Fuel safety and manpower delayed escort-carrier service

In August 1943, American criticism of British commissioning delays led to a proposal to divert seven new escort carriers to the US Navy. The Admiralty replied that one to three months could pass between a ship's nominal completion and its readiness to leave Norfolk, with aircraft ferrying and squadron workups adding further delays. After arrival in Britain, seven weeks of dockyard work improved aviation-fuel arrangements and fitted British equipment, followed by another five or six weeks of operational preparation. HMS Dasher's destruction in a petrol-vapour explosion strengthened the case for the safety modifications. Britain also faced a manpower shortage serious enough to consider surrendering five expected carriers in early 1944, but the US Navy had its own crewing difficulties and could not take them. Subsequent modification work in Vancouver helped shorten the route into service.