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HMS Eagle (R05)

09 HMS Eagle Mediterranean Jan1970.jpg
HMS Eagle at flying stations in the Mediterranean, January 1970.
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Eagle
Builder: Harland and Wolff
Yard number: 1220
Laid down: 24 October 1942
Launched: 19 March 1946
Completed: 31 October 1951
Commissioned: 5 October 1951
Decommissioned: 26 January 1972
Homeport: HMNB Devonport
Identification: Pennant: R05
Nickname(s): The Big E
Fate: Scrapped 1978
General characteristics
Class and type: Audacious-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:
  • 36,800 long tons (37,400 t) standard (1951)
  • 46,000 long tons (47,000 t) full load (1951)
  • 43,060 long tons (43,750 t) standard (1957)
  • 54,100 long tons (55,000 t) standard (1964)
Length:
  • 811.8 ft (247.4 m) (1951?)
  • 720 ft (220 m) p.p. (1964)
  • 720 ft (220 m) oa (1964)
Beam:
  • 135 ft (41 m) overall (1951?)
  • 112.8 ft (34.4 m) hull (1964)
  • 171 ft (52 m) overall width (1964)
Draught:
  • 33.25 ft (10.13 m) (1951)
  • 36 ft (11 m) (1964)
Propulsion:
  • 4 shaft geared steam turbines
  • 8 boilers
  • 152,000 shp (113,000 kW)
Speed: 31 knots (36 mph; 57 km/h)
Range: 7,000 nmi (13,000 km) at 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Complement: 2,500 (average); 2,750 (max.)
Armament:
  • As built:
  • 16 × 4.5 inch guns (8×2)
  • 61 × 40 mm guns (8×6, 2×2, 9×1)
  • Post-1964 re-fit:
  • 8 × 4.5 inch guns (4×2)
  • 6 × Seacat SAM missile launchers
Armour:
  • Waterline belt: 4 in (100 mm)
  • Armoured flight deck: 1–4 in (25–102 mm)
  • Hangar side: 1 in (25 mm)
  • Hangar deck: 1 in (25 mm)
Aircraft carried:
  • As built: 60
  • Post-1964: 45
Notes:
  • 1951: standard axial flight deck
  • 1954: 5.5º angled flight deck
  • 1964: 8.5º angled flight deck

HMS Eagle was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, in service 1951–1972. With her sister ship Ark Royal, she was one of the two largest Royal Navy aircraft carriers yet built.

She was initially laid down on 24 October 1942 at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast as one of four ships of the Audacious class. These were laid down during World War II as part of the British naval buildup during that conflict. Two were cancelled at the end of hostilities, and the remaining two were suspended. Originally designated Audacious, she was renamed as Eagle (the fifteenth Royal Navy ship to receive this name), taking the name of the cancelled third ship of the class on 21 January 1946. She was finally launched by Princess Elizabeth on 19 March 1946.

Several changes were incorporated into the design, although Eagle was launched too early to see an angled flight deck installed, and the ship was commissioned in October 1951. A year later she took part in the first large NATO naval exercise, Exercise Mainbrace.

In 1953 Eagle took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

A 5.5 degree 'interim' angled flight deck was fitted in 1954–1955 with a mirror landing sight, but she retained her two hydraulic catapults forward as they were adequate for the relatively light naval aircraft in service at the time. Her first wartime service came in 1956, when she took part in the Suez Crisis. The ship's aircraft of that period included Westland Wyverns, Douglas Skyraiders, Hawker Sea Hawks and de Havilland Sea Venoms.


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