SN 2-04 Long Island AVG-1

New 1/1250 scale model of the American escort carrier USS Long Island AVG-1 (ACV-1/CVE-1) by Spider Navy (SN 2-04) as in 1941.

Long Island was the lead ship of her class (one sister, British HMS Archer) and the first escort carrier of the United States Navy. She was laid down on 7 July 1939, as the C-3 cargo liner Mormacmail, launched on January 11, 1940, acquired by the Navy on March 6, 1941, and commissioned on June 2, 1941

After commissioning she conducted experiments to prove the feasibility of escort carrier operations and trained pilots. After the entry of the US into the war she escorted convoys and continued training operations. Released in May 1942 to the Pacific she arrived in San Francisco the day after the decisive day of the Battle of Midway.

Long Island was heavily involved in the Guadalcanal campaign, flying the first aircraft into Henderson Field. She spent the second half of the war as a training carrier.

Post-war the ship was decommissioned and sold for scrapping. However she was purchased by the Canada-Europe Line for conversion to merchant service. Renamed Nelly she was an immigrant carrier between Europe and Canada. In 1953 she was renamed Seven Seas. In 1966 she was bought by Rotterdam University and served as a student hostel until 1977 when she was scrapped.