HMS Illustrious (R87)
From Free net encyclopedia
Current revision
| Image:HMS Illustrious (Illustrious class carrier).jpg | |
| Career | Image:RN-White-Ensign.svg |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 13 January 1937 1936 Naval Programme |
| Laid down: | 27 April 1937 |
| Launched: | 5 April 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 25 May 1940 |
| Decommissioned: | end of 1954 |
| Fate: | Scrapped at Faslane. |
| Struck: | 3 November 1956 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 28,661 tons full load |
| Length: | 743.75 feet (227 m) |
| Beam: | 95 ft (29 m) |
| Draught: | 28 feet (8.5 m) full load |
| Propulsion: | 6 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 3 Parsons geared turbines producing 110,000 shp (82 MW) driving three shafts |
| Speed: | 30.5 knots (56 km/h) |
| Range: | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1200 |
| Armament: | 16 x 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns (8x2) 48 x 2-pdr pom-pom (1.5 in) (6x8) 3 x 40mm AA (3x1) 50 x 20mm AA |
| Aircraft: | 1940: 36 Fulmar and Swordfish 1945: 54 Corsair and Avenger |
| Motto: | |
The fourth HMS Illustrious (R87) of the Royal Navy was an aircraft carrier, arguably the one with the most distinguished and vital career of this proud lineage.
The namesake of a new class of carriers which included such other venerable names as Victorious, Formidable and Indomitable, Illustrious was built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, launched in 1939, and commissioned in May 1940. It had a displacement of 23,000 tonnes and a capability to carry up to 36 aircraft on-board, though this was in comparison to much smaller counterparts quite minuscule. Its armoured deck greatly reduced the number of aircraft that it could carry.
Image:Illustrorious attacked by German bombers.jpg
Illustrious joined the fleet in August 1940. Its first assignment was in the Mediterranean, where it was used to provide convoy cover, perform anti-shipping strikes, and raid positions in North Africa. On 31 August, it was used to launch a strike against airfields at Maritza. On 11 November 1940, it became the first carrier in history to launch a major strike against an enemy fleet in a daring attack against the Italian fleet at Taranto. Twenty-one aircraft from Numbers 813, 815, 819, and 824 Squadrons based on Illustrious attacked the Italian fleet just after sunset. The Italians were caught off-guard, and one battleship was sunk and 2 were heavily damaged. On 10 January 1941, just two months later, Illustrious itself was subjected to an aerial attack from German and Italian Stuka dive-bombers, being hit by 8 bombs and suffering extensive damage while escorting a convoy east of Sicily. While in Malta, receiving repairs for its battle damage, it was again hit by bombs. It left Malta on 23 January, and arrived in Alexandria, Egypt at noon on 25 January for temporary repairs. Shortly afterwards, it made its way to Virginia for more permanent repairs at a more secure location at the Norfolk Navy Yard.
It returned to service in May 1942, and was immediately dispatched to the Indian Ocean. Later in May, Illustrious and its co-class-ship Indomitable participated in Operation Ironclad, covering the landings at Diego Suarez in Vichy French controlled Madagascar. In 1943, it returned to the Mediterranean, for operations with Force H, based at the British territory of Gibraltar. It was used to help cover the Allied landings in Sicily in September 1943. In 1944, it joined the Eastern Fleet, where it participated in raids on the Indonesian islands of Sabang on 22 July 1944 and Palembang on 24 and 29 January 1945. After this, Illustrious put into Fremantle, Australia, for rest and re-supply. It then sailed with the rest of the British Pacific Fleet on 4 March to Manus, and from there sailed on 19 March to Ulithi. Later in 1945, as part of the British Pacific Fleet, designated Task Force 57 by Admiral Nimitz, along with two ships of the same class, Formidable and Victorious, it covered the landings at Okinawa where it won its last Battle Honour. While in the Pacific, it was hit by two kamikaze aircraft; but unlike its American counterparts, suffered minimal damage due to its armoured flight deck.
After the war it was given the role of training and trials ship. It was refitted and modernized from January through August 1948, decommissioned at the end of 1954, sold on 3 November 1956, and finally scrapped, after an incredibly successful career, at Faslane. Formidable and Indomitable were also scrapped in the 1950s, though Victorious, the last of the class, survived until 1969, when it too was broken up.
See HMS Illustrious for other RN ships of the same name.
Battle honours
- Taranto 1940
- Mediterranean 1940-41
- Malta Convoys 1941
- Diego Suarez 1942
- Salerno 1943
- Sabang 1944
- Palembang 1945
- Okinawa 1945
References
- V.B. Blackman, ed., Jane's Fighting Ships 1950-51 (Sampson Low, Marston, & Company, London, 1951)
- Roger Chesneau, Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present; An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1984)
- Correlli Barnett, Engage the Enemy More Closely (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1991) ISBN 0-393-02918-2
External link
| Illustrious-class aircraft carrier |
| Illustrious | Formidable | Victorious |
| List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy |