ACV-54 was assigned the name Winjah (an alternative spelling to Winyah), for a bay off the coast of South Carolina which serves as the estuary of the Pee Dee, Black, and Waccamaw Rivers and is located slightly above Georgetown, S.C. (NS0311016, map courtesy of Google Maps.)

Transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease, she served in the Royal Navy with the name Reaper. A Reaper is a person or machine that harvests a crop (ship's blazon courtesy of Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers.)

HMS Reaper. Date and place unknown.

HMS Reaper (D82) ferrying aircraft, date and location unknown. Photograph received on 14 October 1944, now in the collections of the National Archives (#80-G-285271).

The original caption misidentified the ship as USS Saginaw Bay (CVE-82), in all probability because of her hull number. C. Haberlein correctly identified her as HMS Reaper in October 1967.

HMS Reaper (D82) underway off Hampton Roads, VA., with a deck load of Corsairs for delivery to the Fleet Air Arm. Note that the pennant superior letter has been dropped and the US-style number only has been adopted. Photo from unknown source.

Photo taken from British carrier Aviation: The Evolution of the Ships and their Aircraft, by Norman Friedman.

HMS Reaper (D82), ex-Winjah, underway on 9 July 1944. Photographed by a unit of ZP-24.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-239227.

HMS Reaper (D82), ex-Winjah (CVE-54), moored at Greenock, Scotland, 21 September 1944. Photo by Royal Navy official photographer Lieutenant R.G.G. Coote. Imperial War Museum. Photo no. A 25715.

This photo was taken from USS Brough (DE-148). Although it has not been possible to positively identify the CVE alongside, her camouflage scheme and Brough's operational history suggest that she might be HMS Reaper, in the Atlantic Ocean, en route to San Diego via Panama, January 14, 1945.

(Thanks to Neil White; Tony Drury, Royal Navy Escort Carriers; and John Adriani, USS Brough historian, for their help in researching this photo.)

HMS Reaper (D82) photographed at Malta in March 1946, when she was on her way back to the UK to pay off, prior to being returned to the U.S. Navy.

HMS Reaper paying off, May 1946.

HMS Reaper bell, 1944, cast iron, brass hardware 7lb.

Ex-Winjah (CVE-54), ex-HMS Reaper, as South Africa Star, date and location unknown.

Ex-Winjah was purchased in 1948 by Blue Star Line Ltd. and converted to a cargo liner by Gulf Shipbuilding Corp., Mobile, Alabama. In 1967 she was sold to Nichimen Jitsugyo K.K., Japan, for scrapping.

Two photos of the Blue Star Line cargo ship South Africa Star, formerly the Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Reaper (D82/R324). Date and location unknown.

NS0305413: File StateLibQld 1 168955.

NS0305413a: File StateLibQld 1 169799.

Ex-Winjah (CVE-54), ex-HMS Reaper, as South Africa Star, date and location unknown.

Note that South Africa Star had just been equipped with new heavy lift equipment midships, but it did not prevent the owners from sending her to the scrapyard only two years later.

Ex-Winjah (CVE-54), ex-HMS Reaper, as South Africa Star, date and location unknown.

Ex-Winjah (CVE-54), ex-HMS Reaper, as South Africa Star (British flag), leaving Bremen, Germany, July 1965.