CVE-31 Prince William

Although the US Navy classed these ships with the first group of Bogues, the Royal Navy put them in a separate class, the HMS Ameer class. In the US Navy, they came to be known as the PRINCE WILLIAM class.

A second group of Bogue class ships was ordered in response to continued need for escort carriers. These ships were built from the keel up as carriers, rather than being converted merchant hulls, but were in almost all respects identical to the first batch of Bogues. Initially plans called for several ships to be retained by USN, but in the event all but one of these ships transferred to RN. Several ships went to RN after very brief USN commissions.

The design was a slightly improved version of original Bogue design. This class included changes which had been gradually applied to the previous group, including the 4 dual 40 mm AA and replacement of single 20 mm guns with dual mounts. In this group the RN ships retained their US 5/38 mounts rather than exchanging them for 4/50 guns.

RN ships were ballasted differently due to fuel storage practices and they operated with a reduced crew of 646. Some RN ships deployed to the Pacific had 20 mm mounts replaced by single 40 mm mounts.