HMS Victorious (R38)

HMS Victorious in 1959
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Victorious
Ordered:	13 Jan 1937
Builder:	Vickers-Armstrong
Cost:	£4.05million
Laid down:	4 May 1937
Launched:	14 September 1939
Commissioned:	14 May 1941
Decommissioned:	13 March 1968
Refit:	1950–57
Identification:	Pennant numbers: 38, R38, 38
Motto:	Per coelum et aequorem victrix (Through air and sea victorious)
Honours and awards:	Cape of Good Hope 1795 – St Lucia 1796 – Egypt 1801 – Walcheren 1809 – Rivoli Action 1812 – Bismarck Action 1941 – Norway 1941–42 – Arctic 1941–42 – Malta Convoys 1942 – Biscay 1942 – Sabang 1944 – Palembang 1945 – Okinawa 1945 – Japan 1945
Fate:	Scrapped 1969
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Illustrious-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	As built: 23,207 tons lightship, 28,619 tons full load Post-refit: 35,500 tons full load
Length:	As built: 673 ft (205 m) waterline 743 ft 9 in (226.70 m) overall Post-1957 refit: 778 ft 3 in (237.21 m) overall
Beam:	(waterline) As built: 95 ft (29 m) Post-1957 refit: 103 ft (31.4 m) over bulges (flight deck) 145 ft 9 in (44.42 m)
Draught:	(full load) As built: 28 ft (8.5 m) Post-1957 refit: 31 ft (9.45 m)
Propulsion:	3 Parsons geared turbines 6 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 111,000 shp, 3 shafts
Speed:	30.5 knots (56 km/h)
Range:	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement:	As built: 817 (ship) + 394 (air group) post refit: 2,200 (including air group)
Armament:	16 × 4.5 inch (8 × 2) 48 × 2 pdr (6 × 8) 21 × 40 mm AA (2 × 4, 2 × 2, 9 × 1) 45 × 20 mm AA (45 × 1)
Armour:	flight deck: 3" hangar deck: 2" side belt 4" hangar sides: 4"
Aircraft carried:	During World War II: included: Albacore, Avenger, Barracuda, Corsair, Fulmar, Seafire, Sea Hurricane, Swordfish, Wildcat, F6F Hellcat 1941: 36 Fulmar/Albacore 1945: 54 Corsair/Avenger Post-refit aircraft included: Gannet, Scimitar, Sea Fury, Sea Hawk, Sea Vixen, Buccaneer

HMS Victorious, ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme, was the third Illustrious-class aircraft carrier after Illustrious and Formidable. She was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939. However, her commissioning was delayed until 1941 due to the greater need for escort vessels for service in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Her service in 1941 and 1942 included famous actions against the battleship Bismarck, several Arctic convoys and the Pedestal convoy to Malta. She was loaned to the United States Navy in 1943 and served in the south west Pacific as part of the Third Fleet. Victorious contributed to several attacks on the Tirpitz. The elimination of the German naval threat allowed her redeployment first to the Eastern Fleet at Colombo and then to the Pacific for the final actions of the war against Japan.

After the war, her service was broken by periods in reserve and, between 1950-8, the most complete reconstruction of any Royal Navy carrier. This involved the construction of new superstructure above the hangar deck level, a new enlarged flight deck, new boilers and the fitting of 984 3D AW and AD radar and data links and heavy shipboard computers, able to track 50 targets and assess their priority for interrogation and interception. The reduction of Britain's naval commitment in 1967, the end of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, and a fire while under refit, prompted or excused her final withdrawal from service, 3–5 years early, and she was scrapped in 1969.

Just two weeks after commissioning in 1941, Victorious took part in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic. Originally intended to be part of the escort for Convoy WS 8B to the Middle East, she was hardly ready to be involved in the hunt for Bismarck with only a quarter of her aircraft complement embarked. Sailing with the battleship HMS King George V, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, and 4 light cruisers – Force H from Gibraltar – Victorious was hastily deployed to assist in the pursuit.

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Wikipedia