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HMS SEARCHER
Ruler Class Escort Carrier
This page is not meant to be a comprehensive history of HMS SEARCHER, but a record of sailors of the ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY who served in her, photos they took and stories they may have shared with their families.
From 1943 Searcher operated mainly around the UK as a Fighter Carrier. In late December 1943 she provided Atlantic convoy escort, escorting ships to the US, and arriving at Norfolk on 2 January 1944. She participated in the attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz as part of the Home Fleet Strike force of Operation Tungsten, during which her role was to provide fighter cover. In August 1944 she took part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France.
On 4 May 1945 aircraft from the escort carriers Searcher, Queen, and Trumpeter, taking part in Operation Judgement, sank the German submarine U-711 in Kilbotn harbour in the Arctic near Harstad, Norway. Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers escorted by Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters attacked the U-boat crew barracks ship MS Black Watch, the submarine tender MS Senja and the floating flak battery Thetis (the former Norwegian coastal defence ship HNoMS Harald Haarfagre). U-711 was alongside Black Watch when she was sunk in position 68°43.717'N 16°34.600'E by bombs aimed at Black Watch. Black Watch and Senja were also sunk. This was the last sinking of a U-Boat by the Fleet Air Arm, and the final air-raid of the war in Europe.
Searcher was sent to the Far East as part of the British Pacific Fleet but arrived in mid-August as the war ended.
After the war she was sold into merchant service and renamed Captain Theo. In 1966, she was renamed again to Oriental Banker and was finally scrapped in Taiwan in 1976. (Source: Wikipedia)
They shall not be forgotten
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In memory of those who have crossed the bar 
