AVG-34 (later ACV-34 and CVE-34) was named Pybus for a bay on the east coast of Admiralty Island, 5 miles west of The Brothers and 53 miles east of Sitka, Alexander Archipelago, Alaska (NS0303417).

Assigned for transfer to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease agreement, she was placed in service as HMS Emperor. "Emperor" is "the sovereign or supreme male monarch of an empire." The ship's Coat of Arms is a golpe, rayed gold, on a blue field and charged with an emperor's crown.

(Map courtesy of Google Maps Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman.. Ship's badge courtesy of Tommy Trampp)

The photo shows the Earl of Athlone, Governor General of Canada, his wife Princess Alice and Captain J.L. McGuigan, 4 May 1943, aboard the escort carrier Pybus (ACV‑34), despite the cold weather and being surrounded by construction grime. The carrier was fitting out at the Sea-Tac Shipyard and she was approximately three weeks before commissioning. USS Pybus was decommissioned on 6 August 1943, being simultaneously transferred to the Royal Navy, as HMS Emperor (D98).

Source: Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio, Photo No. EW-433.

Looking aft from the carrier's island on the snow-covered and crowded flight deck as HMS Emperor (D98) makes her way through the snow-covered pack-ice waters off Newfoundland. Her cargo of Grumman Hellcat fighters is destined for the Fleet Air Arm. This was Emperor's maiden voyage under the Union Jack and heavy U-Boat activity in the Atlantic forced the convoy to make a northerly track.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection, Photo No. © IWM(A 23070).

Undated image of the escort carrier HMS Emperor at anchor, at Greenock, Scotland. Photo taken by unknown Royal Navy official photographer. Photo # FL 11445 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

HMS Emperor (D98) at anchor, Greenock, Scotland, 10 January 1943. Photo taken by Lt. S.J. Beadell, Royal Navy official photographer. Photo ID A21343 from the offical collections of the Imperial War Museum.

HMS Emperor (D98)—ex-USS Pybus (ACV-34)—underway in the Atlantic, circa 1944, heading for England, with her decks loaded with Grumman Hellcats.

Photo and text from 100 Years of British Naval Aviation, by Christopher Shores.

Starboard side view of HMS Emperor (D98) moored at Greenock, Scotland, 22 February 1944.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection, by Beadell, S.J. (Lt), Photo No. A 21920, © IWM.

Fleet Air Arm Hellcat pilots of the escort carrier HMS Emperor (D98) studying a model of the German battleship KMS Tirpitz and her hide-out in Alten Fjord on the flight deck, just before the Operation Tungsten attack, which left the Tirpitz blazing, began, April 1944. Two of their aircraft can be seen in the distance. Photo taken by Lt. H.A. Mason, Royal Navy official photographer. Photo # A 22651 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

HMS Emperor (D98) and light cruiser HMS Royalist (89), as seen from HMS Pursuer (D73) underway off the Norwegian northern coast in April 1944.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection by Davies, F.A (Lt), Photo No. © IWM(A 23058).

As seen from HMS Pursuer (D73), HMS Emperor (D98) and HMS Striker (D12), along with an escorting destroyer, battle heavy swells in April 1944. The ships were operating in Northern waters, off the coast of Norway.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection by Davies, F.A (Lt), Photo No. © IWM(A 23067).

As seen from HMS Pursuer (D73), HMS Emperor (D98), HMS Striker (D12) and an unidentified escort destroyer fight heavy seas off the Norwegian northern coast in April 1944.

Source: Imperial War Museums, Admiralty Official Collection by Davies, F.A (Lt), Photo No. © IWM(A 23063).

A Grumman Hellcat, the first aircraft in the fighter escort, begins her take-off run from the deck of HMS Emperor (D98), during Operation Tungsten, the attack on the battleship KMS Tirpitz, Kaafjord, Norway, on 3 April 1944. Photo Imperial War Museum.

Three Fairey Barracuda TBR Mk.IIs photographed from the deck of HMS Emperor, return from the second strike in Operation Tungsten, the attack on the German battleship Tirpitz, 3 April 1944. The carrier in the background is HMS Victorious. Photo Imperial War Museum.

Grumman Hellcats on the flight deck of HMS Emperor (D98), foregound, 4 April 1944. In the background are other HM ships of the British Home Fleet: the nearest to Emperor is the fleet aircraft carrier HMS Furious (47), followed by the escort carriers HMS Searcher (D40) and HMS Pursuer (D73) and the light cruiser HMS Jamaica (44). The previous day they had taken part in the attack on the German battleship KMS Tirpitz in Alten Fjord which left her blazing. Photo by Lieutenant H A Mason, Royal Navy official photographer. Imperial War Museum photo no: A 22649.

A U.S. Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat assigned to VGF-1 aboard USS Tulagi (CVE-72) launching from the Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Emperor (D98). One of the carrier's own Hellcats of No.800 Naval Air Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, is seen parked forward during the invasion of Southern France, circa August 1944. Photo taken by unknown Royal Navy official photographer. Photo No. A. 25503 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

Undated picture of a Grumman Hellcat Mk.I (FN 376) of No.800 Squadron based aboard the escort carrier HMS Emperor. Photo courtesy Charles E. Brown.

Photo from British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, by Owen Thetford.

Eric Calow, an armorer, surveying the strings of ammunition, laid out on the deck, that he is about to supply to the guns of a Grumman Hellcat of No.800 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm on board the escort carrier HMS Emperor (D98).

Undated photo by unknown Royal Navy official photographer. This photograph A 25898 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums. This image was created and released by the Imperial War Museum on the IWM Non Commercial Licence.

Destroyer HMS Tuscan and aircraft carrier HMS Emperor seen from either HMS Attacker or HMS Stalker, with either Stalker or Attacker in the background, 14 October 1944. The three escort carriers were part of the strike force for Operation Manna, a series of strikes in the Aegean Sea.

(See NS0303912g for a larger, uncropped copy of this photo.)

An FAA Avenger belonging to either No. 845 or No. 851 Squadrons is shown taking off from HMS Emperor. Photo taken in May 1945, during the hunt for the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro. These two squadrons normally operated from the escort carrier HMS Shah, but on this day Shah's catapult became defective. Imperial War Museum.

Framed between the guns of HMS Indomitable (92), HMS Emperor (D98) steams through the Bitter Lakes on her way through the Suez, 20 November 1945.

Imperial War Museums Admiralty Official Collection, by Morgan, C.H. (Sub Lt.), Photo No. © IWM (A 31032).