Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Tags
Related Content
Topic
Document Type
  • Ship History
Wars & Conflicts
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials
Tracker

Tracker (BAVG-6) was laid down on 3 November 1941 at Seattle-Tacoma, Wash., by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 7 March 1942; and transferred to the United Kingdom on 31 January 1943 under the provisions of the lend-lease agreement.

Designated by the British as a Ruler-class aircraft escort vessel, she served in the North Atlantic, operating mostly east of Newfoundland protecting merchant convoys from predatory German submarine wolfpacks. Early in 1944, she moved to the Arctic to escort Allied convoys on the dangerous run to the Soviet Union. As part of an augmented escort group designed to discourage aggressive German submarines, she helped to protect convoy JW 58 which sailed for Russia late in March. On the eastward voyage, planes from Tracker assisted in the sinking of German submarines U-355 and U-288, bringing to four the number of submarines sunk by the convoy's escort. The fine performance of Tracker's aircraft helped to prove the soundness of a new air organization  and tactics introduced on this convoy.

Participating in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, Tracker served the Royal Navy through the end of World War II and was returned to the United States on 29 November 1945. She was later sold to Rio de la Plata S.A. de Navigacion de Ultramar, Buenos Aires; and, from 1950 until 1964, operated as an oiler under Argentine registry. She was scrapped in August 1964.

Published: Mon Nov 16 14:21:51 EST 2015