Escort Carrier (CVE)

An escort carrier (US hull symbol CVE) was a small, slow, mass-produced aircraft carrier of World War II built on merchant or tanker hulls to protect convoys and support amphibious landings. Displacing roughly 8,000 to 11,000 tons against a fleet carrier’s 27,000-plus, the CVE carried about 24 to 30 aircraft and made around 18 knots. US classes such as Casablanca (50 built) and Bogue closed the mid-Atlantic air gap against U-boats; crews nicknamed them jeep or baby flattops. The type was retired after 1945.