The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier U. They were typically half the length and a third the displacement of larger fleet carriers , slower, carried fewer planes, and more-lightly armed and armored.
Escort carriers were most often built upon a commercial ship hull, so they were cheaper and could be built quickly. This was their principal advantage as they could be completed in greater numbers as a stop-gap when fleet carriers were scarce.
However, the lack of protection made escort carriers particularly vulnerable, and several were sunk with great loss of life. The light carrier U. Escort carriers were too slow to keep up with the main forces consisting of fleet carriers, battleships, and cruisers. Instead, they were used to escort convoys , defending them from enemy threats such as submarines and planes. In the invasions of mainland Europe and Pacific islands, escort carriers provided air support to ground forces during amphibious operations.
Escort carriers also served as backup aircraft transports for fleet carriers, and ferried aircraft of all military services to points of delivery. In the Battle of the Atlantic , escort carriers were used to protect convoys against U-boats. Initially escort carriers accompanied the merchant ships and helped to fend off attacks from aircraft and submarines.
As numbers increased later in the war, escort carriers also formed part of hunter-killer groups that sought out submarines instead of being attached to a particular convoy.
