Preceded by Courageous-class, succeeded by Illustrious-class, ordered under the 1934 building programme, laid down by Cammell Laird on 16 September 1935, launched on 13 April 1937, commissioned on 16 December 1938, sunk by the German submarine U-81 on 14 November 1941 30 nautical miles from Gibraltar and found back in December 2002. Displacement 22,000 (standard)-28,160 (deep load) tons and as dimensions 219.91 (waterline)-240 (overall) x 28.895 x 8.5 metres or 721.6-800 x 94 9.6 x 27 9.6 feet. The 3 geared steam turbines and 6 Admiralty drum boilers supplied via 3 shafts 102,000 shp allowing a speed of 30 (design)-31 (actual) knots and a range of 7,600 nautical miles.20 knots. Could carry with her 50-60 (actual)-72 (designed) aircraft for which 2 catapults were available. Armour consisted of a 11.4cm/4.5” thick belt and above the boiler rooms and magazines a 8.9cm/3.5” thick deck. Armament consisted of 8x2-11cm/4.5” dual purpose guns, 4/6x4-4cm/2pd/1.5” anti aircraft guns and 8x4-12.7mm/0.50” anti aircraft machine guns. Crew numbered 1,580 men.
No comments:
Post a Comment