HMS Unicorn (I72)
 HMS Unicorn in Sasebo
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The HMS Unicorn was a British repair ship for on-board aircraft that could also be used as a light aircraft carrier . During the Second World War , the ship took part in this capacity half a year after its commissioning in the landing of the Allied troops in Salerno , where in the first phase they provided the Allied fighter protection over the landing area with four escort carriers of the Bogue class . The Unicorn then served with the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean and in 1945 switched to the newly formed British Pacific Fleet as a repair and supply ship . For missions in World War II, the ship was awarded the Battle Honors Salerno 1943 and Okinawa 1945 . In the post-war period the Unicorn , which was used again in the Far East as a repair and supply ship from 1949, received the Battle Honor Korea 1950–1953 . Ideas for the further use of the ship were then rejected and the ship was canceled from June 1959.
history
The idea to build the Unicorn arose during the Abyssinian Crisis , when a tender for aircraft carriers seemed desirable for the formation of an advanced operational base for the fleet carriers. The new type of ship should be able to carry out more extensive repair and maintenance work on the operational machines than was possible on a fleet carrier. For this purpose, the aircraft of the other naval units should also be serviced on board if necessary. The transport and repair hangar of the new type of ship was therefore given a height and the elevators a size that made it possible to work on every type of aircraft introduced by the Fleet Air Force when ordered. In addition, the responsible Navy controller requested a flight deck on which all emergency planes could take off and land. Repaired and replacement aircraft should be able to quickly return to a carrier or reinforce it. If necessary, aircraft from a damaged carrier should also be given another landing option. To meet these requirements, the Admiralty constructed a ship with a continuous flight deck of 600 feet (188.8 m) with a total length of 640 ft over all (195 m). The new building, which was ordered from Harland & Wolff in Belfast in April 1939, was 90.25 ft (27.5 m) wide and had a full-load draft of 23 ft (7 m). The new building, which had begun before the war, was launched on November 20, 1941 and was delivered to the Royal Navy on March 12, 1943. At 16,510 ts, the ship was a little heavier than originally planned at 14,750 ts. In the superstructures on the starboard side, the so-called island, were the command center and the chimney. It was powered by two sets of turbines from Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company , which could generate up to 40,000 hp total power. The steam for the turbines was generated with four Admiralty three-drum boilers and they gave their power via two shafts to 15 ft large propellers. This machine system gave the ship a maximum speed of 22 knots (kn) . With a fuel oil supply of 3000 tnl, the ship had a range of 7000 nm at a cruising speed of 13.5 kn.
Brake cables were provided so that machines could take off and land on the 600 ft long flight deck and a catapult for machines up to 14,000 lb (6350 kg) was available for the amphibious aircraft, which accelerated them to 122 km / h. The ship's two hangars, one above the other, each had a height of 16.5 ft (5 m). The machines were transported between the two hangars and onto the flight deck using two elevators, the front 33 ft × 45 ft (10 m × 13.7 m) and the rear 24 ft × 46 ft (7.3 m × 14 m ) were big. As a carrier, the ship could take up to 36 machines on board. Up to 166,000 liters of fuel could be taken on board for use. During the war, the crew consisted of up to 1200 men. Another special feature of the ship was that it carried a self-propelled barge in order to transport non-airworthy machines between ships or port facilities. The lighter was transported under the rear end of the flight deck and could be lowered exactly to the level of the upper hangar deck so that aircraft could be rolled into it.
The Unicorn was armed with four 4-inch (102-mm) L / 45 Mk XVI twin guns . These were suitable for air defense, but also as anti-tank guns, as they had an elevation range of −10 ° to + 80 °. They could fire up to twelve grenades per minute and had a range of up to 18,150 m against sea targets and up to 11,888 m against air targets. However, the guns were only effective up to a lower height.
In addition, the ship received four 2pdr (40 mm) Flak quadruplets ("pom-pom") , which had identical elevation ranges. These guns had a range of up to 3475 m and could fire up to 100 shells per minute. The 40-mm quadruples and the 102-mm twin guns were radar-controlled. Two twin and eight individual 20 mm Oerlikon automatic cannons were available for close-range defense . With a range of up to 4,390 m, these guns fired up to 480 projectiles per minute.
When the newbuilding was launched in Belfast in 1941, it was the sixth ship in the Royal Navy to be named Unicorn . The fifth Unicorn , a sailing frigate over 100 years old that was still used as a training ship in Dundee. In order to avoid confusion of names, it was renamed Unicorn II in February 1939 and then on November 20, 1941 in HMS Cressy . After the demolition of the new Unicorn , the frigate, which is still a museum ship, was given its old name back on July 14, 1959.
Stakes of the unicorn
The completion of the Unicorn was delayed several times in the first two years of construction due to orders of higher priority. In 1942 the Admiralty decided to speed up completion by foregoing parts of the storage and repair capabilities. On March 12, 1943, the ship came into service with the Royal Navy. On March 24th, the Unicorn took over three carrier squadrons: Squadrons 818 and 824 with nine and six Swordfish II torpedo bombers, respectively, and Squadron 800 with ten Sea Hurricane IIC fighters , which were replaced by Squadron 887 on April 19, 1943 was replaced with nine Seafire IICs . In May the Unicorn secured the convoy MKF 15 to Gibraltar and transported Bristol Beaufighters of the Royal Air Force as cargo, which were then assembled in Gibraltar. With a convoy in the opposite direction, the Unicorn returned to the Clyde in early June, and then on July 27th together with the carrier Illustrious to carry out an advance against the Norwegian coast, which was supposed to divert attention from the planned landing of the Allies in Sicily. The two Swordfish squadrons each had nine machines on board. These twelve came on July 26 Martlett IV of the Season 881 , which on a foray against Norway at the beginning of the month already Furious had been involved. The Martlett (or Wildcats ) replaced the Season 887 Seafires just for this mission.
Used as a porter in front of Salerno
The Unicorn was then assigned to Force V , a British carrier combat group under the command of Admiral Philip Vian , which should provide the air defense over the landing area during the first Allied landing on the Italian mainland. For this mission, the Swordfish Squadron 824 stayed in Great Britain and from the Squadron 818 only three Swordfish remained on board after Gibraltar as self-protection against submarines. New on board were the 897 squadrons on August 4th and 809 on August 7th, 20 more Seafires to those of the 887 squadron . In addition to the Unicorn , Force V / Task Force 88, which met in Gibraltar, also included four escort aircraft carriers of the Bogue class with Attacker , Battler , Stalker and Hunter , the flak cruisers Euryalus , Charybdis and Scylla as well as nine Hunt destroyers , including the Polish Slazak and Krakowiak . Unicorn and the escort carriers should ensure air sovereignty over the landing area with their Seafires and, if necessary, give the landing troops reconnaissance and air support. When planning Operation Avalanche , the first landing of Allied forces on the Italian mainland near Salerno, only the landing day was planned as the day of operation of the carrier group, as it was expected that a land airfield would be won in the landing area immediately. Since all five carriers of the "Force V" had little operational experience, the march of the association from Gibraltar via Malta to the landing area was used for intensive training, where the landing began on September 9, 1943. The operations management of the hunting machines was carried out by the Ulster Queen , a converted ferry. Unicorns 30 Seafires flew 75 missions on the first day, 60 on the 10th, 44 on the 11th and only 18 on the 12th, although the ship's mechanics had managed to repair ten damaged machines that night. The cause of the weakening of the fighters was not the attacking air force, but the unsuitability of the Seafire for use under the prevailing conditions. The type was not very suitable for carrier landings with the existing low wind speeds, so that there were a high number of landing accidents. The Unicorn had the advantage of a larger flight decks and a higher airspeed over the escort carriers. From September 12, the situation improved when a land airfield was available in Paestum , from which six aircraft of the 887 squadron were used alongside machines of the escort carriers. These gave the fleet carrier Illustrious and Formidable that should secure the landing area against expected attacks of the Italian fleet, from 11 times SEAFIRES and Martletts their fighter squadrons 885, 888, 893 and 894 to the Unicorn from, for air superiority over the landing area to to back up. Attacks by the Italian fleet were no longer to be expected because of the surrender of the Italians. On September 20, 1943, the Unicorn began the march back home. In addition to her own machines, she had used every available space for more damaged Seafires that were being unloaded in Glasgow for repair. The ship itself was overhauled after this initial phase of use and was to serve more as a repair and support ship in the future. The squadrons used by the Unicorn were intended for use by other carriers.
Use in the Eastern Fleet
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On December 30, 1943, ran Unicorn together with the carrier Illustrious , the battlecruiser Renown and the battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant and other reinforcements to march to the Eastern Fleet on Alexandria (12 January 1944) to Ceylon , where the ships from 30 Arrived January, 1944. The Unicorn had on the relocation march only four Swordfish Season 818 on board. During the march in the Indian Ocean, eight Barracuda II of the 847 Squadron of the Illustrious were on board for training purposes from January 5 to 24 . For this purpose, the ship had a cargo of packaged aircraft for the base of the Fleet Air Arm in Cochin , India, on board, which was unloaded on January 27, 1944, before the Unicorn also arrived in Trincomalee , Ceylon on February 2 . In the following years, the porters' aircrafts were repaired and serviced on board the ship. The ship was also available for landing exercises. So at the end of April / beginning of May 1944, when from the Katukurunda base on Ceylon, the 756 school squadron carried out deck landings with barracudas on it with retraining and refresher students and also the 832 and 851 squadrons practiced deck landings with their Avengers and Wildcats . In the first half of June, such exercises took place with the Corsair squadrons 1837 and 1838 and the Hellcat squadron 1844 , which flew to the carrier from other bases on Ceylon.
On August 23, 1944, the last Swordfish of Season 818 left the Unicorn . When the ship moved to Durban , South Africa for an overhaul in November 1944 , Squadron 817 came on board with twelve Fairey Barracuda II on the 7th to secure the Unicorn from submarines. During the overhaul, the ship received additional workshops and equipment for handling American aircraft and engines, which were provided with screws and electrical connections that differed from British standards.
Used by the British Pacific Fleet
Before the turn of the year, the Unicorn was transferred to the newly formed British Pacific Fleet (BPF). The ship left Durban on January 1, 1945 with the barracudas of the 817 squadron on board, which were delivered to Sulur in India on January 13, 1945. The ship loaded 82 packaged aircraft and 120 aircraft engines from the Eastern Fleet's stores in Colombo and ran on January 29 to Sydney, where the cargo planes were disembarked from February 12. On February 28, the Unicorn left for Manus , in the Admiralty Islands , to support the training of the BPF before Operation Iceberg . As of March 27, the ship served as a stopover in San Pedro Bay , Philippines, in support of the BPF during Operation Iceberg .
The BPF attacked Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands and Formosa before and during the initial phase of the landing in Okinawa . Unicorn's main task in this phase was the preparation of new machines for the deployment carriers. Although not planned, 105 machines were repaired, modified and serviced on board from March to May 1945. From May 22 to June 1, 1945 the ship ran back to Sydney and then to Brisbane to clear the hull of fouling and to take new replacement machines on board. On July 22nd, the Unicorn reached Manus again to prepare for attacks on the Japanese islands.
When Japan surrendered on August 15th, the Unicorn was still in Manus. She subsequently brought planes, equipment and men back to Australia. From November 6th, the ship was equipped in Sydney for the homeward journey, which began in December. On January 16, 1946, the Unicorn reached Plymouth , where it was decommissioned and assigned to the reserve.
Post-war deployment
The Unicorn was put back into service in 1949 to deliver material to the light carrier Triumph deployed in the Far East . On September 22nd, she ran out of Devonport to the Far East with a cargo of Seafires and Fireflies . When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the ship unloaded its aircraft and equipment at Sembawang, the British base on Singapore, and returned its maintenance personnel to the base to return home (and reserves).
The British Admiralty ordered the continued use of the ship as a supply carrier, which should supply replacement aircraft and supplies for the units of the Royal Navy and the Commonwealth units in Korean waters. Unicorn ran out of Singapore on July 11, 1950 and reached Sasebo on July 20 with seven Seafires and five Fireflies for the Triumph . In August the ship transported army units from Hong Kong to Pusan . More supplies were delivered to Sasebo before the ship returned to Singapore to be overhauled for further use.
In December 1950 the Unicorn resumed service. It brought 400 more soldiers to Korea along with replacement aircraft, supplies and equipment. During the journey, new pilots used the flight deck of the Unicorn for training for the carrier . In March 1951, the carrier transported Gloster Meteor F.8 for conversion of having Mustangs No. employed in Korea 77 Squadron RAAF to Iwakuni in Japan, where the Unicorn stayed for three months as a barge. In the summer, the Unicorn resumed its task as a transporter between Singapore and the operational area. In November, she largely swapped crews with the Warrior in Singapore, which was used as a transport carrier between Europe and the Far East, and was then overhauled in order to resume its transport and supply tasks for the operational carriers off Korea at the end of January 1952.
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When Ocean was deployed off Korea in July , the Unicorn served as a landing pad for damaged machines in order not to interrupt operations. On July 27th she was back in Singapore to load replacement machines. When she left for Japan on August 9th, she also had meteors for the RAAF squadron on board. In September, Unicorn took over the air security of the fleet with four Hawker Sea Fury fighter aircraft borrowed from Ocean while the Ocean carried out attacks in Korea. On December 15, 1952, this period of service ended in Singapore for another overhaul of the ship.
On July 17, 1953, the Unicorn ran back to Japan to support the units deployed off Korea. On July 26, on the way to Japan, she received distress signals from the freighter Inchkilda , which was attacked by pirates. The Unicorn ran at high speed to the position of the freighter, forcing the pirates to leave their prey behind. On July 27, 1953, the Korean armistice came into effect. Unicorn accompanied the Ocean on two inspection trips on July 30th and from August 25th to 29th to check compliance with the armistice conditions. On October 15, she began her journey home and reached Devonport on November 17, 1953. There Unicorn was assigned to the reserve.
Some repair work was carried out on the decommissioned ship, but a new use was not found or retrofitting would have been disproportionately expensive. In 1959 , the Unicorn was sold for demolition, which began in Dalmuir in the summer of 1960 .
literature
- J.David Brown: Carrier Operations in World War II. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2009, ISBN 978-1-59114-108-2 .
- David K. Brown: HMS Unicorn: The Development of a Design 1937-1939. In: Randal Gray (Ed.): Warship VIII. Conway Maritime Press, London 1984, pp. 19-24, ISBN 0-85177-354-0
- John Campbell: Naval Weapons of World War II. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1985, ISBN 0-87021-459-4 .
- Roger Chesneau (ed.): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. Conway Maritime Press, Greenwich 1980, ISBN 0-85177-146-7 .
- Roger Ford, Tony Gibbons, Rob Hewson, Bob Jackson, David Ross: The Encyclopedia of Ships. Amber Books, London 2001, ISBN 978-1-905704-43-9 .
- Norman Friedman: British Carrier Aviation: The Evolution of the Ships and Their Aircraft. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1988, ISBN 0-87021-054-8 .
- Gino Galuppini, Encyclopedia of Warships. Weltbildverlag, Augsburg 2005, ISBN 3-89350-828-7 .
- Commander David Hobbs: Moving Bases: Royal Navy Maintenance Carriers and MONABs. Maritime Books, Liskeard 2007, ISBN 978-1-904459-30-9 .
- HT Lenton: British & Commonwealth Warships of the Second World War. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1998, ISBN 1-55750-048-7 .
- Commander David Hobbs: The British Pacific Fleet: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strike Force. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2011, ISBN 978-1-59114-044-3 .
- Ray Sturtivant: The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. Air-Britain (Historians), Tonbridge 1984, ISBN 0-85130-120-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedman: British Carrier Aviation: The Evolution of the Ships and Their Aircraft. P. 172.
- ^ A b c d Lenton: British & Commonwealth Warships of the Second World War. P. 106.
- ^ Brown: HMS Unicorn: The Development of a Design 1937-1939. P. 23.
- ↑ Ford et al. a .: The Encyclopedia of Ships. P. 416.
- ^ Friedman, p. 367.
- ↑ Chesneau: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. P. 21.
- ↑ Hobbs, p. 43.
- ↑ Campbell: Naval Weapons of World War II. P. 56.
- ↑ Campbell, pp. 71ff.
- ↑ Campbell, pp. 75f.
- ↑ Colledge, p. 365.
- ↑ Hobbs, p. 44.
- ↑ Sturtivant: Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. Pp. 159, 238, 258/262, 370.
- ^ Hobbs: Moving Bases. P. 45.
- ↑ Sturtivant, p. 361ff.
- ↑ Service History HMS UNICORN - Aircraft Maintenance / Light Fleet Aircraft Carrier
- ↑ Sturtivant, pp. 238, 258/262, 389, 192/196.
- ↑ Hobbs, pp. 45f.
- ^ JD Brown: Carrier Operations in World War II. P. 65.
- ^ Hobbs: Moving Bases. P. 46f.
- ^ Hobbs: Moving Bases. P. 47.
- ↑ Sturtivant, S. 238th
- ↑ Sturtivant, p. 324.
- ↑ Sturtivant, p. 90.
- ↑ Sturtivant, pp. 296, 343
- ↑ Sturtivant, p 417, 425th
- ↑ Sturtivant, S. 238th
- ↑ Sturtivant, p. 234ff.
- ^ Hobbs: Moving Bases. Pp. 48, 52.
- ^ Hobbs: Moving Bases. P. 52f.
- ^ Hobbs: BPF. P. 165.
- ^ Hobbs: Moving Bases. Pp. 38, 54f.
- ↑ Hobbs 2007, pp. 55ff.
- ↑ Hobbs 2007, p. 57 ff.
- ↑ Hobbs 2007, pp. 62-63.
Remarks
- ↑ The RAAF Squadron 77 had been part of the occupation forces in Japan since March 1946 and had been stationed in Iwakuni with their Mustangs since April 1948. Like the Unicorn , the squadron was preparing to return home when the Korean War broke out. It was used as the first non-American season over Korea.