine trouble and turned back. Shortly after getting to the Firth of Clyde she suffered a major internal explosion and sank. Various possible causes have been suggested, including one of her aircraft crashing onto the flight deck and igniting petrol fumes from leaking tanks. Much of what happened will never be known due to an official cover up aimed at concealing what was the largest loss of life not in the face of the enemy of the war. Her death toll, despite rapid response and assistance from ships and rescue craft from Brodick and Lamlash on the Isle of Arran and from Ardrossan and Greenock on the Scottish mainland, was only exceeded in British home waters by the loss of HMS Royal Oak and HMS Hampshire.

379 of Dasher's 528 man crew perished, many of them when the fuel from Dasher's stores which had leaked onto the surface of the water was subsequently ignited. Many of those who escaped the sinking ship were burnt to death, or succumbed to hypothermia before they could be rescued. Most of the dead were buried at Ardrossan or Greenock.

The government of the time, eager to avoid damage to morale, tried to cover up the sinking. The local media was ordered to make no reference to the tragedy, and authorities ordered the dead to be buried in a mass unmarked grave. Furious relatives protested and some of the dead were returned to their loved ones for burial. The survivors were ordered not to talk about what happened. This policy has subsequently attracted much criticism and now memorials to those lost exist at both Ardrossan and Brodick. The wreck site lies approximately half way on the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry route between Ardrossan and Brodick.

Further Reading

• Steele J&D They were never told. The tragedy of HMS Dasher