HMS Ark Royal (R09)
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The HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy . The carrier, which was completed as the second and last of the Audacious class originally planned for four ships after the Eagle , served in the British Navy from 1955 to 1978.
technology
The Ark Royal was at its completion, 245 meters long and 34.3 m wide, the depth was 7.7 meters, the displacement empty 33,000 tons loaded 42,390 tons. In the course of the service life, the fuselage and especially the flight deck were extended to 257.5 meters and widened to 48.7 meters through various modifications, the maximum displacement increased to 53,340 tons.
The drive consisted of four Parsons geared turbines , which delivered their total power of 152,000 HP to four shafts with one screw each. The turbines got their steam from eight Admiralty three-drum boilers. The top speed was 31.5 knots , the range was 6,000 nautical miles with 6,096 tons of bunkered heavy fuel oil at 24 knots.
The original anti-aircraft armament of sixteen 4.5-inch guns and twenty 40-mm Bofors guns was reduced over the years, the heavy guns were expanded in favor of lighter 20-mm automatic cannons. In 1964 all guns were removed and preparations were made for the installation of Sea-Cat anti- aircraft missiles , but these were never installed.
history
construction
The aircraft carrier was laid on May 3, 1943 at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead as Irresistible . In 1945 it was renamed Ark Royal , with the end of the Second World War , the work was initially stopped. After the resumption of construction, the ship was launched on May 3, 1950, but the completion took until February 25, 1955, when the Ark Royal was put into service in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II .
commitment
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As early as 1956, the first overhaul was due, in which the front guns were removed, as they hindered flight operations on deck. In November 1956, the Ark Royal took part in the Queen's Fleet Review along with other Royal Navy ships. In 1957, the carrier operated mostly in the Atlantic. In 1959 the other two front guns were removed during a further stay in the shipyard. In 1962, the Blackburn Buccaneer was introduced as a carrier aircraft on board the Ark Royal , followed in 1963 by tests with the Hawker P.1127 , from which the Harrier was later developed. During a further stay in the shipyard in 1964, all guns were removed and new radar systems installed on board. Between 1966 and 1970, the carrier was prepared during a long dock stay for the use of the F-4 Phantom , which from 1970 formed the backbone of the air combat group with twelve machines, together with the 14 Buccaneers, the five gannets and eight anti-submarine fighters and transport helicopters .
On November 9, 1970, during the night exercise Line Jug 70 with a NATO fleet in the Mediterranean west of Crete , a collision occurred with the Kotlin-class destroyer Bravyi of the Soviet Navy , which was shadowing the aircraft carrier. The Ark Royal suffered only minor damage in the collision . Two sailors were missing on the Russian destroyer.
fate
The carrier was originally scheduled to be decommissioned in 1972, but delays in the planned successor made it necessary to keep the Ark Royal in active service despite its poor condition. This was made possible, among other things, by the fact that parts of the already decommissioned sister ship Eagle were used for urgently needed repairs. In 1976 the Ark Royal represented the United Kingdom in the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the United States' Declaration of Independence in New York City and Fort Lauderdale . The carrier was withdrawn from Devonport on December 4, 1978 and struck off the register the following year. Despite attempts by various organizations to keep the Ark Royal as a museum ship , the carrier was scrapped in Cairnryan ( Stranraer ) on September 22, 1980. The demolition ended in 1983.
See also
literature
- Richard Johnstone-Bryden: Britain's Greatest Warship: HMS "Ark Royal IV" . Sutton Publishing Ltd., Stroud, 2000. ISBN 0-7509-2504-3
- Manfred Leihse: Ark Royal. The Royal Navy is moving away from the operational concept of large aircraft carriers , in: Flugrevue 5/1977, p. 12ff
Web links
- HMS Ark Royal III Fleet Aircraft Carrier (Engl.)
- Pictures of the Ark Royal at maritimequest.com (engl.)
Footnotes
- ↑ a b R09 Ark Royal (Eagle Class) ( Memento from May 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), as of August 7, 2007