HMS Furious (47)

HMS Furious circa 1935—36
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Furious
Builder:	Armstrong Whitworth, Wallsend
Laid down:	8 June 1915
Launched:	15 August 1916
Commissioned:	26 June 1917
Reclassified:	As aircraft carrier, September 1925
Identification:	Pennant number: 47
Motto:	Ministrat arma furor (Latin: "Fury supplies arms")
Nickname(s):	Spurious
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 1948
Badge:	On a Black Field an eagle's head White, langued Red, armed Gold.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Courageous-class battlecruiser
Displacement:	19,513 long tons (19,826 t) normal 22,890 long tons (23,257 t) deep load
Length:	786 ft 9 in (239.8 m)
Beam:	88 ft (26.8 m)
Draught:	24 ft 11 in (7.6 m)
Installed power:	90,000 shp (67,113 kW)
Propulsion:	4 shafts, 4 geared steam turbines, 18 Yarrow small-tube boilers
Speed:	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h; 36.2 mph)
Complement:	737 officers and enlisted men
Armament:	2 × single 18-inch (457 mm) guns 11 × single 5.5-inch (140 mm) guns 2 × single QF 3-inch (76 mm) 20 cwt AA guns 2 × 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) Turrets: 7–9 in (178–229 mm) Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm) Torpedo bulkheads: 1–1.5 in (25–38 mm)
General characteristics (as completed in 1925)
Class and type:	Courageous-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	22,500 long tons (22,900 t) 26,500 long tons (26,900 t) (deep load)
Length:	735 ft 2.25 in (224.1 m) (p/p) 786 ft 9 in (239.8 m) (o/a)
Beam:	88 ft (26.8 m)
Draught:	27 ft 3 in (8.3 m)
Installed power:	90,000 shp (67,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 shafts, 4 Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines 18 Yarrow boilers
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range:	7,480 nmi (13,850 km; 8,610 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	795 (1939)
Armament:	10 × single 5.5-inch guns 6 × single 4-inch (102 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:	36

HMS Furious was a modified Courageous-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and designed to be armed with only two heavy guns (18-inch), one forward and one aft, plus a number of lesser guns. Furious was modified and became an aircraft carrier while under construction. Her forward turret was removed and a flight deck was added in its place, such that aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure to land. Later in the war, the ship had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence. Furious was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck in the early 1920s.

After her conversion, Furious was used extensively for trials of naval aircraft and later as a training carrier once the new armoured carriers like Ark Royal entered service in the late 1930s. During the early months of the Second World War the carrier spent her time hunting for German raiders in the North Atlantic and escorting convoys. This changed dramatically during the Norwegian Campaign in early 1940 when her aircraft provided air support to British troops ashore in addition to attacking German shipping. The first of what would be a large number of aircraft ferry missions was made by the carrier during the campaign. After the withdrawal of British troops in May, Furious made several anti-shipping strikes in Norway with little result before beginning a steady routine of ferrying aircraft for the Royal Air Force.