HMS Ocean (R68)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HMS Ocean
Ocean during the Korean War
Ocean during the Korean War
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type Aircraft carrier
class Colossus class
Shipyard Alexander Stephen and Sons , Linthouse
Build number 598
Keel laying November 8, 1942
Launch July 8, 1944
Commissioning August 8, 1945
Decommissioning March 1958
Whereabouts Wrecked in 1962
Ship dimensions and crew
length
211.25 m ( Lüa )
192 m ( Lpp )
width 24.4 m
Draft Max. 7.09 m
displacement Standard : 13,190 tons.
Maximum: 18,040  tons
 
crew about 1,300 men
Machine system
machine Parsons turbines
Machine
performance 		40,000 PS (29,420 kW)
Top
speed 		25 kn (46 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament

Oerlikons already replaced in 1945 by:
12 individual 40 mm L / 56 Bofors flak
aircraft 1945:

1952:

1956 (helicopter):

Sensors

SM-1, type 293 radars,
type 144 sonar

The fifth ship of the Royal Navy , the name HMS Ocean wore was a light aircraft carrier of the Colossus class . A jet fighter landed on an aircraft carrier for the first time on the Ocean in 1945 and in 1956 it was the base for the first major commando attack with helicopters.

History of the ship

The ship, displacing 13,600 tons, was laid down in Glasgow in November 1942 at the Alexander Stephen and Sons shipyard . Even before its launch on July 8, 1944, the carrier was offered to Australia for takeover in March 1944, which was rejected. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) only took over two carriers of the somewhat larger Majestic class with Sydney and Melbourne after the Second World War . Since the latter was not completed until 1955, the RAN loaned the sister ship Vengeance from the Ocean from November 1952 to October 1955 during the Korean crisis .

Commissioning with the Royal Navy took place on August 8, 1945. The first squadron on board was the No. 892 Squadron of the FAA with their Hellcat Mk.IINF night fighters, with which the ship was briefly used in 1946 with the Mediterranean Fleet. In addition to the Hellcat , the ship also had Firefly Mk.I NF of the 1792 squadron and a three Sea Otter amphibians of the 1703 squadron on board during this first mission tour .

A De Havilland Sea Vampire taking off from the deck of the Ocean in December 1945

In December 1945, a De Havilland Sea Vampire landed on the Ocean for the first time a jet fighter on an aircraft carrier; The pilot was Eric Melrose Brown . At the end of the forties, the Ocean had two more seasons in the Mediterranean with different squadrons. The Ocean was twice deployed off the Korean coast during the Korean War . She replaced the sister ship Glory . The first use took place from May 5 to November 8, 1952 and the second then from May 17, 1953 to the end of the war in July 1953. During the operations on August 9, 1952, a propeller-driven Sea Fury of Squadron 802 of the Ocean shot a MiG-15 jet fighter. It was the first and only shooting down of a jet by a propeller aircraft during the Korean War.

Even in the Suez Crisis , the Ocean was an active part of the British intervention forces. Here the ship, together with its sister ship Theseus, served as the starting point for the first large-scale helicopter-based commando attack in history. With their helicopters, the two porters landed 425 men and 23 tons of equipment in Port Said in 90 minutes .

After the Suez mission, the ship was quickly taken out of active service and assigned to the reserve in 1958. In 1962 the Ocean was scrapped in Faslane .

Individual evidence

  1. Jump up ↑ Sturtivant: The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm, p. 379
  2. ↑ Sturtivant: The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm, p. 168

literature

  • Roger Chesneau: Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Brockhampton.
  • Ray Sturtivant: The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm , Air-Britain (Historians), Tonbridge 1984, ISBN 0-85130-120-7 .

Web links

Commons : HMS Ocean (R68)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files