 |
| Career (United Kingdom) |
 |
| Ordered: |
Mid 1942 |
| Builder: |
Cammell Laird |
| Laid down: |
3 May 1943 |
| Launched: |
3 May 1950 |
| Commissioned: |
25 February 1955 |
| Decommissioned: |
December 1978 |
| Struck: |
February 1979 |
| Homeport: |
HMNB Devonport |
| Motto: |
Desire Does Not Rest |
| Nickname: |
Ark |
| Fate: |
Scrapped 1980 |
| Notes: |
Pennant = R09, |
| General characteristics |
| Class and type: |
Audacious |
| Type: |
Aircraft Carrier |
| Displacement: |
36,800 tons (as built)
43,060 tons 53,950 tons full load(1978) |
| Length: |
804 ft (245 m) |
| Beam: |
112 ft (34 m) (as built)
171 ft (50 m)(1978) |
| Draught: |
10 m (33 ft) standard
9.5 m (36 ft) deep |
| Propulsion: |
8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers in 4 boiler rooms
4 sets of Parsons geared turbines, 4 shafts
Power: 152,000 shp (113000 kW) |
| Speed: |
31.5 kt (58 km/h) |
| Range: |
11,265 km (7000 miles) at 14 knots
5000 nm at 24 knots |
| Complement: |
2250 (2640 inc. air staff) |
| Armament: |
As built:
16 × 4.5 inch (8 × 2)
52 × 40 mm(6 × 6, 2 × 2, 12 × 1)
1969 refit: none |
| Aircraft carried: |
As built 50
38 after 1967-1970 refit |
HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the world's first aircraft carrier to be commissioned with an angled flight deck, preceding the first American supercarrier, USS Forrestal by nine months.
Construction and modifications
Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle which was initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Four Audacious-class ships were laid down, but two (HMS Africa and the original HMS Eagle) were cancelled at the end of the war and construction of the other two suspended for several years. Both surviving ships would be extensively upgraded throughout their lifetimes.
The ship was originally designated Irresistible, but was renamed Ark Royal prior to launch. The immediately previous Ark Royal was also an aircraft carrier, that was torpedoed off Gibraltar on 14 November 1941 with the loss of 1 member of the ship's company.
It was not until 1950 that she was finally launched, and her completion took 5 more years. In this time, she underwent redesign and, when completed, she was markedly different from her sister ship. When commissioned, she had a 5.5° partially angled flight deck, 2 steam catapults capable of launching aircraft weighing up to 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg), a deck-edge lift on the port side (the first British ship to be fitted with such a device), modified armament, and the new mirror landing system. Ark Royal was the first British ship to be constructed with these modifications, as opposed to having them added after launching.[1] These innovations allowed aircraft to land and take off from the carrier at the same time. Her flight deck as built was 800 feet (240 m) long by 112 feet (34 m) wide.
About a year after commissioning, her forward port 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns were removed to improve aircraft operations over the angled deck. Four years later, the port deck-edge lift and the forward starboard 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns were also removed. The remaining 4.5 inch guns were removed in the 1964 refit. From March 1967 to February 1970, she underwent her final major refit, partially to enable her to operate the larger Phantom and Buccaneer Mk.2 aircraft. Modifications included an 8.5° angled flight deck, new catapults and arrestor cables, a modified island and a partially new electronic suite (some of her original radars were retained). She was also fitted for 4 Sea Cat missile launchers, but they were never installed, so she emerged from this refit with no defensive armament.
Initially on entry into service, the ship had a complement of up to 50 aircraft comprising Sea Hawks, Sea Venoms, Gannets, Skyraiders and various helicopters.As later aircraft types grew in size and complexity,her air group fell to below 40 when she left service in 1978.
Operational history
Ark Royal participated in many exercises as part of the British fleet and NATO squadrons, but saw no combat duty. She was not involved in the Suez Crisis of 1956, about a year after her commissioning, because she was doing post-refit trials. In 1963, she carried out trials for a new type of Vertical/Short Take Off and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft, the Hawker P.1127, which developed into the Hawker Siddeley Harrier.
She was involved in a notorious incident on 9 November 1970 when she collided with a Soviet Kotlin class destroyer while it was shadowing Ark Royal (a common practice during the Cold War), which was in the Mediterranean to participate in a NATO exercise. Ark Royal was damaged only slightly, while the Soviet destroyer sustained minor damage and 2 missing crew. Ark Royal's commanding officer,Captain Ray Lygo, was cleared of blame at the subsequent court-martial.
The ship featured in the 1960s British television series Not Only... But Also starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. In one episode, they used the ship's catapult to shoot a piano into the sea while Moore was (supposedly) playing it. When commissions ended, items were fired off the catapult including pianos and once a toilet complete with paying-off pennant.
HMS Ark Royal with Phantom FG.1 and Buccaneer S.2 aircraft on deck, 1976
By 1970, Ark Royal now had a complement of 39 aircraft. This typically comprised 12 Phantom FG MK.1s, of 892 Squadron, 14 Buccaneer S MK.2s of 809 Squadron,4 Gannet AEW Mk.3s of B Flight 849 Squadron, 6 Sea King HAS Mk.1s of 824 Squadron, 2 Wessex HAR Mk.1s of the Ship's Flight and 1 Gannet COD MK.4. later replaced by a AEW3. The Buccaneers doubled as tanker aircraft, using buddy refuelling pods, and as long-range reconnaissance aircraft with bomb bay-mounted camera packs. In July 1976, she represented Britain at the United States Bicentennial Celebration in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Originally intended to be taken out of service in the mid 1970s, she was kept operational by cannabalizing parts from her now-decommissioned sister "HMS Eagle".
In the late 1970s, the ship made a return to television. A major BBC documentary series, Sailor was made, showing life on board the ship during a February to July 1976 Western Atlantic deployment. Her commanding officer at this time was the (now deceased) Captain Wilfred Graham, a later Flag Officer Portsmouth and the ship's Commander (executive officer) was Commander David Cowling.The theme tune for the programme was Sailing by Rod Stewart - a song that came to be associated with the ship and her successor.One episode showed the evacuation of a sailor with appendicitis from the Sturgeon class nuclear submarine USS Bergall on 22 February 1976 by Sea King to hospital on the Azores. Other episodes featured runs ashore, beach parties, replenishment at sea operations, launch and recovery of aircraft and the ship's rude but popular Puppet "Little Wilf" ( "Big Wilf" was Captain Graham!).
She entered HMNB Devonport for the last time on 4 December 1978 and decommissioned on 14 February 1979 when the White Ensign was lowered for the last time.On 29 March 1980,the MOD announced that she would she sold for scrap ending plans to hopefully preserve her.She left Devonport on 22 September 1980 under tow to be scrapped at Cairn Ryan near Stranraer in Scotland,arriving on the 28th.Breaking up took until 1983.Various parts of the ship remain as souvenirs or memorials eg an anchor outside the Fleet Air Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton.During her service career,she had 21 commanding officers.
. The scrapping of Ark Royal in 1980 at Cairnryan near Stranraer, two years after her sister Eagle had been scrapped, marked the end of conventional fixed-wing aircraft operation aboard Royal Navy carriers (or so it seemed at the time). She had borne so many new inventions and yet was never replaced by a new carrier equipped with them. There was some discussion about preserving her as a museum ship, and some private funds were raised; however, the Ministry of Defence would not sanction these efforts. She was towed to Cairnryan and broken up. The Fleet Air Arm Museum has subsequently mimicked the ship's island and flight deck in its central hall as an Aircraft Carrier Experience exhibition.
The Centaur-class aircraft carrier HMS Hermes remained in service after her, but had been converted to a helicopter commando carrier in 1971 and then as a V/STOL carrier. The three much smaller Invincible-class carriers currently in service can carry only vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft and helicopters. Though the two Queen Elizabeth Class carriers due to enter service in 2014 and 2016 will initially be configured for STOVL operations, the carriers will be adaptable to conventional catapult and arrested-landing configuration in the future.
Aircraft and squadrons
Overhead view of the Ark Royal in 1970
See also
References
- ^ David Hobbs, 2007, HMAS Melbourne (II) - 25 Years On, p 6
- Hobbs, Commander David (October 2007). "HMAS Melbourne (II) - 25 Years On". The Navy 69 (4): 5–9. ISSN 1332-6231. Retrieved on 2007-10-27.
- Roger Chesneau, Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present; An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1984)
- Robert Gardiner, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1982 (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1983)
- Raymond Blackman, Ships of the Royal Navy (Macdonald and Jane's, London, 1973)
External links
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