HMS Ark Royal (R09)

Information about HMS Ark Royal (R09)

For other ships with the same name, see .


Enlarge picture
HMS Ark Royal

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
Status:Scrapped 1980
Homeport:HMNB Devonport
General Characteristics
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:
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 79
48 after 1969 refit
Motto:Desire Does Not Rest
Notes:Pennant = R09,
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.

Construction and modifications

Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle, initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Four Audacious-class ships were laid down, but two 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 Irrisistible, but was renamed Ark Royal prior to launch. The immediately previous Ark Royal was also an aircraft carrier, that was torpedoed on 14 November 1941.

It was not until 7 years after Ark Royal was laid down 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. 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, she had her forward port 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns 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 new 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 the ship had a complement of up to 50 aircraft comprising Sea Hawks, Sea Venoms, Gannets, Skyraiders and various helicopters.

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 in 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 significant damage.

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.
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HMS Ark Royal with the F-4 Phantom, 1976
By 1970, Ark Royal now had a complement of 39 aircraft. This typically comprised 12 Phantom FG MK.1s, 14 Buccaneer S MK.2s, 4 Gannet AEW Mk.3s, 6 Sea King HAS Mk.1s, 2 Wessex HU Mk.5s and 1 Gannet COD MK.4. 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.

In the late 1970s, the ship made a return to television. A major BBC documentary series, Sailor, was made, tracking life on board the ship. The theme tune for the programme was Sailing by Rod Stewart - a song that came to be associated with the ship and her successor.

The scrapping of Ark Royal in 1980, two years after her sister Eagle had been scrapped, marked the end of conventional fixed-wing aircraft operation aboard Royal Navy carriers. 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.

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. Though the two CVF carriers due to enter service in the 2010s 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

See HMS Ark Royal for other ships of the same name.

See also

References

  • 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


  •  • [ e] Audacious-class aircraft carrier
Eagle | Ark Royal
List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.
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February 25 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

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Year 1955 (MCMLV
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home port, or hailing port, is its port of origin as shown on its registration documents[1] and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull.[2]

See also

  • Flag of convenience

References

1.

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Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Devonport (HMS Drake), is one of three operating bases for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth). HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon.
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beam of a ship is its width at the widest point, or a point alongside the ship at the mid-point of its length. Generally speaking, the wider a ship (or boat)'s beam, the more initial stability she will have, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more
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The draft (or draught) of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel), with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained.
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4.5 inch (114 mm) gun can refer to;
  • QF 4.5 inch naval gun, a British family of naval guns
  • 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 naval gun, a contemporary British naval gun
  • BL 4.5 inch Medium Field Gun, a British Army field gun

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Bofors 40 mm/L60. This example includes the British-designed Stiffkey Sight, being operated by the aimer standing to the right of the loader (turned sideways). It operates the trapeze seen above the sights, moving the sights to adjust for lead.
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pennant numbers (sometimes referred to as pendant numbers). The name pennant number arises from the fact that ships were originally allocated a pennant (flag) identifying a flotilla or particular type of vessel: for example, in the Royal Navy, the red burgee for torpedo
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The Audacious class aircraft carriers were a class of ship proposed by the British government in the 1930s - 1940s. The Audacious class was originally designed as an expansion of the Implacable class with double storied hangars.
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aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and in most cases recover aircraft, acting as a sea-going airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations.
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Naval Service

Components
Royal Navy
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  • Submarine Service
  • Royal Navy Regulating Branch
  • Royal Naval Reserve
  • Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service
Royal Marines
  • (includes Royal Marines Reserve)

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Naval Service

Components
Royal Navy
  • Surface Fleet
  • Fleet Air Arm
  • Submarine Service
  • Royal Navy Regulating Branch
  • Royal Naval Reserve
  • Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service
Royal Marines
  • (includes Royal Marines Reserve)

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HMS Eagle was an aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy, in service 1951-1972. With its sister ship Ark Royal, it is one of the two largest British aircraft carriers yet built.
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Several ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Audacious.
  • The first Audacious was a 74-gun 3rd rate in service from 1785 to 1815.
  • The second Audacious

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HMS Ark Royal (91), was the third ship of the Royal Navy to carry the name and the second to be an aircraft carrier. She was designed in 1934 to meet the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty, and was built by Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd. at Birkenhead, England.
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Type Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer McDonnell Douglas
(née McDonnell Aircraft)
Designed by David S. Lewis, Jr.
Maiden flight 27 May 1958
Introduction 30 December 1960
Status
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Type Strike aircraft
Manufacturer Blackburn Aircraft Limited
Hawker Siddeley Aviation
Maiden flight 30 April 1958
Introduced 17 July 1962
Retired 1993
Primary users Fleet Air Arm
Royal Air Force
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Arrestor cables or arrestor wires are thick steel cables fitted to the aft end of the flight deck on CATOBAR and STOBAR aircraft carriers. The cables allow aircraft to land safely on the short runway by catching one of these cables with a tailhook.
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Sea Cat was a British short-range surface to air missile system intended to replace the ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm gun aboard warships of all sizes. It was the world's first operational shipboard point-defence missile system and was designed so that the Bofors guns could be replaced
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Type Naval fighter
Manufacturer Hawker Siddeley, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft
Designed by Sydney Camm
Maiden flight 2 September 1947
Introduced March 1953
Retired December 1960
Primary users Fleet Air Arm
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Type Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer de Havilland
Maiden flight 2 September 1949
Introduced FB 1952
NF 1953
Retired FB 1962
NF 1960
Primary users Royal Air Force
Fleet Air Arm

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Type Anti-submarine warfare aircraft
Manufacturer Fairey Aviation
Maiden flight 19 September 1949
Introduced 1953
Retired c.1967
Primary users Fleet Air Arm
Royal Australian Navy
German Navy
Indonesia
Produced
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Type Attack aircraft
Manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company
Maiden flight 18 March 1945
Introduced 1950s
Retired 1970s
Primary users United States Navy
United States Air Force
Produced 1945–1957

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helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades. Helicopters are classified as rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from fixed-wing aircraft because the helicopter derives
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