BRITISH AIRCRAFT CARRIERS 1939-45 PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

Angus Konstam,Tony Bryan | 48 pages | 20 Jul 2010 | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | 9781849080798 | English | Oxford, England, carriers of the - Wikipedia

Other books in this series. Add to basket. Tanks in the Steven J. British 2 : Vol. German E-boats Gordon Williamson. Technicals Leigh Neville. Japanese Tanks Steven Zaloga. Armored Trains Steven Zaloga. Review quote "This excellent survey of the craft's capabilities is a must for any in-depth , aircraft or World War II collection! One that will be pulled from the shelves time after time and one I can highly recommend to you. About Angus Konstam Angus Konstam is an acclaimed military and naval historian, and one of Osprey's most experienced and respected authors, with over 35 titles in print. These Osprey titles include British , British Motor Boats , and the forthcoming two-volume study; British Battleships , all of which form part of the New Vanguard list. He has also written over two dozen larger books for other publishers. A former naval officer, underwater archaeologist and maritime museum curator, Angus has a long and passionate love affair with the sea, maritime history and warships. He makes regular television and radio appearances, and has held events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Angus is now a full-time writer and historian, as well as being a board member of the Society of Authors, and Publishing . He currently lives in Edinburgh. For more details visit the author's website at www. Rating details. Book ratings by Goodreads. Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers with over 50 million reviews. We're featuring millions of their reader ratings on our book pages to help you find your new favourite book. Close X. Search by author, title or keyword Toggle navigation. Product was successfully added to your shopping cart. With war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier programme in the late s. This was quickly followed by others. Smaller and tougher than their US cousins Britsih cariers were designed to f. Add to Wishlist Add to Compare. Angus Konstam is an acclaimed military and naval historian, and one of Osprey's most experienced and respected authors, with over 35 titles in print. He has also written over two dozen larger books for other publishers. A former naval officer, underwater archaeologist and maritime museum curator, Angus has a long and passionate love affair with the sea, maritime history and warships. He makes regular television and radio appearances, and has held events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Angus is now a full-time writer and historian, as well as being a board member of the Society of Authors, and Publishing Scotland. He currently lives in Edinburgh. For more details visit the author's website at www. Carriers in Action 2, words Provides a brief description of three actions involving British aircraft carriers; , Matapan and the sinking of the Bismarck Bibiography words. You may also be interested in the following product s. More info. Military History. Subscribe to our newsletter. WW2 British Aircraft Carriers

Already considered at best as an auxiliary ship in through the treaty of Washington, this type of ship was still in the popular imagination far from the idea of a . Aviation back then was too frail, and although it was proven as a viable weapon against ships, little payload and the lack of existing tactics, compounded by generalized skepticism ion the majority of staff tended to keep naval aviation framed into an advanced reconnaissance system. But more conservative navies dragging their feets, and if the Royal Navy was quick to catch up, as well as the German, neither the French, Italian, Soviet, or even Japanese Navy had swapped to this equipment and still trusted their onboard floatplanes for long range reconnaissance. But this attack was preceded by a raid of the Royal Navy on the naval base of Taranto in , which saw, with ten times less planes, the bulk of the sunk or disabled for month. This confidence on naval air warfare was cultivated since the end of WW1 and was perhaps more prevalent than in any other country during the interwar. An overview of British main types or aircraft carriers, including MAC-ships and leand-lease escort carriers. The Royal Navy used these ships to test many ideas, and this long maturation only ended with the program that led to the construction of the Ark Royal. She was laid down in and quite instrumental into showcasing all the latest developments and lessons gained since the introduction of the HMS Hermes. It was the first large fleet of the RN and showed a very large aircraft capacity with a double , enough to store and operate 60 aircraft. The USN will follow suite with the Essex class from This great chapter started early on, at the end of WW1. At that time it was called the or RNAS and already was familiarized with aviation, training thousands of new recruits on iconic models such as the venerable Avro designed in , produced until to above 8, planes , the Beardmore WB. over the Ark Royal. Along with the , the Sopwith Cuckoo was the first carrier-borne British torpedo plane. The planes of Fairey, like the Fairey III floatplane succeeded by the Fairey Seal , only retired in and ancestor of the famous Fairey Swordfish , the emblematic British carrier-borne torpedo . They were used until , carrying rockets, bombs, fitted with floats, land or carrier-based. Ripon flying off the of an unidentified carrier in After Fairey, Blackburn was the other specialist supplier of torpedo- for the . Blackburn Baffin The Shark first flew 24 August , not long before the Swordfish, and was produced to about until , in service during WW2 and after in the Portuguese Navy. This plane carried usually two torpedo models, the inch mm Mark VIII torpedo or Mark X torpedo, loaded with enough torpex to cause maximum damage. : Already saw for the Furious. One of the first dedicated FAA fighter, were built, and they served until It started service with No. The typical air group of HMS Courageous comprised 16 of them, alongside the Ripon and it was adored by pilots, fast, agile and easy to fly. : Legendary designer Sydney Camm made a carrier-based version of the excellent which first flew in and was adopted in Only 92 were built, which served in 11 squadrons and units, replaced by the Sea Gladiator in It was also used by the Aviation in Gloster Sea Gladiator : The last and perhaps one of all-time best biplane fighter ever designed, the legendary Gladiator was also in service with the FAA. Introduced from , used from land bases, but also a modified Mk II was developed as the Sea Gladiator for the Fleet Air Arm with an arrestor hook, catapult attachment points, strengthened airframe plus an underbelly dinghy . Only 98 aircraft were built or converted and 54 were still in service during the war. They operated in the Mediterranean in : The Skua was one of the first modern FAA planes, ordered by specifications as a low-wing monoplane, all-metal, with retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit. The Skua was introduced from November and used by 27 squadrons. It was relatively slow and was used as a multirole fighter, but in it was no longer kept in front line service but relegated in secondary duties. Production was limited to planes. : Introduced in but developed from , the Roc was derived from the Skua designed by George Edward Petty, but characterized by the use of the Boulton-Paul quad-turret which proved useless in practice for a fighter although the Roc was used during Operation Dynamo and Operation Ariel and shot down a number of German bombers over Belgium during the Western campaign. It was produced to only planes but used by 27 squadrons until : A navalized version of the P. The production version was equipped with the new supercharged RR Merlin VIII engine, tailored for it, and performances were way better than the Battle. They flew first with the HMS Illustrious and their feats included spotting the Bismarck, convoys, raids over Petsamo, and they equipped in time twenty squadrons and eight carriers. Hawker sea Hurricane : Developed from the regular Hurricane which was introduced from , the FAA adopted the Sea Hurricane, which sported an array of modifications but they also served as catapult-launched escorts CAMS ships. It was then operated until scoring an impressive kill-to-loss ratio, gained mostly during the defense of , and in the Atlantic Ocean against Condors and other German planes. To save space, some Royal Navy aircraft carriers carried their reserve Sea Hurricanes dismantled, slung up on the hangar bulkheads and deckhead for reassembly when needed. I and following. Initially, the Mark I were the former 81 model GA ordered by the French in to equip their new Joffre-class aircraft carriers then in construction. With the fall of France the order was diverted to UK instead as well as Belgian orders , after being modified for British use by Blackburn. Already before it was done, the Fleet Air Arm ordered a second version Mark II about delivered from August to the 3 Illustrious class carriers in priority to replace the old Skua, Roc and Gladiators. The Mark III were former Greek ordered models also diverted in April , but they only served from land-base no folding wings. The Sea Hurricane showed the way forward. On 29 February , the Admiralty requested a batch of 50 folding-wings versions, later canceled by , which privileged the Fulmar instead. As a stopgap later the Grumman Martlet Wildcats would enter service in At last, a total of 48 Spitfire Mk Vb were converted late They were followed by improved Seafire Mk Ibs, and the first front line unit which operateed the model was Squadron in June It should be noted that Supermarine devised a carrier-based replacement for the Seafire, called Seafang in , which was only produced to 18 planes and evaluated but rejected. The days of piston-engines were over. They were delivered by crates and assembled locally. Note that the Firefly first flew in December , but was not introduced before They were 3-seats multipurpose planes that were powerful and agile enough to be used as fighters, powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon IIB liquid-cooled V12 engine, 1, hp Mk. Other versions followed with the same engine evolution as the seafire, and performances followed. It was followed by the Hellcat F Mk. Vought Corsair : Probably the best fighter- of the fleet air arm in , the first batch was purchased in November The pilots had a mitigated opinion about it. They loved its speed, power and ruggedness, but hated its landing characteristics. Also the limited hangar deck height caused them to used them from land bases in many cases. In time, British pilots started to use a medium left-hand turn for landings that was adopted later by USN pilots. They also modified the Corsair, fitting it with a bulged canopy, raising the pilot by 18cm, wiring shut the cowl flaps across the top of the engine compartment and diverted oil and hydraulic fluid spray around the sides of the fuselage. The Corsair served well until the mids. In total 18 FAA squadrons operated it, mainly on the Pacific. It was based on the Mosquito FB. VI, with folding wings, arrester hook, thimble nose radome, four-bladed propellers Merlin 25 engines and reinforced . : This powerful plane was used as torpedo-fighter, meaning it was sturdy and powerful enough to carry and deliver a torpedo, its great speed helping it dodging AA when making a resource after delivery, and be used as a fighter in other occasions. It was developed from but introduced only in , and were delivered. It was developed with the Napier Sabre cylinder H-type engine also used on the Typhoon already in with a specification for a knots fighter kph and was given four 20 mm 0. It was tested on HMS Illustrious in February and was capable to perform also attacks with bombs and rockets. However they never saw action in WW2 as the first unit to operate them, Naval Air Squadron, did not receive them until 1 September : The last and perhaps best piston-engine British naval fighter ever built, the Fury designed by Sydney Camm was a navalized version of the Tempest which was also evaluated by the FAA of the late version. Propelled by a Bristol Centaurus cylinder twin-row radial engine, 2, hp 1, kW it could reach kph. Armed by four 20 mm. It was used first by squadron in February and largely adopted by all active FAA squadrons, retired from onwards. It served for much longer in other naval air corps. Notice that this rather post is an introduction to British Aircraft Carriers in the interwar and WW2, not of course the complete overview as each will have its own dedicated post. Each time, when done, the title would be clickable. Historically the first operational aircraft carrier ever, the furious was largely an experiment, which underwent in a serie of modifications, establishing that having a deck cut in two with a forward part reserved to take-offs and an aft deck reserved to landings with a large superstructure and funnels in the middle was a bad idea. Nevertheless, the Furious launched the first carrier-borne attack over a base on the German coast. The Furious was fast enough to escape the danger zone, and screen the fleet, but she was ill-adapted for the task. Between June and September she was completely rebuilt, this time with proper hangar and elevators, and no island. In this configuration, she could carry 36 aircraft in normal operation and served actively during the interwar together with the Glorious and Courageous as the main fleet carriers. During WW2 she was active in the Atlantic, took part in the campaign of in and the Mediterranean until , when she was back to and the Norwegian coast, her planes attacking the Tirpitz , mascot and Goodwood and German bases in the area. Read More about the Furious. HMS Courageous Designed in as light battlecruisers with almost insignificant armor and armed with 4 pieces of mm, the Glorious and Courageous, completed in , served only a few years in their initial configuration. Indeed, the Washington Treaty severely limited the tonnage of the lines, but said nothing about aircraft carriers. Thus, the battle of this generation, whose concept did not seem to correspond to the new expectations of the admiralty, were considered as excellent bases of reconversion, large and fast. In , like the Furious, they were taken in hand for a total reconversion aircraft carrier. Four years later, this work was completed, incorporating all the lessons learned with HMS Furious. They included a on a two-level, the second, lower, being steep for the take-off of the aircraft, but also a large . This conversion was conducted at Rosyth and completed in at Devonport. The removal of their turrets was accompanied by their reuse on the last British , HMS Vanguard… their large hangar was served by two elevators 14 meters wide, cruciform. Their tanks loaded , liters of aviation fuel. Around , a new overhaul saw them add three Bofors MkVI 40mm octuples, as well as a single quadruple 50 caliber This complement evolved during the second world war. The Courageous alternated from her entry into service in between the Mediterranean, the Home Fleet and the Atlantic, sometimes raising the Glorious. She refitted at Devonport between and for modernization, and was present at the coronation review of and again in service in June. She was assigned to the Home Fleet until her replacement by the Ark Royal, where she became a training aircraft carrier. Then was the war broke out. The ship was once again active and assigned to one of the hunter-killer groups tasked with finding and destroying U-Bootes in the Antarctic. It was during one of these missions, on September 17, that the Courageous was torpedoed by U29 and sent to the bottom. This was the first British naval casualty of the war. This loss and a failed torpedoing on the Ark Royal convinced the Admiralty the use aircraft carriers in this role was just too risky. From her entry into service in February , Glorious served with the Home Fleet, and in Mediterranean, alternating with her sister-ship the Courageous. After a redesign of , the Glorious was paraded at Spithead in during the great Royal coronation review of the fleet and sent to the Mediterranean. Then back in France, she was given a new air group including Blakburn Skua and new Sea Gladiators, escorting those of the squadron being sent to join their positions on Norwegian bases. Her planes claimed a Heinkel and a Stuka. HMS Glorious, last picture, departing for Norway. Withdrawn, the Glorious returned by May 18 with a complement of Walrus and Hunters Hurricanes. She operated near where these aircraft took off to confront the and then land on a local base. She participated in the evacuation of Norway Operation Alphabet , but was finally intercepted and sank off the Norwegian coast by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, one of the very rare occasion where an aircraft carrier was sunk but capital ships. Her escort of was helpless, and the Acasta and the Ardent, maneuvering closely projecting curtains of smoke, launching torpedoes and firing out of desperation were sunk and deprived of this escort, the aircraft carrier was left unprotected and cut to pieces. She sank on June 7, far from shipping routes, and the Royal Navy was delayed as only fishing vessels were available nearby for the rescue and arrived too late. As a result, a tragedy occurred as a total of 1, men died, mainly from congestion due to extreme cold in these waters. : 25, t. Full Load Dimensions: Propulsion: 4 propellers, 4 Parsons reduction turbines, 18 Yarrow boilers, 90, hp. Maximum speed 30 knots, nautical RA at 16 knots. Armor: Belt and decks 76 mm. Crew: This became in fact the first modern aircraft carrier since she showased all the features that became commonplace, and looked more promising and refined that the Furious. She had a full-length flight deck allowing simultaneous take off and landings and after commissioning, she tested many solutions and innovations during helping considerably the development of other design of aircraft carriers. HMS Argus for example helped fixing the right type of arresting gear, or to define general procedures to operate aircraft in concert. She also helped at large to defined combined fleet tactics. At first she was top- heavy and in the mids several modifications like bulges made her recover some stability, essential for pilots in rough seas. After her time as a test and exercizes ship she spent a year at operational level on the China Station in the late s. However with the crisis and all budgets frozen, she was called back home to be placed in reserve. HMS Argus was recommissioned however as the war broke out. She was partially modernized and served as a , only for deck-landing practice until June In July she sailed to the Western Mediterranean carrying fighters to Malta nd continued to do so until After loosing any carriers the Royal Navy was desperate for more, and the Argus was pressed into front-line service. In June she was at , protecting a convoy to Malta and in November , she covered Operation Torch ans was lightly damaged by a bomb. She was back home for repairs, and returned into service locally as a training ship until late September , then three month later she became an accommodation ship, listed for disposal in mid, sold in late and scrapped. The god of trade was also the first British purpose-built aircraft carrier, designed and laid down from the keel up a such. Despite the fact she has been ordered in , she was not laid down before 15 January , to be launched 11 September and commissioned on 18 Feb , after the Japanese Hosho, which was started after her. But the British were the quickest to complete their blueprints as she was approved earlier in July , and in fact this ship was first defined as a with a flight deck and a hangar occupying the bulk of the interior space. She included almost all the characteristics of the carriers to come, with additional cruiser artillery but also singularities, like a large island strongly deported to starboard. She also had ASW protection well taken care of, with large bulges which also improved her stability, crucial for pilots to land in good conditions. Her dimensions however were those of a cruiser, so quite small and at the time she could only operate 20 aircraft in good conditions. It soon became apparent that this limited air force and a 25 knots speed, good for the time but later insufficient, made this first aircraft carrier less valuable in operations, particularly in Her operational career of HMS Hermes was long, but her wartime service was relatively short. She was also based in for years. In she was given a catapult, but her naval strength was further reduced to 15 aircraft, the larger models of the time. In she sailed back to , and participated in the great naval review of the coronation, and then placed in reserve. She was reactivated quickly with growing international tensions, equipped with only a core of 12 Fairey Swordfish of squadron She collided shortly after with a freighter and was sent for emergency repairs in . After that, she joined the and Singapore. She never was able to catch Z force because of her speed, but made patrols. Her Swordfish were landed in Ceylon and she was then sent to Trincomanlee for complementary repairs in drydock. She participated in the raid of April 9, , but on her return was spotted off Batticaloa by a Japanese . Alert was given and soon a full squadron of 70 Japanese bombers took off. The latter eventually spotted the ship and started to bomber her. But she was eventually hit, and more hits would follow, as she was slowed down, listing heavily and was finally a stationary target. She had taken more than 40 hits when she sank, and also went down with her HMAS Vampire, the hollyhook and two supply tankers. Displacement: 10, t. Full Load Dimensions: m long, Propulsion: 2 shaft Brown-Curtis turbines, 6 Yarrow boilers, 40, hp. Top speed 25 knots, nautical miles 10 knots. Armor: Belt and decks mm. The HMS Eagle was a converted battleship, an identical solution which inspired later the conversion of the Bearn to the French and just as unsatisfactory Illustration: livery of Chile had ordered two British , Almirante Latorre and Almirante Cochrane , in , to stay on top retake the lead in the arms race between major South American navies Argentina and Brazil. If the Almirante Cochrane was delivered in and served during the war as HMS Canada , the Latorre was still laying uncompleted when the war broke out. Most of the constructions had been temporarily frozen, and the Admiralty seized all the vessels, muddling along with Chile. The completion of the Latorre was postponed and resumed at the end of the war. She was launched eventually in , and two options presented themselves, including the delivery to Chile, and its re-use by the Royal Navy, which was uncertain because of the changing role of battleships and new experiments in the field of aviation. The Admiralty, therefore, proposed in to convert it into an aircraft carrier, as it had been done for other ships, also as a test to compare the best platforms for this new type of ship. However if work began in March under the supervision of Captain Nicholson former commander of the Furious , it stretched until , with an acceptance in operational service in In the end, Eagle presented herself with the same ogival forward flight deck like HMS Hermes and a large island, including the bridges and funnels plus a military with rangefinders, used by a powerful secondary artillery in which was kept 9 6-in with rounds each. The original armored belt was kept, the bulkhead above the machinery was generally preserved, but neither the bridge nor the hangar which was only meters long was protected, mostly to preserve stability. At that time, it was the largest aircraft carrier in the world in tonnage terms , although its speed and fleet was limited. He gave full satisfaction in operations in and . Then she traveled to South America, and was finally assigned in to China. In it was modernized, including new rangefinders, transmitters, and a reinforced DCA including quadruple 40 mm carriages. She was ready when the war started, then in Singapore. A plane bomb accident detonating in March , saw her in repairs again in Singapore. She recovered from the Deikheila depot three Sea Gladiator hunters, who became, in fact at the time, the only hunters on board the Mediterranean when they were assigned. Then she participated in the battle of Calabria in June , without convincing success. She then attacked the port of Augusta in , sinking an Italian her third , while her three fighters defeated an attack by Italian bombers. Two other destroyers escorting a convoy were sunk thereafter. She also patrolled between Malta and Alexandria. In fact, it would be too long to describe all these operations in detail. At the beginning of , HMS Eagle sailed to South Africa, with Nelson, and fro there patrolled the South Atlantic against successful German raiders, auxiliary cruisers and blockade runners. In October, she returned to for her large refit. In particular, the quadruple mounts were exchanged for single 20mm Oerlikon cannons, while the 2-pdr battery was reinforced. She continued her journey to Malta where the fight became epic. She then participated in a number of escort missions in the Mediterranean, often to or from Gibraltar and Malta or . The ship, despite its strong ASW compartmentation, sank in four minutes, but miraculously the sailors, airmen, mechanics, and 67 officers were saved by surrounding ships, which was extremely rare. The four sea hurricanes that were on the flight deck managed to take off, but men, mostly trapped in the engine room, disappeared with the HMS Eagle, which was by then twenty years of service. Displacement: 18, t. Propulsion: 4 shaft Admiralty turbines, 32 Yarrow boilers, 24, hp. Top speed 25 knots, nautical miles at 16 knots. Armor: Maximum mm. Inheriting a famous baptismal name and honored in the tradition of the Royal Navy, Ark Royal or Ark Raleigh was the second aircraft carrier built on plans from the start, the first being the Hermes Significantly larger than the USS Ranger contemporary American, he also remained well armed, but only fast antiaircraft parts. The old pieces in portholes that had been preserved for some buildings were no longer appropriate… By contrast this system of separate elevators for the two sheds was not retained later. His protection was light, no doubt too much. Despite its bulges and subdivision below the did not prevent the penetration of a torpedo, which was fatal. The operational career of HMS Ark Royal was short: Launched on April 13, to Cammel Laird for the anecdote, the wife of the first Lord of the Sea at the time, Maud Hoare, had had to do it four times to break the traditional bottle of champagne at launch, sad omens , the aircraft carrier was accepted in service in December Its fleet blackburn Roc, Skua and Fairey Swordfish did not change much until Later, he operated near Kattegat, and was attacked and presumed sunk by the Germans. Missed in reality, he defended himself with his antiaircraft artillery against the Luftwaffe Dornier bombers. He then worked with the K force and the Renown in the Indian Ocean. He then joined on 25 April the force to counter the off Norway. Escorted by Curlew and Berwick cruisers and 5 destroyers, he was to protect the squadron cruisers against the active Luftwaffe. On the return, on the 29th, he was attacked by He and Ju, without any harm. He returned to operate at Narvik, providing his protection, and foiled another attack. Subsequently, he was requisitioned for Operation Alphabet. The French campaign had begun, and British troops were being repatriated to France. He tried to find the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau who had fallen unexpectedly on the Glorious and his escort and sent him to the bottom. He remained anchored in , then on June 9th was the evacuation of Narvik. A device managed to locate the Scharnhorst, and the Ark Royal triggered a Blackburn Skua attack at midnight in the fog. It was a failure, 8 of 12 aircraft were aboard, and the German ship escaped without damage, while in the confusion and fog, two destroyers escorting the aircraft carrier collided with him, which required repairs. Ark Royal was then sent to the Mediterranean and participated with the and under the command of Admiral Sommerville, to Operation Catapult. Her aircraft provided goal data to the battleships shelling the harbor of Mers-el-Kebir, then she tried to sink Strasbourg without success or giving that appearance? The next day her aircraft torpedoed and finished off the Dunkirk, stranded in the harbor. Force H then joined Gibraltar and was assigned to Malta convoys. Her attacks of the Italian Air Force were thwarted, and the vessel joined Alexandria without a hitch. Subsequently, she joined the raid against Dakar in October, her planes attacking the base facilities. She would return home for refueling and refit, then returned in the Mediterranean, participating in November-December in Operation Collar , supplying Malta, as part of the escort, providing air protection. She then participated in attacks of Italian objectives bases, arsenals and ports, as Genoa and La Spezia , then returned home in February She was then sent to the North Atlantic, tracking the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, but without success. She later returned to Gibraltar and again participated in supply missions to Malta in May Operation Tiger. On May 26, the carrier was called in to try to stop the Bismarck. Her aircraft located the battleship en route to Saint Nazaire. Swordfish torpedo bombers were sent into the fog, wrongly identified and attacked the Sheffield instead, which was unknowingly between the aircraft carrier and the German ship. A second attack located the Bismarck, and despite a fierce and deadly AA fire, one of the last aircraft placed a hit on the . This was the decisive moment. The Bismarck, condemned to make circles, was caught by the bulk of the fleet and sent by the bottom. The aircraft carrier was hit by a torpedo on the port side and quickly listed. She was slowly sinking but the safety teams made wonders and stabilized her, giving the destroyer HMS Legion sufficient time to recover the entire crew, except for the sailor Mitchell, who was in the torpedo area. On the 14th she was being towed by a destroyer towards Gibraltar but sank en route. Displacement: 22, t. Fully load Dimensions: Propulsion: 2 shafts, 3 Parsons steam turbines, 3 TE engines, boilers, 80, hp. Armour: Belt mm, decks 90 mm. At that point most admiralties still had serious doubts about the carrier genre, but soon, the new weapon system would really ruled the game and WW2 was its making. She was followed by three series of a new concept: These were the 18, tons Colossus class 10 ships laid down in completed in , built by using as many common components as possible, and the next Majestic class six 17, tons carriers quasi-identical but never completed in time, as the Centaur class, eight 24, tons carriers laid down in but only completed well after the war, often after many modifications. These ships had long careers under other flags. They often became the first aircraft carriers of many countries that never had that chance before, like Australia, Canada, , Argentina, Holland, Brazil, or even France. In all, only 14 fleet aircraft carriers were operated by in all during the war. Indeed, less glamorous perhaps, the bulk of daily routine of convoy escorts in the Atlantic was taken in hands by smaller, slower ship. The first was a prototype, a conversion of the recently captured German freighter Hannover, as HMS Audacity , completed in June when the was it its hardest. In parallel were delivered the Lend-lease HMS Archer, Avenger class 3 ships , and improved Attacker class 10 ships, Ameer class 23 ships built at Sun or Seattle-Tacoma with the same recipes as the Liberty ships. HMS fencer was a lend-lease Attacker class escort carrier. At last, the most interesting carriers built in Britain specifically in the context of convoy escort were the MAC, or Merchant Aircraft Carriers. They were basically merchant vessels with merchant crew sailing under the red ensign and with a small navy complement of men for the AA armament and small fleet air arm complement. These were seven grain carriers and thirteen oil tankers of the Empire class all converted in So in total that would make for a total of 64 convoy escort carriers, and a grand total of 78 aircraft carriers operated or built, not bad for a relatively small country compared to the . It was probably the most memorable class of British aircraft carriers during the war. Derived from the Ark Royal , but cheaper, the Illustrious class were innovated with a feature in particular that made all the difference in operation: Their flight deck and hangar were fully armored. They had only one hangar, but space had been extremely streamlined, so their air group, was 33 aircraft, and up to 57 with those stored outside on the flight deck, versus 60 overall on the Ark Royal. This was still sufficient in operations, but due to this additional weight, they displaced as much as the Ark Royal despite of much smaller dimensions. These ships were built and put into service at the beginning of the war May for the Illustrious, November for the Victorious and May for the Indomitable , so their training time was limited. But they proved to be the best aircraft carriers in service in the Royal Navy. They went into service at a pivotal moment for Great Britain, with the French defeat. She was posted first in the Mediterranean, and participated in almost all operations, including the famous raid on Taranto, a decisive success against the Italian Navy and the Malta convoys. She was pounded by the Luftwaffe but came out unscathed. In January , she joined Alexandria, then the Norfolk arsenal for long repairs and improvements. In September , she was back in the Mediterranean to cover the landings in Sicily. Then from to the Japanese surrender, she was seen in almost all operations in Burma and Indonesia. She then spent a year escorting convoys in the North Atlantic and on the Murmansk, northern route. In the Mediterranean, she was deployed to attend the difficult job of supplying Malta Operation Pedestal and participated in Operation Berserk. She was also present during the landings in North Africa Operation Torch. Subsequently, she was loaned to the American — shortly after refitting to Norfolk, under the name of USS Robin to participate in Pacific operations after the losses of Santa Cruz and Midway. She participated in the attack on New Georgia with the Saratoga. In September he was back at Scapa Flow and in British service. Until March she went into drydock for a refit. Then she resumed convoys escorts on the North Atlantic, and repeatedly attacked the Tirpitz at anchor in Norway. She was the first British aircraft carrier to test the English version of the Vought Corsair. She then joined the . She was deployed in Okinawa, hit by three but survived. She had been planned to participate in Operation Olympic The invasion of , but capitulation prevented it. Her career was not over yet: Taken in hand for major overhaul from to in she would continue to serve until , participating among others to the attack on Suez See the cold war section. Her motto was Per coelum et aequorem victrix Through air and sea victorious. She started her career in November on the Far East , unfortunately, she struck an unlisted reef and was docked at the crucial moment when Force Z in Singapore would have much benefited from air cover. The situation being compromised she was ordered to sail to the Indian Ocean to support the action of the admiral Sommerville and she was then based in Ceylon in January With her sister-ship HMS Formidable, they were then the only British aircraft carriers in this area, the Hermes being by then obsolete and nearly useless because of her tiny air group. Fairey Fulmar planes being prepared to take off off April Back in the Mediterranean, he participated in Operation Pedestal, vital for Malta, which was a success. Then it was Gibraltar, before joining the Norfolk arsenal in the USA for complete repairs, reinforcement of weapons and various equipment. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website. Be the first to review this product. This websites use cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Accept More information. My Account. Search by author, title or keyword Toggle navigation. Product was successfully added to your shopping cart. With war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier programme in the late s. This was quickly followed by others. British Aircraft Carriers : Angus Konstam :

With war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier programme in the late s. This was quickly followed by others. Smaller and tougher than their US cousins Britsih cariers were designed to f. Add to Wishlist Add to Compare. Details With war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier programme in the late s. Smaller and tougher than their US cousins Britsih cariers were designed to fight in tight confines rather than wide oceans. This book tells the story of the small but resillient carriers and the crucial role they played in the British war effort. Additional Information Coming Soon No. Submit Review. Secure payment guarantee. Sign Up to Our Newsletter Subscribe. Later, he operated near Kattegat, and was attacked and presumed sunk by the Germans. Missed in reality, he defended himself with his antiaircraft artillery against the Luftwaffe Dornier bombers. He then worked with the K force and the Renown in the Indian Ocean. He then joined on 25 April the force to counter the Kriegsmarine off Norway. Escorted by Curlew and Berwick cruisers and 5 destroyers, he was to protect the squadron cruisers against the active Luftwaffe. On the return, on the 29th, he was attacked by He and Ju, without any harm. He returned to operate at Narvik, providing his protection, and foiled another attack. Subsequently, he was requisitioned for Operation Alphabet. The French campaign had begun, and British troops were being repatriated to France. He tried to find the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau who had fallen unexpectedly on the Glorious and his escort and sent him to the bottom. He remained anchored in Trondheim, then on June 9th was the evacuation of Narvik. A device managed to locate the Scharnhorst, and the Ark Royal triggered a Blackburn Skua attack at midnight in the fog. It was a failure, 8 of 12 aircraft were aboard, and the German ship escaped without damage, while in the confusion and fog, two destroyers escorting the aircraft carrier collided with him, which required repairs. Ark Royal was then sent to the Mediterranean and participated with the force H and under the command of Admiral Sommerville, to Operation Catapult. Her aircraft provided goal data to the battleships shelling the harbor of Mers-el-Kebir, then she tried to sink Strasbourg without success or giving that appearance? The next day her aircraft torpedoed and finished off the Dunkirk, stranded in the harbor. Force H then joined Gibraltar and was assigned to Malta convoys. Her attacks of the Italian Air Force were thwarted, and the vessel joined Alexandria without a hitch. Subsequently, she joined the raid against Dakar in October, her planes attacking the base facilities. She would return home for refueling and refit, then returned in the Mediterranean, participating in November-December in Operation Collar , supplying Malta, as part of the escort, providing air protection. She then participated in attacks of Italian objectives bases, arsenals and ports, as Genoa and La Spezia , then returned home in February She was then sent to the North Atlantic, tracking the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, but without success. She later returned to Gibraltar and again participated in supply missions to Malta in May Operation Tiger. On May 26, the carrier was called in to try to stop the Bismarck. Her aircraft located the battleship en route to Saint Nazaire. Swordfish torpedo bombers were sent into the fog, wrongly identified and attacked the Sheffield instead, which was unknowingly between the aircraft carrier and the German ship. A second attack located the Bismarck, and despite a fierce and deadly AA fire, one of the last aircraft placed a hit on the rudder. This was the decisive moment. The Bismarck, condemned to make circles, was caught by the bulk of the fleet and sent by the bottom. The aircraft carrier was hit by a torpedo on the port side and quickly listed. She was slowly sinking but the safety teams made wonders and stabilized her, giving the destroyer HMS Legion sufficient time to recover the entire crew, except for the sailor Mitchell, who was in the torpedo area. On the 14th she was being towed by a destroyer towards Gibraltar but sank en route. Displacement: 22, t. Fully load Dimensions: Propulsion: 2 shafts, 3 Parsons steam turbines, 3 TE engines, boilers, 80, hp. Armour: Belt mm, decks 90 mm. At that point most admiralties still had serious doubts about the carrier genre, but soon, the new weapon system would really ruled the game and WW2 was its making. She was followed by three series of a new concept: These were the 18, tons Colossus class 10 ships laid down in completed in , built by using as many common components as possible, and the next Majestic class six 17, tons carriers quasi-identical but never completed in time, as the Centaur class, eight 24, tons carriers laid down in but only completed well after the war, often after many modifications. These ships had long cold war careers under other flags. They often became the first aircraft carriers of many countries that never had that chance before, like Australia, Canada, India, Argentina, Holland, Brazil, or even France. In all, only 14 fleet aircraft carriers were operated by Great Britain in all during the war. Indeed, less glamorous perhaps, the bulk of daily routine of convoy escorts in the Atlantic was taken in hands by smaller, slower ship. The first was a prototype, a conversion of the recently captured German freighter Hannover, as HMS Audacity , completed in June when the battle of the Atlantic was it its hardest. In parallel were delivered the Lend-lease HMS Archer, Avenger class 3 ships , and improved Attacker class 10 ships, Ameer class 23 ships built at Sun or Seattle-Tacoma with the same recipes as the Liberty ships. HMS fencer was a lend-lease Attacker class escort carrier. At last, the most interesting carriers built in Britain specifically in the context of convoy escort were the MAC, or Merchant Aircraft Carriers. They were basically merchant vessels with merchant crew sailing under the red ensign and with a small navy complement of men for the AA armament and small fleet air arm complement. These were seven grain carriers and thirteen oil tankers of the Empire class all converted in So in total that would make for a total of 64 convoy escort carriers, and a grand total of 78 aircraft carriers operated or built, not bad for a relatively small country compared to the United States. It was probably the most memorable class of British aircraft carriers during the war. Derived from the Ark Royal , but cheaper, the Illustrious class were innovated with a feature in particular that made all the difference in operation: Their flight deck and hangar were fully armored. They had only one hangar, but space had been extremely streamlined, so their air group, was 33 aircraft, and up to 57 with those stored outside on the flight deck, versus 60 overall on the Ark Royal. This was still sufficient in operations, but due to this additional weight, they displaced as much as the Ark Royal despite of much smaller dimensions. These ships were built and put into service at the beginning of the war May for the Illustrious, November for the Victorious and May for the Indomitable , so their training time was limited. But they proved to be the best aircraft carriers in service in the Royal Navy. They went into service at a pivotal moment for Great Britain, with the French defeat. She was posted first in the Mediterranean, and participated in almost all operations, including the famous raid on Taranto, a decisive success against the Italian Navy and the Malta convoys. She was pounded by the Luftwaffe but came out unscathed. In January , she joined Alexandria, then the Norfolk arsenal for long repairs and improvements. In September , she was back in the Mediterranean to cover the landings in Sicily. Then from to the Japanese surrender, she was seen in almost all operations in Burma and Indonesia. She then spent a year escorting convoys in the North Atlantic and on the Murmansk, northern route. In the Mediterranean, she was deployed to attend the difficult job of supplying Malta Operation Pedestal and participated in Operation Berserk. She was also present during the landings in North Africa Operation Torch. Subsequently, she was loaned to the American — shortly after refitting to Norfolk, under the name of USS Robin to participate in Pacific operations after the losses of Santa Cruz and Midway. She participated in the attack on New Georgia with the Saratoga. In September he was back at Scapa Flow and in British service. Until March she went into drydock for a refit. Then she resumed convoys escorts on the North Atlantic, and repeatedly attacked the Tirpitz at anchor in Norway. She was the first British aircraft carrier to test the English version of the Vought Corsair. She then joined the Far East. She was deployed in Okinawa, hit by three kamikaze but survived. She had been planned to participate in Operation Olympic The invasion of Japan , but capitulation prevented it. Her career was not over yet: Taken in hand for major overhaul from to in Portsmouth she would continue to serve until , participating among others to the attack on Suez See the cold war section. Her motto was Per coelum et aequorem victrix Through air and sea victorious. She started her career in November on the Far East Dutch East Indies , unfortunately, she struck an unlisted reef and was docked at the crucial moment when Force Z in Singapore would have much benefited from air cover. The situation being compromised she was ordered to sail to the Indian Ocean to support the action of the admiral Sommerville and she was then based in Ceylon in January With her sister-ship HMS Formidable, they were then the only British aircraft carriers in this area, the Hermes being by then obsolete and nearly useless because of her tiny air group. Fairey Fulmar planes being prepared to take off off Madagascar April Back in the Mediterranean, he participated in Operation Pedestal, vital for Malta, which was a success. Then it was Gibraltar, before joining the Norfolk arsenal in the USA for complete repairs, reinforcement of weapons and various equipment. He emerged in February Attacked by Junkers Ju when he attended the landing in Sicily Husky operation , he was forced to return to the US, for passage in dry dock that immobilized until February He then returned to the Far East, joining his sister-ship the Victorious, then the Illustrious for the reconquest of the Dutch Indies. She was struck in May by a Kamikaze and was in Hong Kong when the war ended. She was completely rebuilt after the war and her career ended in She was accepted into service in November At that time the situation was critical for the Royal Navy which was busy on all fronts. Her career was just as full as her sisters. Her first assignment was Gibraltar. She participated with the Cunningham fleet in the decisive battle of Cape Matapan , where three of the best Italian cruisers were sent from the bottom. She was hit in May by two bombs by Stukas and her repairs lasted until She was re-equipped by Grumann Martlet, the British version of the Wildcat. She thus assured a permanent air cover during the campaign of and that of Sicily. She then went to Scapa Flow to be refitted and prepared for the harsh conditions of the Arctic. A twin-mount 40mm Bofors AA. After a dry dock refit, joined the Pacific to finish off the Japanese, re-equipped with Avengers and Corsair. She was attacked at Okinawa by waves of . Thanks to her armored bridge she managed to get through but one of the impacts was particularly violent, killing 8 and wounding The fire that resulted from the impact the aircraft passed through the armored bridge and put one of the fuel tanks burning was particularly violent and slow to control. Bold emergency repairs allowed her to be operational in a few hours after the fire was extinguished, electricity re-established on board, as she was able to operate normally again. However repeated impacts made in-depth repairs too expensive, and the Formidable was placed in reserve in and sold in to be broken up instead. Displacement: 23, t. Full load Dimensions: Propulsion: 3 propellers, 3 Brown Curtis steam turbines, 6 Admiralty boilers, 11, hp. Maximum speed: Armor: Hangar belt and partitions mm, bridge 76 mm, central reduced from 64 to mm. Crew: , with the air crew. A development of the Illustrious class, these ships were laid down at Fairfield and John Brown in February and November They had slightly longer The lower hangar was x 62 x 14 feets while the top hangar was x 62 x 15 feets, not enough to allow the Vought Corsair to be carried inside. The ships also carried 94, gallons, enough to operate 81 aircraft in all, 60 stored inside and the rest on the flying deck. Their armored belt was not extending above the lower hangar deck, however it extended over the main deck and there was no upper protected deck. Magazines were protected by separated in crowns. ASW compartmentation was the same as the illustrious. The machinery was larger, with four shafts instead of three, eight admiralty boilers instead of six, rated for , shp in total rather than , making it possible to reach a top speed of 32 knots. The exhausts were placed higher up in a conspicuous funnel. The ships carried either or tons Indefatigable of oil. The armament was augmented by eight 2-pdr, four single Bofors and in total 51 or 40 Oerlikon 20 mm guns. Both ships were launched in December and completed in April and August Indefatigable attacked Japanese-controlled oil refineries in on her way and participated in Operation Iceberg or British name for the cover of operations around Okinawa in March—April Implacable stayed home meanwhile because of a refit and arrived in June Both carriers mobilized their air complement to attack the Japanese Home Islands in July and August Both carriers were home in and resumed their troops transport duties before being placed in reserve in She in fact replaced HMS Implacable, placed into reserve and then modified into a proper training carrier along the same lines in Modernization of was planned but eventually canceled as too expensive and lengthy. Both carriers were therefore decommissioned in , sold in — Displacement: 32, long tons 32, t Fully loaded Dimensions: Armament: 8 twin QF 4. Crew: with the air crew in The Colossus class Design Light Fleet Carriers was the last class of wing carriers to be completed early enough to participate in the partly conflict, and arguably the most ambitious and prolific in the history of Royal Navy. These buildings were, however, much more modest than the Essex, to which they were compared. There were no fewer than ten buildings started under the emergency program in Started in , most were started in , HMS Colossus received service active in The last two, Perseus and Pioneer, were converted as auxiliaries, ship-workshops of the fleet. They were reduced and lightened versions, simplified Illustrious, possessing a powerful DCA and a much better protection, resulting from the experience of the beginning of the conflict, in Their watertight subdivision for example was improved and allowing to continue to float with several submerged compartments. Their fleet included 37 aircraft, which was little related to the American Essex nearly Three others constituted an underclass, very modified and slightly enlarged Majestic class. The Colossus arrived at a moment when the Battle of the Atlantic was about to be won, and the Arctic Road closed. They went to work and offered their support for the Mediterranean operations in , North Atlantic landing of June , but especially the Far East, where most of them distinguished themselves. When latecomers, they had a long career after the war. In addition to the Majestic who succeeded them, the Centaurs followed in but were completed in the s. The latter were still partly active during the Falklands war. Displacement: 13 t. Fully loaded Dimensions: ,3 overall x 24,8 flight deck x 7,1 m maximum draught Propulsion: 2 shaft, Parsons geared turbines, 4 Admiralty boilers 40 hp. Armor: Maximum mm Crew: with the air crew in Both the Majestic and Colossus are placed in the same basket by most authors since they both proceed from the very same light design and program. The class was launched between September and September , but construction was suspended at the end of the war. They were all completed post-war with for some, scores of modifications, except one: HMS Leviathan which was never completed and broken up incomplete in The late date give an indication the yard waited for a foreign purchase, which never arrived. After the war indeed, this famous class was mostly sold at a very fair price on the international market, that is why they became so popular during the cold war. There was no alternative besides recycling their hulls since the Royal Navy had no such use for relatively small aircraft carriers, which had troubles operating the new, heavy and large jets. Despite of this, these ships thrived under other colors due to their complement of light, small aircrafts such as the American A4 Skyhawk and vertical-propulsion Harriers. The design was similar to the Colossus except for reduced fuel and petrol stowage of 75, gallons to compensate for strengthened decks and fittings to operate larger crafts. INS Vikrant, the last of the design aircraft carrier was in service until and scrapped in India — Displacement: 14, t. Fully loaded Dimensions: ,8 overall x 24,4 flight deck x 7 m maximum draught Propulsion: 2 shaft, Parsons geared turbines, 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 40 hp. The last class derived from the design was modified, longer and wider, although still generally similar. However four were cancelled in October and were never laid down. Of the rest, all four ships were seriously modified after the war launched , emerging as capable to carry modern jets and kept in service with the Royal Navy for most of the cold war. Design-wise, they were larger and displaced more as it has been said, and the specifications given below are related to their initial design, not after the s modifications. The other reasons of their size was a much larger powerplant, made of larger 3-drum Admiralty boilers and capable of delivering 76, shp instead of 40, shp, which traduced to a top speed of They also carried more oil, tons instead of , and more planes, 42 instead of 37 piston-powered. In addition their armament was better, with four twin 4. Their deck was thick enough to carry and operate 30, ibs aircraft and the catapult was tailored to throw this weight at 75 knots. The lifts were also larger at 54 x 44 feets, and the hangar taller at 17 feet 6 inches. Displacement: 13, t. Fully loaded Dimensions: ,63 overall x 27,43 flight deck x 7. Armor: Maximum mm Crew: with the air crew. By that time not only her design was already obsolete, but her intended role became a straight use as a front line carrier. At the origin this was a project of the Admiralty motivated by reports from the of —35 which showed an airplane specialized depot ship could be quite useful in operations. Later the concept was seen sound enough to convert two other fleet carriers into the same lines, the HMS persus and Pioneer. She was however somewhat overweight as completed, and stabilization was worked out. Her petrol capacity was a generous 36, imperial gallons and she was equipped with a self-propelled lighter under the rear of the flight deck to recover and transfer disabled aircraft. Notice the difference in height of the former. Her main armament comprised four twin mounts calibre QF 4 in Mk XVI mm dual purpose guns and four quadruple 40 mm 1. She could carry and operate 33 aircraft if needed all contained by the , so in maximal capacity, about twice that number with the flight deck crowded in pure carrier mode. She was also armoured, with a 2 in 51 mm flight deck, her magazines protected by 2—3 in 51—76 mm and the Bulkheads by 1. HMS Unicorn after the war. HMS Unicorn was started her career by providing air cover during the landings at Salerno, in September She was later transferred to the Eastern Fleet, Indian Ocean two months later. She supported the other aircraft carriers of the fleet until November She was based all this time in the and Philippine Islands and made frequent trips between these areas of operations until the end of the war. However she was recommissioned in to sail for the East Fleet and support the carriers there, unloading aircraft in Singapore in June and participated in the Korean War. During this conflict, she carried aircraft, troops, and hardware as well as supported other carriers as planned in her initial role. As an anecdote, she became the only allied aircraft carrier to fire directly on North Korean coastal observers, with her own artillery. When back home, she was placed in reserve, stricken in and sold the year after to shipbreakers. Fully loaded Dimensions: overall x 27,5 flight deck x 7 m maximum draught Propulsion: 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 4 Admiralty WT boilers, 40, shp. Although these carriers falls into the cold war category, they were studied from and laid down in , therefore during the war, registered in the development of British wartime fleet aircraft carriers. The flight deck was m long by Their two catapults could launch 30, Ibs each at 75 knots. Their total square area was the greatest achieved yet at Petrol stowage was , gallons, and protection was 4-in over 1-in steel for the flight deck, 2. Total oil capacity was larger than previous ships, at tons. Powerplant-wise they were given four geared Parsons turbines coupled to eight admiralty 3-drum boilers for a rated output of , shp allowing a top speed of 32 knots, like previous carriers. They had a very active carrier during the cold war and were eventually stricken in Certainly, the largest British carriers projected during WW2, these They were the British equivalents of the Midway class. They were ordered in July , but planning meant they would have been laid down only in the first half of , under the program. The first two were planned to be completed in In however financial consideration made them all canceled. What they could have been? The design was altered much between and as the war progressed and carriers were hard pressed in combat. A 5- propellers solution was once considered, as well as a fully armored flight deck and hangars. But practice dictated the rest, and the crews preferred open hangars for fast operation and ventilation. The feet by feet flight deck was dotted by two centerline 54 x 46 feet elevators and two edge lifts 56 x 35 feet, plus the usual 30, Ibs-capable catapults. The final protection included a less well-protected flight deck, but the hangar roof took the bulk of the protection, to use a sandwich effect and reduce the top-heavy characteristics. The hangar had a 57,00 square feet with a clear hight of For ASW protection, al four engine rooms were separated and both magazines and steering were boxed with armour. Compartmentation was similar to the Eagle class. The Armament was also the same but with the MkVI dual purpose gun models. Escort carriers. This category was developed during WW2 to care for a specific need, giving the superiority of ASW air warfare. Less glamour or known than the fleet carriers, these ships were most often based on existing civilian freighters to gain time and it was still suitable to their function. They privileged range over speed, and were far cheaper than military vessels. In numbers alone, they blasted all records, with perhaps of these in service throughout the war on the allied side. HMS Nairana, from the sole Britush escort carrier class of the war just three ships. This was also the name of a WW1 carrier. She was the first British escort carrier, first operational, and second built in the world a mere 19 days after USS Long Island was commissioned. She was quickly converted to face the events in the Atlantic and the cruel lack of escorts. Ship a little experimental, its superstructures had given way to a wooden flight deck, but neither lift nor hangar. As a result, the six aircraft on board were stowed and covered at the stern. Her large holds were perfect to store fuel and ammunition and be used as a supply ship. It was during one of these missions that she was targeted by U The first torpedo immobilized her, which allowed the submersible to easily place two other torpedoes, cutting her in two. She capsized and sank, taking away almost all her crew as convoy escorts avoided stopping for fear of U-Bootes and only a few were recovered later, saved by their inflatables or safety jackets. Displacement: t. Fully loaded Dimensions: Propulsion: 1 propeller, 1 diesel, hp. Top speed: 15 knots. This unique ship was the second reconversion of a civilian ship. Originally, she was built at Caldeon Shipyards, Dundee, as Telemachus, to serve as a refrigerated ship meat carrier in for the Alfred Holt line. Shortly after she was requisitioned by the Ministry of Transport to serve as a military freighter and renamed Empire Activity. Finally, the admiralty took her back in January for conversion into an escort carrier, under the new name HMS Activity D This reconversion was fast and she was launched in May, completed in August of the same year. However defects had her sent to Rosyth for modifications. Eventually, she was not in service until January , as a training vessel, for pilots to learn carrier landings. She was then assigned to escort convoys in the North Atlantic, a task she carried out until March , operating the Naval Squadron She was then assigned to the very harsh convoys to Russia. Her planes succeed during these missions to spot and sink two U-Bootes and damage three others. From May to August , she escorted no less than 12 other convoys before being sent into a dry dock. She was then assigned to carry aircraft to the Far East, linking Gibraltar to Trincomanlee. From March to September she carried out transport missions between Burma and Sydney. After the war, she carried troops back home. She was disarmed in after and placed in reserve. Stricken from the military lists, she was sold to Glen Lines, who converted her back into a freighter. She continued her civilian life under the name of Breconshire until sold to Japanese shipbreakers in Propulsion: 2 propellers, 2 diesels, 12, hp. Maximum speed: 18 knots. Equipments: 1 lift, 1 catapult Crew: Three cargo ships were requisitioned after construction began in and launched in , completed in December for Vindex and Nairana and in March for Campania, a little larger meters, 15, T Fully Loaded. Design-wise, they were converted from merchant ships, only able to accommodate a small composite squadron of about 15—20 aircraft and their only heavy armament was a single twin 4 inch Dual Purpose, AA gun. They had a traditional riveted and steel flight decks. The hangar was closed and therefore they had one lift. The propulsion was a pair of civilian-grade diesel engines rated for 11, brake horsepower BHP total. The sixteen 20 mm Oerlikon AA cannons were placed on eight twin mounts. The aircraft complement varied: They are known to have operated the Hawker Sea Hurricane, Grumman Martlet, Fairey Fulmar or Fairey Swordfish, the composition varying along missions requirements. The latter allowed to spot low-level aircraft. HMS Vindex was not in action until January , but all three multiplied convoy escorts missions in , their venerable Fairey Swordfish sinking or damaging some German U-boats while at least two German long-range reconnaissance aircraft were shot down by their fighters. All three survived the late Atlantic campaign and HMS Nairana became the first Dutch carrier, being leased from to under the name of Karel Doorman. Technical specifications Displacement: Campania 12, long tons 12, t , Nairana 14, long tons 14, t , Vindex 13, long tons 13, t Length: ft m to Liners have always had the preference for basic conversion to aircraft carriers: They are faster and more spacious. Capable of 18 knots And fitted with a diesel , and large enough to operate aircraft, HMS Pretoria Castle had a large hangar, an elevator and a catapult. She spent her career doing escort missions, but she also served to train naval airmen, and was resold in and converted back to civilian duties. Technical specifications Displacement: 19, t. The Archer was the first of the British escort aircraft carriers obtained under the lend-lease agreement, built as standard cargo ships and immediately converted into aircraft carriers. The British shipyards were already overwhelmed by the construction of many light units. The Archer, former Mormacland launched in , entered service on November 17, , and served in the Atlantic. AA artillery was increased in by four 2-pdr 40 mm British Bofors guns in twin mounts. For underwater protection and stability, ballast was filled with 1, tons of concrete that added to 1, tons of permanent seawater. HMS Archer survived the conflict and after many missions, she will be returned in in the US who transformed her back into a . The rest of her career is recorded on civil registers. Technical specifications Displacement: 10, t. Top speed: Although they are not the best-known aircraft carriers, the MAC-ships Merchant Aircraft Carriers not to be confused with the other MACs Merchant Armed Cruisers , are singular units that illustrated the recipes of extreme conversions. Indeed, these hangars, catapults, lifts and all the specific equipment of real aircraft carriers had to be sacrificed to ensure that the holds remained fully operational but whose entire upper part was leveled to make room for a flight deck. HMS Audacity had in served as a model. So a few aircraft were parked at the rear of the flight deck, taking off on the available runway length, which was fairly short. It often happened that these ships left the convoy to position themselves in the wind. One can easily imagine the problem of managing these planes securely moored to the runway, covered and subject to salty corrosion, heavy weather and frost. The other essential feature what these ships were bulk carriers, still used to carry cereals and oil. They were slow None of these ships were lost in battle, and they brought as a bonus to their vigilant defense the American wheat from the Great Midwestern plains to British bakers. The second series of MAC-Ships concerned tankers. They were a little taller than grain carriers, better armed, but had neither hangar nor lift.

BRITISH AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

We use cookies to provide our services , for example, to keep track of items stored in your shopping basket, prevent fraudulent activity, improve the security of our services, keep track of your specific preferences e. Performance and Analytics. ON OFF. We use cookies to serve you certain types of ads , including ads relevant to your interests on Book Depository and to work with approved third parties in the process of delivering ad content, including ads relevant to your interests, to measure the effectiveness of their ads, and to perform services on behalf of Book Depository. Cancel Save settings. Home Contact us Help Free delivery worldwide. Free delivery worldwide. Bestselling Series. Harry Potter. Popular Features. Home Learning. British Aircraft Carriers Description With war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier program in the late s. This was quickly followed by others, including the highly-successful Illustrious class. Smaller and tougher than their American cousins, the British carriers were designed to fight in the tight confines of the and the Mediterranean. Over the next six years, these carriers battled the in every theatre, attacking Italian naval bases, hunting the Bismark, and even joining the fight in the Pacific. This book tells the story of the small, but resilient, carriers and the crucial role they played in the British war effort. Product details Format Paperback 48 pages Dimensions x x 4. Other books in this series. Add to basket. Tanks in the Battle of the Bulge Steven J. British Battleships 2 : Vol. German E-boats Gordon Williamson. Technicals Leigh Neville. Japanese Tanks Steven Zaloga. Armored Trains Steven Zaloga. Review quote "This excellent survey of the craft's capabilities is a must for any in- depth military, aircraft or World War II collection! One that will be pulled from the shelves time after time and one I can highly recommend to you. About Angus Konstam Angus Konstam is an acclaimed military and naval historian, and one of Osprey's most experienced and respected authors, with over 35 titles in print. These Osprey titles include British Battlecruisers , British Motor Torpedo Boats , and the forthcoming two-volume study; British Battleships , all of which form part of the New Vanguard list. He has also written over two dozen larger books for other publishers. A former naval officer, underwater archaeologist and maritime museum curator, Angus has a long and passionate love affair with the sea, maritime history and warships. He makes regular television and radio appearances, and has held events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Angus is now a full-time writer and historian, as well as being a board member of the Society of Authors, and Publishing Scotland. Biographical Note. Angus Konstam is an acclaimed military and naval historian, and one of Osprey's most experienced and respected authors, with over 35 titles in print. He has also written over two dozen larger books for other publishers. A former naval officer, underwater archaeologist and maritime museum curator, Angus has a long and passionate love affair with the sea, maritime history and warships. He makes regular television and radio appearances, and has held events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Angus is now a full-time writer and historian, as well as being a board member of the Society of Authors, and Publishing Scotland. He currently lives in Edinburgh. For more details visit the author's website at www. Carriers in Action 2, words Provides a brief description of three actions involving British aircraft carriers; Taranto , Matapan and the sinking of the Bismarck Bibiography words. You may also be interested in the following product s. More info. Military History. Subscribe to our newsletter. Subscribe To see how we use this information about you and how you can unsubscribe from our newsletter subscriptions, view our Privacy Policy. Related Content. See all related content. Google Books Search. Bundle Offer! https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4637594/normal_601f9e5f665ed.pdf https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/1ff49493-d88b-480e-a1cb-b2cfc96e5246/einvernehmliche-anderung-und-aufhebung-von-vertragen- 930.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9587070/UploadedFiles/453246D9-BEBD-E877-C5AF-859EC65BB6EC.pdf https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/324fe444-1bbb-4a7c-a1cc-31f5b499c358/eine-kribbelnde-reise-in-sich-selbst-neue-denkkultur-neue- lernkultur-neue-handlungskultur-327.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9589857/UploadedFiles/D4C9D557-8F29-DD7F-6D78-51E1611787F5.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9590495/UploadedFiles/2C1737AF-1229-6F8F-92C4-3C065F9B56FC.pdf