HMS Eagle (R05)
 HMS Eagle (R05) |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Aircraft carrier |
| Shipyard |
Harland & Wolff , Belfast |
| Keel laying | October 24, 1942 |
| Launch | March 19, 1946 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| period of service |
October 1, 1951–1972 |
| Whereabouts | Retired in 1972; Scrapped in 1978 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
44,030 t |
| length |
246.8 m |
| width |
34.34 m |
| Draft |
10.2 - 11 m |
| crew |
2750 men including flight personnel |
| drive |
152,000 PSw on 4 shafts:
|
| speed |
31.5 kn |
| Range |
6,000 nm at 24 kn |
| Armament | |
| Planes |
39 - 80 |
The HMS Eagle (identification R05) was one of two aircraft carriers built in the Audacious class of the Royal Navy, originally planned with four ships . The Eagle served in the British Navy from 1951 to 1972.
history
construction
Originally planned as HMS Audacious , the carrier was laid down on October 24, 1942 at Harland & Wolff in Belfast . With the end of the Second World War there was no longer any need for further carriers and the plans were changed. The ship was given the name Eagle in January 1946 , which was actually supposed to be given to another carrier, which was built from 1944, but was canceled and scrapped in early 1946. The launch of the Eagle then took place on March 18, 1946, the commissioning with the British Navy on October 5, 1951.
commitment
The equipment work was completed in the spring of 1952. The carrier's air group consisted of 60 Westland Wyvern , Douglas A-1 , Hawker Sea Hawk and De Havilland Sea Venom aircraft . From June 1954 to February 1955, the Eagle was modernized, she received a slightly angled flight deck . After modernization, she was moved to the Mediterranean, where she was involved in the fighting during the Suez Crisis in 1956 .
On May 11, 1959, the Eagle was decommissioned and went into dock in Devonport in October , where it was fundamentally modernized and overhauled by 1964. It received new radar systems, the machinery was improved and the island enlarged. The flight deck was angled 8.5 ° from the ship's axis and new aircraft catapults and safety cable systems were installed. In addition, the carrier was equipped with launchers for Sea-Cat anti- aircraft missiles .
The air group now consisted of 45 aircraft of the types Blackburn Buccaneer , De Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen and Fairey Gannet , after the return to service in 1967 the use of F-4 Phantom was planned. Ultimately, this type of aircraft was abandoned for political reasons.
fate
However, the British government had already decided in the mid-1960s to downsize the carrier fleet and decommission the Eagle . At the beginning of 1972 the carrier was therefore mothballed in Devonport and served as a spare parts donor for the sister ship HMS Ark Royal . In 1978 the Eagle was finally sold and scrapped from October.
Web links
- Pictures at maritimequest.com (engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ hazegray.org , as of August 6, 2007
- ↑ a b hazegray.org , as of August 6, 2007