The CAM-ship fighter was aimed primarily at Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors and other reconnaissance aircraft rather than submarines themselves. A rocket catapult launched a near-end-of-life Hurricane that could not return to the ship, so the pilot normally had to bail out or ditch near an escort. Because a launch sacrificed the aircraft and exposed the pilot to grave risk, the ship's master, catapult duty officer, and pilot had to agree through hand and flag signals. The merchant ship remained under a civilian master, while its chief engineer maintained the catapult and its first mate served as catapult duty officer. An RAF Merchant Ship Fighter Unit supplied the pilot, fitter, rigger, radio operator, fighter-direction officer, and other specialists. The arrangement shows how an urgent naval-air requirement was grafted onto civilian shipping without turning the vessel into a conventional warship.
Chapter · 14:21-20:30
CAM ships and one-launch convoy air defence
Merchant ships catapulted expendable Hurricanes to drive off German reconnaissance aircraft, using a hazardous one-launch system operated jointly by civilian mariners and an RAF detachment.