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XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

I have, off-and-on, entertained the notion of building a Merchant Aircraft Carrier, or MAC Ship. There don't seem to be any kits of these craft around, so it would be necessary to either completely scratchbuild, or modify the hull of a suitable cargo ship model.

There are plenty of escort carrier models around in 1/700, courtesy of White Ensign etc, but no MAC ship that I can see - for the uninitiated, a MAC ship was a merchant ship with a flight deck fitted to provide anti-submarine cover for convoys while still being able to carry around 80% of their original cargo. This is as opposed to escort carriers, which were naval vessels (mostly) with a hangar deck and no cargo hold - confusion often arises from the fact that escort carriers were generally based on merchantman hulls. Contrary to popular belief, MAC ships did not precede escort carriers, and were not replaced by them, but were introduced as a way to supplement existing escort carriers while making use of the cargo ships that would already be present. They were purely anti-sub, and were too small for fighters.

I see there are a couple of Liberty Ship kits out there, and from some quick research, it seems that these are potentially about the right size for a MAC ship - iro 460ft LOA, as opposed to 490-500ft for an escort carrier. Unfortunately I can't find much info about or pics of the ships that were converted into MAC ships (tankers and bulk grain carriers).

Any thoughts?...

walrus · Posted: Wed 28 Jan 2009 15:03 pm Post subject:

great project

this is bad luck with the timing, XN923
have recently returned the Poolman book to the library and i forgot to scan the appendices

the ships also continued in their role as merchantman. the first were grain carriers, the grain could be pumped out of the holds (other cargo couldn't be lifted out of holds because of the fight deck.) The Admiralty were initially worried about flight accidents setting oil tankers ablaze and wouldn't allow the use of tankers. till someone from the Merchant Navy poo-pooed that so some oil tankers were converted.

if you can't get hold of a copy for yourself try the local library for an inter library loan.

Kenneth Poolman, The catafighters and merchant aircraft carriers.William Kimber, London 1970
might be out of print

edit: there are some lists of the converted ships on the net IIRC

daniel7891 · Posted: Wed 28 Jan 2009 17:37 pm Post subject:

Sounds a most interesting build, I will look forward to seeing your progress. Ships aren't my speciality so cant help you there, sorry
_________________
Cheers

Daniel

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Thanks. Not so much a project yet, more like the seed of a future plan beginning to germinate. I didn't know that Poolman had done a specific book on MAC and CAM ships - I have his book on escort carriers which covers the former subjects somewhat, but I imagine not in anything like the detail of the specific book. I will look that out.

Sailorman · Green Star Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 335 Location: Malta

Skytrex make a 1:600 CAM ship if you are interested. (White metal).

Patrick

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Thanks Sailorman - but it is a MAC ship (Merchant Aircraft Carrier) I am after rather than a CAM ship (Catapult Armed Merchantman). Essentially the former was a bulk grain carrier or oil tanker still operating as a merchant ship and with a civilian crew, but with a flight deck to fly off a few Swordfish for anti-sub duties, whereas the latter was a merchant ship with a catapult fitted on the bow for flying off a fighter for convoy air defence. Also not to be confused with Escort Carriers (CVE) which were merchantman hulls converted into mini-aircraft carriers with no capacity to carry cargo, and all-military crews.

Sailorman · Green Star Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 335 Location: Malta

XN923,

In that case check out PLANS 'N THINGS on ebay. They have a large number of ship plans available and if my memory serves me well they also had a mac ship listed. You could then scratchbuild.

Patrick

linux · Joined: 01 Nov 2008 Posts: 9

Here are a couple of other books that might be of interest:

Selected Papers on British Warship Design in World War II, From the Transactions of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, published by Conway Maritime Press, 1983, ISBN 0851772846.

The 2nd chapter, pages 43-62, covers MAC ships. In addition to technical information and photographs it includes small outline general arrangement drawings (not scale plans) of:

1. MAC Empire MacAlpine: profile, flight deck, upper deck, second deck.
2. Rapana class MAC: profile, flight deck, upper bridge deck, fo'cle/bridge/poop deck.
3. New construction MAC tankers: profile, upper bridge deck, bridge deck.

The Design and Construction of British Warships 1939-1945, Vol.1: Major Surface Warships, edited by D.K.Brown, published by Conway Maritime Press, 1995, ISBN 0851776736.

Chapter 5 on escort carriers has a couple of pages on MAC ships. This includes small general arrangement plans of:

Tanker MAC ship: profile, flight deck, upper bridge deck, bridge & f'cle decks, upper deck.