HMS Glorious as a carrier

The Glorious class aircraft carrier was a design born of necessity. HMS Glorious and HMS Courageous were originally built as 'large light cruisers', which is a cross between 'a light cruiser with 15 inch guns' and 'a battlecruiser with almost no armor'. They were also known in the Royal Navy as 'Lord Fisher's hush-hush cruisers'. They were armed with 15 inch guns and were one of the most extreme expressions of the battlecruiser philosophy. The only example more extreme was their half-sister ship HMS Furious. The three acquired the derogatory nicknames Uproarious, Outrageous, and Curious and Spurious. HMS Glorious soon after its remodeling as an aircraft carrier - U.S. Naval Historical Photograph #NH60793 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... HMS Glorious soon after its remodeling as an aircraft carrier - U.S. Naval Historical Photograph #NH60793 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... HMS Glorious was a warship of the Royal Navy. ... HMS Courageous was a warship of the Royal Navy. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... HMS Furious was a modified Courageous class large light cruiser (an extreme form of battlecruiser) converted into an early aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. ...

They originated with the idea of Admiral Lord Fisher's Baltic Project, a plan to force the Baltic Narrows and invade Germany from the north. In order to do this it was thought that ships with heavy guns but with a shallow draft for close inshore operations were needed. The final legend design for Glorious and Courageous was submitted to the Admiralty for approval on 28 January 1915 and was approved with a few changes on 14 March. Both ships took about 18 months to build; Courageous at Armstrong-Whitworth and Glorious at Harland & Wolff. John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher (January 25, 1841 – July 10, 1920), commonly known as Jackie Fisher, was a British admiral known for his efforts at naval reform. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. ... Flag of the Lord High Admiral The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. ... January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... March 14 is the 73rd day of the year (74th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. ... Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries began as a shipyard located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ...

During trials, Courageous sustained buckled side plating in the forecastle while running full speed in a rough sea. As a result, additional stiffening was added; this stiffening was not given to Glorious until 1918.

As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, they were surplus tonnage as capital ships. As such, they were converted to aircraft carriers; Courageous at HMNB Devonport starting on 29 June 1924, and Glorious at Rosyth on 14 February 1924. The latter was moved to Devonport when the Rosyth shipyard closed to complete the work. All superstructure, guns, and fittings down to the main deck were removed. A two-storied hangar, 550 feet long, was built on top of the remaining hull; the upper hangar level opened on to a short 'flying off deck', below and forward of the main flight deck. In essence, they could launch and land aircraft at the same time. Two 46 ft x 48 ft lifts (elevators) were installed to transfer aircraft between the flight deck and hangars. An island with the bridge, flying control station, and smokestack was added on the starboard side. The original proposed armament was 10 × 5.5 inch and 6 × 4 inch anti-aircraft guns; this was changed during construction to 16 × 4.7 inch AA guns. The Washington Naval Treaty limited the naval armaments of its five signatories: the United States, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, the French Third Republic, and Italy. ... Two aircraft carriers, USS (left), and HMS Illustrious (right), showing the difference in size between a supercarrier and a light V/STOL aircraft carrier. ... Devonport in 1909, courtesy WW1 Archive Devonport Dockyard and the Hamoaze from the Rame Peninsula, Cornwall Her Majestys Naval Base (HMNB) Devonport (HMS Drake), is one of three operating naval bases in the Royal Navy. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Rosyth (pronounced Ross-sythe) (Scottish Gaelic: Ros Saoithe) is located on the Firth of Forth on Scotlands east coast, a mile (1. ... February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Hangars can be used to hold airplanes, airships and helicopters. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ...

After recommissioning, the ships served several years in this configuration. In the early 1930s, arresting gear was installed. A few years later, the ships received 2 hydraulic catapults on the flight deck, and the 'flying off deck' was convered to a gun deck with the addition of light anti-aircraft guns. In terms of visual recognitional differences: Courageous had a tripod mast while Glorious had a pole mast; Glorious had a lengthened flight deck at the stern with a more pronounced round-down; Glorious had her quarterdeck 1 deck higher; Courageous had an additional chart house on the island. In their final configuration, they could carry up to 48 aircraft. It has been suggested that Heavy Catapult be merged into this article or section. ...

Although not purpose built ships of that type, they compared well with their contemporaries in the Royal Navy in that respect. By the time of World War II, they had been aircraft carriers for nearly 20 years and were approaching the end of their service lives. However, that conflict interrupted plans to replace them. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Courageous was one of the first British victims of the conflict. In the early days of the war, hunter-killer groups were formed around the fleet aircraft carriers to find and destroy U-boats. However, U-29 turned the tables and sank Courageous on 17 September 1939. Following a near miss with HMS Ark Royal, the fleet carriers were withdrawn from this duty. A Hunter Killer is a light weight military submarine class used for fighting sea vehicles. ... September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... HMS Ark Royal (R07) in Greenwich dock, London This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Glorious survived a little longer. The first major campaign of the war involving the Royal Navy took place around Norway. Glorious, in concert with Ark Royal, provided cover to British forces in the centre of Norway, until they were driven out by the Luftwaffe. Glorious then flew fighters off to the area around Narvik. However, even that place became untenable, and British forces were withdrawn. Glorious took Hurricanes on board to attempt to bring them back to the UK, since the type would shortly be desperately needed in the Battle of Britain. The Hurricanes were not designed to land on an aircraft carrier. Nevertheless, the squadron managed it. On the way back across the North Sea on 18 June 1940, disaster struck. Glorious and its two escorting destroyers, HMS Acasta and Ardent, were found by the two German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau of the Kriegsmarine. The German heavy ships sent all three British vessels to the bottom in 70 minutes with most of their crews. This or section does not cite its references or sources. ... County Nordland District Ofoten Municipality NO-1805 Administrative centre Narvik Mayor (2004) Olav Sigurd Alstad (Ap) Official language form BokmÃ¥l Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 29 2,023 km² 1,905 km² 0. ... The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. ... Combatants United Kingdom Including combatants from:[1] Poland New Zealand Canada Czechoslovakia Belgium Australia South Africa France Ireland United States Jamaica Palestine Rhodesia Germany Including combatants from Italy Commanders Hugh Dowding Hermann Göring Strength 754 single-seat fighters 149 two-seat fighters 560 bombers 500 coastal 1,963 total... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... June 18 is the 169th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (170th in leap years), with 196 days remaining. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The third Acasta (H09), launched in 1929, was an A-class destroyer. ... The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Ardent was launched on 26th June, 1929. ... Scharnhorst was a 31,500 tonne Gneisenau class battlecruiser of the German Kriegsmarine, named after the Prussian general and army reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst and to commemorate the World War I armored cruiser SMS Scharnhorst. ... Gneisenau was a famous World War II 31,100 ton Gneisenau class battlecruiser[1] of the German Kriegsmarine. ... The Kriegsmarine (or War Navy) was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. ...

References

• John Roberts, Battlecruiser, (Chatham Publishing, London, 1997), ISBN 1-86176-006-X, ISBN 1-55750-068-1
• Roger Chesneau, Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present; An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1984)
• Siegfried Breyer, Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905-1970 (Doubleday and Company; Garden City, New York, 1973) (originally published in German as Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer 1905-1970, J.F. Lehmanns, Verlag, Munchen, 1970). Contains various line drawings of the ships as built and as converted to aircraft carriers.