HMS Pursuer

The ship which became HMS Pursuer (D73) was laid down on 31 July 1941 as the (second) SS Mormacland, a C3-S-A2 freighter being built for Moore-McCormick Lines, Inc., under a Maritime Commission contract (MC 163) at the yard of Ingalls Shipbuilding, of Pascagoula, Mississippi, as that yard's Hull No. 296. She was given the provisional designation USS St. George (AVG-17) by the United States Navy on 7 January 1942, and was earmarked for assignment to the British Royal Navy under Lend-Lease on 24 February 1942. Sponsored by Mrs. Mary Ann S. Bartman, the vessel was launched on 18 July 1942; reclassified as ACV-17 on 20 August 1942; and commissioned into the US Navy, transferred to Britain, decommissioned, and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Pursuer (D73), all on 14 June 1943. She was reclassified as CVE-17 on U.S. Navy books on 15 July 1943.