Glorious class aircraft carrier
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Image:HMS Glorious - Aircraft Carrier.gif
The Glorious class aircraft carrier was a design born of necessity. HMS Glorious and HMS Courageous were originally built as 'large light cruisers', which is a cross between 'a light cruiser with 15-inch guns' and 'a battlecruiser with almost no armor'. They were also known in the Royal Navy as 'Lord Fisher's hush-hush cruisers'. They were armed with 15-inch guns and were one of the most extreme expressions of the battlecruiser philosophy. The only example more extreme was their half-sister ship HMS Furious. The three acquired the derogatory nicknames Uproarious, Outrageous, and Curious and Spurious.
They originated with the idea of Admiral Lord Fisher's Baltic Project, a plan to force the Baltic Narrows and invade Germany from the north. In order to do this, It was thought, ships with heavy guns and a small draft for close inshore operations were needed. The final legend design for Glorious and Courageous was submitted to the Admiralty for approval on 28 January 1915, and was approved with a few changes on 14 March. Both ships took about 18 months to build, Courageous at Armstrong and Glorious at Harland & Wolff.
During trials, Courageous sustained buckled side plating in the forecastle while running full speed in a rough sea. As a result, additional stiffening was added; this stiffening was not given to Glorious until 1918.
As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, they were surplus tonnage as capital ships. As such, they were converted to aircraft carriers; Courageous at Devonport starting on 29 June 1924, and Glorious as Rosyth (and then to Devonport when the Rosyth shipyard closed) starting on 14 February 1924. All superstursture, guns, and fittings down to the main deck were removed. A two-storied hangar, 550 feet long, was built on top of the remaining hull; the upper hangar level opened on to a short 'flying off deck', below and forward of the main flight deck. In essence, they could launch and land aircraft at the same time. Two 46 ft x 48 ft lifts (elevators) were installed to transfer aircraft between the flight deck and hangars. An island with the bridge, flying control station, and smokestack was added on the starboard side. The original proposed armament was 10 x 5.5 inch and 6 x 4 inch anti-aircraft guns; this was changed during construction to 16 x 4.7 inch AA guns.
After recommissioning, the ships served several years in this configuration. In the early 1930s, arresting gear was installed. A few years later, the ships received 2 hydraulic catapults on the flight deck, and the 'flying off deck' was convered to a gun deck with the addition of light anti-aircraft guns. In terms of visual recognitional differences: Courageous had a tripod mast while Glorious had a pole mast; Glorious had a lengthened flight deck at the stern with a more pronounced round-down; Glorious had her quarterdeck 1 deck higher; Courageous had an additional chart house on the island. In their final configuration, they could carry up to 48 aircraft.
Although not purpose built ships of that type, they compared well with their contemporaries in the Royal Navy in that respect. By the time of World War II, they had been aircraft carriers for nearly 20 years and were approaching the end of their service lives. However, that conflict interrupted plans to replace them.
Courageous was one of the first British victims of the conflict. In the early days of the war, hunter-killer groups were formed around the fleet aircraft carriers to find and destroy U-boats. However, U-29 turned the tables and sank Courageous on 17 September 1939. Following a near miss with HMS Ark Royal, the fleet carriers were withdrawn from this duty.
Glorious survived a little longer. The first major campaign of the war involving the Royal Navy took place around Norway. Glorious, in concert with Ark Royal, provided cover to British forces in the centre of Norway, until they were driven out by the Luftwaffe. Glorious then flew fighters off to the area around Narvik. However, even that place became untenable, and British forces were withdrawn. Glorious took Hurricanes on board to attempt to bring them back to the UK, since the type would shortly be desperately needed in the Battle of Britain. The Hurricanes were not designed to land on an aircraft carrier. Nevertheless, the squadron managed it. On the way back across the North Sea on 18 June 1940, disaster struck. Glorious and its two escorting destroyers, HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent, were found by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau of the Kriegsmarine. The German heavy ships sent all three British vessels to the bottom in 70 minutes with most of their crews.
References
- John Roberts, Battlecruiser, (Chatham Publishing, London, 1997), ISBN 1-86176-006-X, ISBN 1-55750-068-1
- Roger Chesneau, Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present; An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1984)
- Siegfried Breyer, Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905-1970 (Doubleday and Company; Garden City, New York, 1973) (originally published in German as Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer 1905-1970, J.F. Lehmanns, Verlag, Munchen, 1970). Contains various line drawings of the ships as built and as converted to aircraft carriers.
| Glorious-class aircraft carrier |
| Glorious | Courageous |
| List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy |