She was the United Kingdom's first CAM ship, armed with an aircraft catapult on her bow to launch a Hawker Sea Hurricane.

[2] She had six corrugated furnaces feeding two 225 lbf/in2 (1,550 kPa; 15.8 kgf/cm2) single-ended boilers with a combined heating surface of 5,940 square feet (552 m2).

On 28 May 1941 Michael E sailed in ballast on her maiden voyage from Belfast, Northern Ireland bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia with convoy OB 327.

[3] On 3 June the Dutch cargo ship Alcinous rescued Michael E's master, 44 crew, two gunners and 12 Royal Air Force personnel.

[3] In September 1941 William Hamilton & Co completed a second CAM ship of the same class for CSM.