RN Aircraft Carriers: Audacious / Eagle Class 1951

[Brian James]

HMS Ark Royal pictured as she enters Toulon c1956.

[Brian James]

HMS Ark Royal pictured entering Grand Harbor c1956.

[Brian James]

HMS Eagle pictured c1964.

[designeraccd]

Two later views of the ARK ROYAL.......... DFO

[Brian James]

Audacious Class Carrier HMS Ark Royal in 1961.

[Brian James]

A mass Hawker Seahawk cartridge start..HMS Ark Royal,June 1955.

[designeraccd]

A over head view of the ARK ROYAL in 1957; my she had many changes coming!!! The bow and stern views show many compared to 1957.

I rebuilt my original scratch built model of her twice. Finally I built a second model showing her with all the additional changes she had by the time Phantoms were flying from her. Altho she carried a total of 40 aircraft by the time she operated Phantoms, only 26 were combat planes: 12 Phantoms and 14 Buccaneer strike planes......DFO

[jbryce1437]

Many thanks for posting the photos Dennis. I served on her for three years 1964/7, by which time most of the 4.5" gun mountings had been removed, I think we were only left with X and Y turrets, a 6 barrel bofor midships on the port side and a twin bofor mounting on the flight deck in front of the bridge. The side lift had also been removed by that time. I left her as she was about to start an extended refit, after which all of the armaments were removed, although I believe she was fitted for, but not with, seacat missile mountings. We slept in hammocks and camp beds, bunks if you were in the Senior Rates messes. After the extended refit all sleeping was in bunks and the messes were fitted with air conditioning, so a big improvement in living conditions. During my time on her we were involved in NATO exercises off the north of Scotland and, due to rough weather, little flying was done. The embarked press corps spent time below decks and witnessed the living conditions of the crew. Consequently, she was labeled by the press as a slum ship as most of the ratings were sleeping in camp beds in passageways and other suitable places. That little piece of bad publicity earned us "Hard Lying" money of 7.5p per day (1s 6d back then, which was a princely sum).
It was sad to see her go to the scrapyard, but there was little benefit of saving her as a museum ship as her upkeep would have been costly.

Jim

[Brian James]

Audacious Class Carrier HMS Ark Royal pictured conducting a jackstay transfer with County Class Guided Missile Destroyer HMS Antrim in 1975.

[Pelican]

EAGLE entering Gib. June 1955

[Pokers pumping out a lot of water?}