HMS Stalker (D91)
The USS Hamlin (CVE-15) was one of a large group of escort aircraft carriers built on Maritime Commission C-3 hulls and transferred to the Royal Navy under lend-lease during World War II. Launched by Western Pipe and Steel Company, San Francisco, California, 5 March 1942, as AVG-15, aircraft escort vessel, she was sponsored by Mrs. William H. Shea. Her designation was changed to ACV-15, auxiliary aircraft carrier, 20 August 1942, and she was acquired and simultaneously transferred to the United Kingdom 21 December 1942. Hamlin's designation was changed to CVE-15, escort aircraft carrier, 15 July 1943.
Renamed HMS Stalker (D91), the escort carrier played a vital part in allied operations in the Atlantic. She participated in the Salerno landings in September 1943, providing effective on the spot air support for assault forces. Stalker also took part in the important landings in southern France in August 1944. Returned to the United States 29 December 1945, she was struck from the Navy Register 20 March 1946 and sold to Waterman Steamship Corp. of Mobile, Alabama, 18 December 1946. Waterman in turn sold her to the Netherlands in August 1947 where she was converted to the merchant ship Riouw. Later renamed Lobito in 1968, she was scrapped in Taiwan in September 1975.
HMS Stalker
Three ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Stalker:
HMS Stalker (L3515)
HMS Stalker was a Mark III LST (Landing Ship, Tank). She was built during the later part of the Second World War, and became the last steam-driven LST to be scrapped. She initially entered service under the designation LST 3515, but was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1947 as HMS Stalker.
The ship was built by Canadian Yarrow at Esquimalt. She was completed too late to see action in the war, and eventually served in a submarine support role in Northern Ireland.
She was sold to Pounds of Portsmouth in 2002, arriving there to be scrapped on 10 December 2002. She was offered for preservation between 2004 and 2005, but it was confirmed in January 2006 that she would be broken up. After further discussions with heritage and preservation groups, in 2008 her bow doors were removed and in 2010 she was broken up at Pounds scrap yard, a process recorded by National Historic Ships.
In Popular Culture
Whilst awaiting disposal at Pounds of Portsmouth, she was used for the filming of episodes 55 & 56 of Silent Witness, as the fictitious ship 'Galle'.
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