Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Courageous-class battlecruiser
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
=== Post-war history === {{main|Courageous-class aircraft carrier}} ''Courageous'' was reduced to [[Wikt:mothball|reserve]] at [[Rosyth]] on 1 February 1919 before being assigned to the Gunnery School at [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]] the following year as a turret drill ship. She became flagship of the Rear-Admiral Commanding the Reserve at Devonport in March 1920. ''Glorious'' was also reduced to reserve at Rosyth on 1 February and served as a turret-drill ship, but succeeded her sister as flagship between 1921 and 1922. ''Furious'' was placed in reserve 21 November 1919 before beginning reconstruction as an aircraft carrier in 1921.<ref name="Burt, p. 315">Burt, p. 315.</ref> The [[Washington Naval Treaty]] of 1922 required the signatory nations to severely curtail their plans for new warships and scrap many existing warships to meet its tonnage limits. Up to {{convert|66000|LT|t}} of existing ships, however, could be converted into aircraft carriers, and the Royal Navy chose to convert the ''Courageous''-class ships because of their high speed. Each ship was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck during the 1920s. Their 15-inch turrets were placed into storage and later reused during the Second World War for {{HMS|Vanguard|23|6}}, the Royal Navy's last battleship.<ref>Parkes, p. 647.</ref> As the first large, or "fleet", carrier completed by the Royal Navy, ''Furious'' was extensively used to evaluate aircraft handling and landing procedures, including the first ever carrier night-landing in 1926.<ref>Jenkins, p. 274.</ref> ''Courageous'' became the first warship lost by the Royal Navy in the Second World War II when she was torpedoed in September 1939.<ref>Rohwer, pp. 1β3.</ref> ''Glorious'' unsuccessfully hunted the {{ship|German cruiser|Admiral Graf Spee||2}} in the [[Indian Ocean]] in 1939. She participated in the [[Norwegian Campaign]] in 1940, but was sunk by the German battleships {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}} on 8 June 1940 in the North Sea.<ref>Rohwer, p. 26.</ref> ''Furious'' spent the first months of the war hunting for German raiders and escorting convoys before she began to support British forces in Norway. She spent most of 1940 in Norwegian waters making attacks on German installations and shipping, and most of 1941 ferrying aircraft to West Africa, [[Gibraltar]] and [[Malta]] before refitting in the United States. She ferried aircraft to Malta during 1942 and provided air support to British forces during [[Operation Torch]]. ''Furious'' spent most of 1943 training with the Home Fleet, but made numerous air strikes against the {{ship|German battleship|Tirpitz||2|up=yes}} and other targets in Norway in 1944. She was worn out by late 1944 and was reduced to reserve in September before being decommissioned the following year. ''Furious'' was sold in 1948 for [[Ship breaking|scrap]].<ref>Jenkins, pp. 277β288.</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)