HMS Triumph (R16)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Laid down: | 27 January 1943 |
| Launched: | 2 November 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 6 May 1946 |
| Struck: | 1981 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in Spain 1981 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Colossus-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 13,350 tons standard |
| Length: | 695 ft (212 m) |
| Beam: | 80 ft (24 m) |
| Draught: | 23.5 ft (7.2 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 25 knots (46 km/h) |
| Range: | 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km) |
| Complement: | 1,300 (including air group) |
| Aircraft carried: | 48 |
HMS Triumph was a Royal Navy Colossus-class light fleet aircraft carrier. She served in the Korean War and later, after reconstruction, as a support ship.
Triumph was laid down during World War II on 27 January 1943 at Hawthorn Leslie and Company on the Tyne. Her construction was relatively rapid and she was launched on 2 October 1944 only a few months from the end of the war. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 6 May 1946.
In 1950, Triumph was on a cruise to Japan as part of the Far East Fleet. She was nearing Hong Kong when news reached Triumph and her accompanying ships of war breaking out in the Korean peninsula, forcing Triumph into a state of alert, including fully armed aircraft on deck. Triumph, escorted by the destroyer Cossack, who would also act as an escort to Triumph's sister-ship Theseus, was refuelled and re-provisioned at the Royal Australian Naval base at Kure, Japan. The C-class destroyer Consort and the cruiser Jamaica, who would both have prominent roles during the Korean War, as well as the Australian River-class frigate Shoalhaven, and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Wave Conqueror, joined Triumph as she left the base.
The following day, she and her escorts, headed for Okinawa, refuelling at the American base there. Then they proceeded to western Korean waters, where other Royal Navy warships were converging. At this time, she was the sole British carrier in the Far East. She was thus destined to have a vital role in the early months of the Korean War. After joining the US Fleet, 827 Naval Air Squadron, part of Triumph's air group, commenced operations with a number of vintage Seafires, a naval variant of the iconic Spitfire, and which saw much action during the closing years of the Second World War. She also flew Fireflies during the initial operations of the Korean War, which were of a similar age.
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