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Officers... The overseas house magazine of the Group of Companies

SPRING 1960

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AN INTRODUCTION

by Admiral Sir Peter Reid KCB CVO Controller of the Navy

IT gives me great pleasure to write a foreword to would have dreamed of the remote control of her this issue of The Vickers Magazine, as Hermes is main machinery. Her first aircraft were Parnell the first new to join the Fleet for Panthers (wooden land planes) and Fairey Fly- some years. I have been able to watch her trans- catchers, both far removed from the Scimitars formation from almost a bare hull into the fine and Sea Vixens of today. She did have one great ship she is today. advantage, however, over the new Hermes; she Hermes is the first aircraft carrier we have built was, not unnaturally, a lot cheaper to build and to operate the modern aircraft now coming into run! the Fleet. She is equipped with the latest flight This issue of The Vickers Magazine gives some machinery and deck landing aids. Her radar idea of the immense complexity of a modern and air direction equipment are the most up-to- aircraft carrier and the concerted effort needed by date in the world today and we believe that it is the whole team of designers, shipbuilders, en- also the best. The accommodation for the whole gineers and suppliers of equipment to enable her ship's company is up to the latest standards; to take shape as the fine fighting ship she is. every man has his own bunk and the hammock, Nevertheless, over two years ago Vickers gave in this ship, is a thing of the past. me the assurance that they would finish Hermes It is of some interest that the old Hermes, by the end of October 1959; in the next two years completed in 1923, was the first ship ever to be there were times when more than 2,000 men of designed and built as an aircraft carrier. She was, Barrow, to say nothing of sub-contractors, were of course, much smaller and had a complement working on board or for this ship. Hermes sailed of under 700 compared with nearly 2,000 in the from Barrow on 1st November 1959. I congratu- new Hermes, to whom she bore little resemblance. late all those whose efforts have contributed to a Radar had not even been thought of and no-one splendid result. Above: One of the highlights of the eventful life of the fourth `Hermes' was the running down of the French privateer `La Mouche', depicted in this aquatint by J. Clark after an original by Captain P. Brown, in command. Below: A protected , the eighth `Hermes' served in many parts of the world and towards the end of her career was used as a carrier. The ninth `Hermes', launched in 1919, was the first ship to be designed by the Admiralty purely as an aircraft carrie

T EN ships bearing the name Hermes captured a 201 ton Dutch sloop rigged as ships to bear this famous name - the 512 have joined the through a brig off the Texel. She was the Mercuri- ton Sixth Rate built at and the years. The name is apt enough for ous and it was natural enough that when launched in 1811. Commanded by Cap- a ship; it is particularly so for Britain's the ship joined the Royal Navy she should tain (afterwards Vice-Admiral) Philip newest aircraft carrier. For was there not be renamed Hermes, which is another Brown, the fourth Hermes, with her St Hermes (alias St Elmo), the curious name for the god Mercury. twenty guns and 121 men, captured an phenomenon of light seen occasionally on The first Hermes foundered at sea, with American ship laden with naval stores, ships' masts, of which De Loier wrote in all hands, in 1797 and in the following and two vessels from New York and his Treatise to Spectres `They shall see the year an armed vessel of about 330 tons Baltimore carrying tobacco and ivory. fire which saylors call St Hermes, fly (her armament was twenty-two guns) was This fourth Hermes ran down La Mouche, uppon their shippe, and alight upon the bought. This, the second Hermes, was a French privateer, and assisted at the toppe of the '; and was there not sold in 1802. Again within a year the capture of the American privateer Sword Hermes Trismegistus, to whom was name was perpetuated when a sloop, built Fish. In 1814, then commanded by Cap- ascribed a host of inventions? Yet, at Whitby and named Majestic, was pur- tain (later Rear-Admiral) the Hon. curiously, the first use of the name Hermes chased and renamed Hermes. Her career William Henry Percy, Hermes, in an by the Royal Navy was more or less seems to have been a quiet one. She fin- unsuccessful attack on , fortuitous. It so happened that in 1796 ished Naval service as a store ship in the Mobile, USA, was grounded. Disabled, Commander (afterwards Vice-Admiral Mediterranean and was sold in 1810. she was burnt by Captain Percy to prevent Sir) John Chambers White of the Sylph Then came one of the more spectacular her falling into enemy hands.

3 THE VICKERS MAGAZINE

It was sixteen years before another Chatham in 1816, was renamed Hermes then became part of the South Atlantic Hermesjoined the Royal Navy. She was a forty years later and was employed as a hunting group covering convoys. steam vessel of some 730 tons, built at cholera ship at Gravesend. She was broken After the fall of France she was ordered Blackwall in 1824 and originally named up at Sheerness in 1869 and it was as long to keep a watch on the French fleet at George the Fourth. Bought by the Navy, as twenty-eight years before another . In July 1940 action was taken she did nothing more exciting than packet Hermes was laid down. This was the 5,600 against the Richelieu at Dakar. service, became a coal at ton twin screw protected cruiser (eleven A motor boat from Hermes succeeded in Woolwich under the new name of Charger, guns, 477 men) commissioned in the last getting through the boom and four depth and was broken up at Dartford in 1854. year of the nineteenth century. She served charges were dropped under the battle- Presumably her name was changed - in for fifteen years in many parts of the ship's stern with the object of damaging 1834 - to make way for a new Hermes, a world and for many purposes. She was, her propellers and steering gear. paddle wheel steam sloop whose career at least for a short part of her life, the This first-ever genuine British aircraft was in marked contrast to that of her first `aircraft carrier' Hermes. Immediately carrier came under the orders of the immediate predecessor. before the first World War she was the Commander-in-Chief East Indies in 1941 This sixth Hermes, built at Portsmouth Depot Ship of the Naval Wing of the and did a great deal of valuable hunting, and launched in 1835, served five years on and when war came escorting and intercepting in the Indian the Mediterranean Station, four years on she was used as a seaplane carrier in Ocean. In 1942 she was ordered to sail the North American Station and four par- operations off the Belgian coast. In Oct- from harbour, Ceylon, ticularly exciting years, commanded by the ober 1914 she was torpedoed and sunk off because of expected Japanese air attack. gallant and resourceful Commander Calais. Unfortunately she was spotted by a Jap- Edmund G. Fishbourne, on the Cape of It was 1919, however, when the first anese reconnaissance plane and, attacked Good Hope and East Indies Station. vessel specially designed by the Admiralty by some fifty aircraft, she was sunk off Commander Fishbourne, sailing for the as an aircraft carrier was launched. And Batticaloa. Her commanding officer, Cape of Good Hope, `united in the hostil- once again,when she was commissioned in Captain R. F. J. Onslow, eighteen other ities of 1851 against the Kaffirs, and 1924, there was a Hermes in the Royal officers, and 268 ratings were lost. rendered services to the value of which the Navy. Built at Elswick by Armstrong- And so to the tenth Hermes, a far cry - strongest testimony was borne in the Whitworth, this 10,850 ton carrier added with her remarkable radar system, her Dispatches of the Governor, Lieutenant- lustre to her name. At the start of the angled , her fast, powerful General Sir Harry Smith'. He then sailed second World War she helped protect the striking force of Scimitar aircraft - from for the East Indies, where he gained fresh transport of the British Expeditionary that sloop of 1796. Her motto, Altiora laurels by his conduct during the Burmese Force to France. From Dakar, with the peto (I seek higher things) is eloquent of War. For his services Fishbourne was French battleship Strasbourg she hunted her aim to serve even more illustriously promoted Captain. German raiders on the trade routes and than her nine predecessors. In 1854 Hermes, with HM's Plenipo- tentiary, Sir George Bonham, on board, sailed up the Yangtse-Kiang as far as Nanking, for the purpose of assuring the rebels of Britain's neutrality. Off Nanking the Tartars sent a fire raft out toward her, which she avoided by getting rapidly under weigh. On her passage down the river she found it necessary to shell the heights in front of Chin-Kiang-Foo, which were crowded with stockades. Later, at , she sent her boats up the same river to seek out deserters from H M S Salamander. They courageously advanced as far as Chin-Kiang but failed to discover the missing men. Captain Fishbourne continued in Hermes until, having been in commission four years and five months (in which period she had steamed 75,000 miles and consumed 7,000 tons of coal) she was paid off at Woolwich in 1854. Another five years service and she was sold for break- ing-up. The seventh Hermes (1,726 tons), After being attacked by a force of Japanese aircraft, the ninth `Hermes' sank off named the Minotaur when launched at Batticaloa on 9th with the loss of 287 lives

4 HMS HERMES meets a full Atlantic gale

On her shakedown cruise Britain's newest aircraft carrier encountered a full Atlantic gale. `It is a source of great satisfaction to her officers and crew that she rides well in these conditions and she handles well, both when turning at sea and when entering and leaving harbour.' That is the tribute paid by Captain DAVID S. TIBBITS DSC ROYAL NAVY who tells here the dramatic story of the new aircraft carrier's `baptism' at sea.

T is early days yet to talk of H M S co-operation between the Royal Navy, the accepted at a very simple and rather I Hermes as a commissioned ship of the Admiralty overseers and the shipbuilders moving ceremony on the flight deck, after Royal Navy or as a unit of the Fleet. Never- was most satisfactory. This feeling con- which the Red Ensign was hauled down theless, we can claim that she has made a tinued through the final stages of building and the White Ensign hoisted. She then most promising start. From the days when so that she set off from Barrow on lst went to Portsmouth and berthed at Pitch she sailed for the contractors' sea trials, November last year with high hopes for House Jetty. Her arrival at her home port there was a feeling within the ship that she what the future had in store for her. for the first time was an auspicious one, was going to be a happy one, and the On completion Hermes was finally for the Sea Lords of the Admiralty and

5 to walk before learning to run, and by the time we got to Gibraltar, all departments had taken this vital step forward. We entered the Straits of Gibraltar dur- ing the night and arrived off the Rock about 0900 on 30th November. The ship steamed round close to the Spanish shore and in through the North entrance. This was an anxious moment, for it was not at all well known how the ship would handle The documents are signed- for the Admiralty by Captain D. S. Tibbits, and what she would do in a fairly strong for Vickers by Mr L. Redshaw - and the wind and a very confined space. As at Portsmouth, she came into the harbour White Ensign is hoisted and saluted and went alongside as if she liked doing it, and was berthed without incident on the South Mole. That night Gibraltar experienced one of the worst gales ever recorded there, which was indeed, a `baptism of fire' for a new ship and her company. Happily she rode well at her berth, and tested the strength of the nylon hawsers now supplied to the Fleet. On 4th December Hermes set sail for Portland. For the first part of the trip home the weather was excellent and things went as smoothly as they had on the way out. However, on passing Cape Finisterre, the weather forecasts were not good and Admiral Sir Robin Durnford-Slater, now a very large and severe depression seen to Commander-in-Chief, The Nore. Many of be coming across the Atlantic arrived off the wives and families of the present ship's Ushant at the same time as the ship. The most of the Commanders-in-Chief of the company joined in the dedication service ship had the best test possible and she various stations in the Royal Navy hap- which was conducted by The Venerable came through admirably. At one point pened to be on board HMS Tyne for a Archdeacon F. D. Bunt assisted by the heavy seas were washing over the end of meeting and watched her enter. She ship's Chaplain. This association of the the flight deck, and she rolled up to eleven berthed beautifully, as if she really wanted families with the work and life of those degrees. to be there and all on board felt relief and who man this ship is much valued and it To sum up, Hermes on her maiden voy- great satisfaction. is intended to keep it alive by every means age as a unit of the Royal Navy came up The commissioning ceremony which possible. to expectation. We like her as a ship, we took place on 25th November at Ports- Next day H M S Hermes sailed for her are pleased with the comfort which she mouth was attended by Admiral Sir Man- shakedown cruise before the sun had provides and we admire the skill and finish ley Power (Commander-in-Chief, Ports- risen. It was just the sort of day that the with which her builders have endowed her. mouth) and Lady Power. Some members Captain of a new ship would wish to have. Her capacity as a fighting unit is as yet an of the company of the ninth Hermes There was a strong south-westerly wind unknown quantity and it will be sometime who had been sunk in her in 1942 were and quite heavy seas off the Isle of Wight, before it can be practised. We pray that it also present. Chief among them was so that everybody had to take consider- may never have to be tried in anger. able pains to look after their part of ship and it was possible to see straight away what needed securing and what, if any, were the deficiencies. As she proceeded westward down channel, she very soon steamed clear of the bad weather, so that conditions were pleasant across the Bay of Biscay and down the Spanish and Port- uguese coasts. Trials of the stabilisers for the big radar set, and many drills and tests in the various departments, were carried The compass platform out and this was all valuable. It is essential ` Hermes enters Gibraltar harbour

6 HE first step in the design of a new arrived at by selecting tentative figures and design, the outcome is the joint work of Twarship for the Royal Navy is to working out how they fit the requirements. naval constructors, marine engineers, settle the main characteristics required to The weight of the ship and its contents has electrical engineers, draughtsmen and fulfil her function. For the designer's to match the buoyancy in such a way as to others at the Admiralty and, in the later purposes this means the numbers and give the desired trim and stability. There stages, at the shipyards as well. In its types of the principal weapons and equip- must be sufficient space, suitably disposed, preparation, weapon designers, scientists ments (including aircraft in an aircraft for everything that has to be carried, and in experimental establishments and the carrier), how far and at what speed the users, represented by the Naval Staff, machinery and fuel will take the ship, and have very important parts to play at all the number of officers and men who have stages. to be accommodated. The first approximation to the dimen- There is much more in this than the sions is obtained from experience with mere statement of what the Naval Staff How a new ships of similar type and speed, allowing considers the new ship should be like. for the known differences. In an aircraft There are always restrictions, particularly carrier the need for the flight deck to be financial ones, on the size of new ships warship able to cope with the aircraft operations and therefore on the incorporation in them will play a decisive part in settling the size of all that might be thought desirable. In of the ship. One of the first steps is to the selection of what is to go in, a great confirm on the drawing board that an variety is possible; for instance in the is designed acceptable flight deck layout, with the proportion of offensive to defensive suitably disposed below it, is qualities, or in the relative claims of possible. The drawing must include all by G. BRYANT equipment and mobility. the important topside features as well as To help to decide these questions the Deputy Director of Naval Construction the means of operating aircraft. designer is usually called on to produce The early shots at and studies, in the form of outline drawings length give an idea of the power of the and particulars, of ships that could be machinery needed for the designed speed built to carry out the tasks the Naval the underwater form must use the mini- and therefore of the size of the machinery Staff has in mind. The studies are neces- mum propulsive power to give the desired spaces and the number of shafts. These sarily approximations and are often based speed. Freeboard, structural strength and arrangements, together with the maga- on very early information about future any limits set by the sizes of docks and zines, bomb rooms and similar spaces, are weapons, including aircraft, so that a harbours, are among other important drawn out and any necessary adjustments large element of judgment enters into their matters affecting the dimensions of the made to dimensions. preparation. ship. The adjustment of one factor reacts A closer examination is now undertaken The main features having been decided, on all the others so that a repeated process by making estimates of the weight of hull, the Naval Staff then has to develop from of trial and error is necessary. Each trial protection, machinery, equipment, &c., the outline of the new ship's qualities a investigation enables a closer approxima- based on the new dimensions to see that statement in detail of the staff require- tion to be made until eventually the de- the total matches the buoyancy of the ments. In this process, also, the designer signer is satisfied that practicable dimen- proposed hull form and produces the has to make his contribution by advising sions have been arrived at. desired trim and stability. The process of whether the demands are practicable. The term `designer' has been used, but calculation and drawing needs to be When the fully developed staff require- in fact, although, under the ultimate repeated several times with an examina- ments have been approved the work of authority of the Director General Ships, tion of accommodation and other space design can start on a firm basis. the Director of Naval Construction neces- requirements. Investigation is also neces- The main dimensions of the ship are sarily takes the lead and controls the ship sary into the longitudinal strength of the THE VI CKERS MAGAZINE ship, when subjected to bending in waves, form the basis of the contract between the ments of the ship may in turn react on the and into the refinement of the underwater Admiralty and the shipbuilder. arrangement of the equipment. All these form. The hull form undergoes model With the placing of the contract for the adjustments require to be embodied in the tests in an experimental tank to check its ship, the design work enters into a new working drawings, and take time, but they suitability and to determine the appropri- phase in which the shipbuilder and main are an inescapable part of the design ate propeller characteristics. machinery contractors make a big con- work. In the later stages of construction Eventually the Director General Ships tribution. Before materials can be ordered further changes may be required as the has a set of outline drawings and a state- and the actual work of construction under- result of experience during trials. ment of particulars of the new ship which taken, working drawings must be pre- Sufficient has been said to show that he can with confidence submit to the pared by the contractors. This is no mean warship design is far from a straight- Board of Admiralty as a sketch design for task, since the score or so of building forward process which merely requires a the new ship. It is no longer a rough drawings have to be expanded into some set of staff requirements to settle every- approximation but an accurate forecast thousands of detailed drawings. thing for the designer. A further compli- of the ship which the Board can expect The modern warship is so complicated cation is that the staff requirements them- and is supported by calculations of all the that the contract documents have to be selves are subject to change. This is essential features. It is accompanied by an supplemented by a large number of ex- because naval warfare, and particularly estimate of the cost and time required to planatory drawings prepared at the naval air warfare, is in a state of rapid build the ship and an assurance that the Admiralty or its establishments for the development as new weapons and means staff requirements will be met. guidance of shipbuilders in interpreting of communication are being perfected. If the Board approves further develop- Admiralty intentions in detail. These are The longer a ship is in being designed and ment of the design, the outlines are elabo- sent to the shipbuilders as soon as they built, the greater the changes that are rated by consideration of the requirements can be produced and this process con- likely to be necessary to her. in more detail into a set of building draw- tinues as the details develop. Sometimes Hermes suffered this fate to a greater ings on a larger scale. They show not only the contractor is asked to make full scale extent than most ships since her original the general arrangement of the ship and mock-ups of certain important spaces in design and dimensions were settled as long propelling machinery but an outline of the order to secure the best possible layout. ago as 1943. She has now completed, after arrangements for electrical power supply In order to check that the design inten- many changes in the requirements, to a and distribution, the important details of tions are being realised, to keep control of modernised design and joins the Fleet construction, the armour protection if any, weight, and to enable any necessary fully up-to-date and capable of the most and the rig. A sheer drawing which de- changes to be embodied, the contractor advanced tasks. Some idea of the extent of termines the geometrical form of the hull is required to submit most of the working the changes may be evident from the facts is included. The building drawings must drawings for Admiralty approval. This that the weight of the useful load carried be acceptable to the Naval Staff and other is not the time-wasting formality it must by the ship - aircraft, aircraft fuel, arma- Admiralty departments and must also sometimes appear to be from the ship- ment, radar and the like - has increased receive Board approval. Together with a builder's point of view. Ship design is a by a third, and the number of men set of specifications, prepared concurrently process of development in greater and accommodated by a quarter and to a much with the building drawings, and a list of greater detail as the work proceeds, and higher standard of habitability, since the items which the Admiralty undertakes to while it is going on much of the equip- ship was first designed sixteen years ago. supply for fitting into the ship, they are ment is necessarily being developed too, That so much has been achieved is a the design element in the documents which since a warship must be up-to-date in its tribute to Vickers skill and patience. weapons and outfit. Changes often have to Below: A scale model of `Hermes' under- be made to the ship arrangements, there- Right: The first stage of building com- goes wave tests in the tank at Admiralty fore, as more becomes known about the plete, `Hermes' is launched at Barrow by Experiment Works, Haslar equipment, and the structural require- Mrs Winston Churchill