HMS Courageous (50)

Courageous shortly after completion in 1916
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Courageous
Ordered:	14 March 1915
Builder:	Armstrong Whitworth
Cost:	£2,038,225
Laid down:	26 March 1915
Launched:	5 February 1916
Completed:	4 November 1916
Reclassified:	Converted to aircraft carrier, June 1924 – February 1928
Identification:	Pennant number: 50
Nickname(s):	Outrageous
Fate:	Sunk by U-29, 17 September 1939
General characteristics as light battlecruiser
Class and type:	Courageous-class battlecruiser
Displacement:	19,180 long tons (19,490 t) (normal) 22,560 long tons (22,920 t) (deep load)
Length:	786 ft 9 in (239.8 m)
Beam:	81 ft (24.7 m)
Draught:	25 ft 10 in (7.9 m)
Installed power:	90,000 shp (67,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 shafts, 4 geared steam turbines, 18 Yarrow small-tube boilers
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Range:	6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	842 officers and men
Armament:	2 × 2 – 15-inch (381 mm) guns 6 × 3 – 4-inch (102 mm) guns 2 × 1 – 3-inch (76 mm) AA guns 2 × 1 – 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Decks: .75–3 in (19–76 mm) Barbettes: 3–7 in (76–178 mm) Gun turrets: 7–9 in (178–229 mm) Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm) Torpedo bulkheads: 1–1.5 in (25–38 mm)
Courageous as an aircraft carrier in 1935
General characteristics as aircraft carrier
Class and type:	Courageous-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	24,210 long tons (24,600 t) (normal) 26,990 long tons (27,420 t) (deep load)
Length:	735 ft 1.5 in (224.1 m) (p/p) 786 ft 9 in (239.8 m) (o/a)
Beam:	90 ft 6 in (27.6 m) (at waterline)
Draught:	27.75 ft (8.5 m)
Installed power:	90,000 shp (67,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 shafts, 4 Parsons geared steam turbines 18 Yarrow boilers
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range:	5,860 nautical miles (10,850 km; 6,740 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement:	814 + 403 air group (1938)
Armament:	16 × 1 – 4.7-inch (120 mm) AA guns
Armour:	Belt: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Decks: .75–1 in (19–25 mm) Bulkhead: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Torpedo bulkheads: 1–1.5 in (25–38 mm)
Aircraft carried:	48

HMS Courageous was the lead ship of the Courageous-class cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by First Sea Lord John Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns. Courageous was completed in late 1916 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. She participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered a year later.

Courageous was decommissioned after the war, then rebuilt as an aircraft carrier during the mid-1920s. She could carry 48 aircraft compared to the 36 carried by her half-sister Furious on approximately the same displacement. After recommissioning she spent most of her career operating off Great Britain and Ireland. She briefly became a training carrier, but reverted to her normal role a few months before the start of the Second World War in September 1939. Courageous was torpedoed and sunk in the opening weeks of the war, going down with more than 500 of her crew.

During the First World War, Admiral Fisher was prevented from ordering an improved version of the preceding Renown-class battlecruisers by a wartime restriction that banned construction of ships larger than light cruisers in 1915. To obtain ships suitable for the doctrinal roles of battlecruisers, such as scouting for fleets and hunting enemy raiders, he settled on ships with the minimal armour of a light cruiser and the armament of a battlecruiser. He justified their existence by claiming he needed fast, shallow-draught ships for his Baltic Project, a plan to invade Germany via its Baltic coast.