It seems that during the second half of 1942 the production of 40mm Bofors guns didn't reach the desired level, an not all the ships (new building or refits) could be fitted with the 40mm Bofors.
For example the first three Fletchers were sent to South Pacific with 1.1" quad mount, and cruisers New Orleans and Minneapolis got two quad 40mm on fantail but retained 2 quad 1.1" as well.
I asked myself if the early escort carrier conversions were built with 1.1" instead of 40mm guns.
Friedman's US carrier design history says that
Now I'd like to know which ships actually carried the 1.1".Early conversions had four quadruple 1.1" guns scheduled for replacement on a one-to-one basis by twin 40mm.
Late in 1942 however the 40mm envisaged for C3 were doubled, and those for the Sangamons increased to 9 twin 40mm guns.
About a year later the Sangamon battery was set at seven twins and 2 quads.
From photo at navsource.org, it seems that the following ships were completed with only 4 positions for quad 1.1" or twin Bofors.
In each case the positions were: two on the fantail and two on both sides of the fore flight deck.
ACV-9 Bogue
ACV-12 Copahee
ACV-16 Nassau
ACV-18 Altamaha
and the four Sangamons
Probably some or all of them could have the 1.1" fitted.
The question is: any info about that?
Copahee was commissioned first so she is the most probable one.
Card, Core and all ships commissioned in 1943 had 8 twins before going to combat. By that time the 40mm availability was better than in 1942. For that reason I guess that they all had Bofors as built.
The earlier Long Island and Charger probably never carried neither 1.1" nor Bofors.
Thank you in advance for any answer.
Max