HMS Glorious (77)

Glorious shortly after her conversion into an aircraft carrier
History
United Kingdom
Name:	Glorious
Ordered:	14 March 1915
Builder:	Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Cost:	£1,967,223
Yard number:	482-484
Laid down:	1 May 1915
Launched:	20 April 1916
Completed:	31 December 1916
Commissioned:	January 1917
Reclassified:	Converted to aircraft carrier, February 1924 to March 1930
Nickname(s):	Laborious
Fate:	Sunk by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, 8 June 1940
General characteristics as light battlecruiser
Class and type:	Courageous-class battlecruiser
Displacement:	19,180 long tons (19,488 t) normal 22,360 long tons (22,719 t) (deep load)
Length:	786 ft 9 in (239.8 m) (o/a)
Beam:	81 ft (24.7 m)
Draught:	25 ft 10 in (7.9 m)
Installed power:	90,000 shp (67,113 kW) 18 Yarrow boilers
Propulsion:	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines,
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 × twin 15-inch (381 mm) guns 6 × single 4-inch (102 mm) guns 2 × single 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft (AA) guns 2 × single 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)
General characteristics (where different)
Class and type:	Courageous-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	24,970 long tons (25,370 t) (normal) 27,419 long tons (27,859 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)
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range:	5,860 nmi (10,850 km; 6,740 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement:	793 + 490 air group (1931)
Armament:	16 × single 4.7-inch (120 mm) dual-purpose guns
Armour:	Belt: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Decks: .75–1 in (19–25 mm) Bulkhead: 2–3 in (51–76 mm)
Aircraft carried:	48

HMS Glorious was the second of the three Courageous-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, they were relatively lightly armed and armoured. Glorious 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.

Glorious was paid off after the war, but was rebuilt as an aircraft carrier during the late 1920s. She could carry 30 per cent more aircraft than her half-sister Furious which had a similar tonnage. After re-commissioning in 1930, she spent most of her career operating in the Mediterranean Sea. After the start of the Second World War, Glorious spent the rest of 1939 unsuccessfully hunting for the commerce-raiding German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee in the Indian Ocean before returning to the Mediterranean. She was recalled home in April 1940 to support operations in Norway. While evacuating British aircraft from Norway in June, the ship was sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the North Sea with the loss of over 1,200 lives.