Tuesday 28 January 2020

HMS Courageous 1939 - the Royal Navy's oldest aircraft carrier


HMS Courageous was the oldest aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy when the war began. She had been built in 1916 as a fast cruiser, armed with four 15 inch guns and eighteen 4 inch guns as well as anti-aircraft weapons. She was designed to be fast enough to catch the smaller surface raiders being used by the Germans, but with guns big enough to outmatch them conclusively. To make high speeds possible she and her fellow fast cruisers were given only light armour, which made them unsuitable for facing up to larger German ships. She fought in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917.


HMS Courageous in dock in 1939.

After the end of World War I, Courageous was at first destined to be scrapped as the combination of big guns and light armour was deemed to have been something of a failure. She was saved when in 1924 it was decided to convert her large, fast hull to become an aircraft carrier. The guns and turrets were taken out to be reused in the battelship HMS Vanguard. The hull was equipped with hangars and maintenance facilities for 48 aircraft. The funnel and other superstructure were pushed to one side to form an "island" while the hull was covered by a vast, flat flight deck.
The Courageous was refitted in the 1930s. She entered World War II with two squadrons of Fairey Swordfish torpedo and reconnaissance aircraft. Her defensive armament consisted of several anti-aircraft guns and she had no offensive armament at all except her aircraft. She had, in 1938, been taken out of frontline service and used as a training ship but the outbreak of war brought her back into action.
 A party held on board HMS Courageous in Gibraltar in 1937 when she met the German battleship Deutschland. The German officers were entertained on board, including the man playing the piano.

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