Captured Altmark as an Escort Carrier

[tigercat]

What if the  RN had captured the Altmark, I know if this had happened sh'ed  probably end up staying as a fleet oiler. But lets say for some reason it was decided to convert her into an Escort Carrier. How feasible would it be.

[pyro-manic]

Looking at the specs on Wiki, she was a good size (20,000 tons and nearl 180m long), with a reasonable turn of speed (21kts) so she could be a good basis for an escort carrier. HMS Audacity had similar origins (converted from the MV Hanover) and was significantly smaller and slower, so it sounds like a very reasonable idea. Another (quicker) option would be to turn her into a Merchant carrier, just adding on a flight deck and basic aircraft facilities rather than a full escort carrier conversion.

A "con" would be that such a large vessel would require drydocking at a large shipyard for conversion, and would possibly take up space and resources that were sorely needed for building new ships.

[Joe C-P]

Altmark might have proved more useful as is, tanker and supply ship, to a fleet losing ships. The merchant carrier update might have given a useful extra capability if it was done so as to retain the original role.

JoeP