RN Aircraft Carriers: Classless

[jbryce1437]

The Royal Navy built several one-off aircraft carriers including Argus, Ark Royal 3, Audacity, Charger, Eagle 1924, Hermes 1923, Pretoria Castle and Unicorn.

HMS Unicorn was completed in 1943 and served as a light aircraft carrier and aircraft repair ship. She was part of the British Pacific Fleet and was placed in reserve in January 1946. She re entered service in 1949 and served with the Far East Fleet and was involved in the Korean war and was chiefly employed as a troop carrier.

unico4b[1].jpg

hms unicorn dated 101953.jpg

unic%202[1].JPG

Argus

argus-(1943)-stb.bow.jpg

Ark Royal 3

ark royal 3.jpg

Audacity

audacity-escort-carrier.jpg

Charger

charger7.jpg

Eagle 1924

1380333_hms-eagle-and-fairey-IIIf-floatplane%5B1%5D[1].jpg

Hermes 1923

hermes-(1938)-pt.qtr..jpg

Pretoria Castle

hms pretoria castle stbd side ec.jpg

[ivorthediver]

Havent heard of this one Jim , you must know your onions on these or have a dam good research link to find them all .

Well done and thanks again for your time and effort bringing them to the fore

[jbryce1437]

Havent heard of this one Jim , you must know your onions on these or have a dam good research link to find them all .

Well done and thanks again for your time and effort bringing them to the fore

Thanks Ivor, and theres more

ILLUSTRIOUS%20%26%20UNICORN TRINCOMALEE 1944[1].jpg

hmsunicornup the trot[1].jpg

unicorn blocking suez canal 1953.jpg

renown-payoff-jun-1948-&-un.jpg

unicorn and us Aircraft_carriers_at_Sasebo_Japan_1950.jpg

unicorn left glory right.jpg

unicorn-and-k.g.v ply.jpg

[oldsalt]

If you look carefully at the Unicorn returning to Devonport after Korea, you might catch a glimpse of me under the funnel smoke. The photo of Unicorn blocking the Suez was caused by a gust of wind, she started to veer but we were not able to straighten her. We were stuck for 4 hrs.

[ivorthediver]

Thanks a lot , great views Jim , of great ships from a great period ,wish we had the mastery now we had then , but the passage of time levels most things in life regardless of our wishes .

Thats when we still held some clout in the world , and a nation that knew where it was going ,.... unlike today where values held dear to most of us are like these great vessels .....scrapped

[jbryce1437]

Unicorn gave me the impression, with her high freeboard, that she would roll on a calm sea.

Jim

[ivorthediver]

well Jim the best to answer that were the crew ....but she does look to have a high freeboard ......but they would know best .

[oldsalt]

A picture of a mishap on Unicorn's flight deck during the Korean War.

img099.jpg

[ivorthediver]

Opps Keith , Someone lost their Tot for this eh .....

[ivorthediver]

These are certainly diverse and differing Jim , and as I said earlier , I had no idea that we made so many differing types / classes and they all had their merits , and indeed uses .

Great shots , well deserving of viewing and display , I am still amazed that given the state of our indebtedness and the debt we incurred with America we could still knock them out ,but there was obviously a need as we saw it , and crews to man them thank god .