Fleet Aircraft Carrier, R06 1951-1972 HMS Eagle was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier and largest British carrier until the modern Queen Elizabeth-class of the 21st century. She was a near sister of Ark Royal but differed significantly. Laid down initally on 24 October 1942 at Harland and Wolff, Belfast part of the buildup for future Pacific … Read more
Fleet Aircraft Carrier 1939-1969: WW2 Veteran HMS Victorious, last of the 1936 carrier program, was the only armoured carrier of the famous Illustrious class postwar considered worth a complete modernization, over seven years. When she re-emerged by the end of the 1957 amidst budget cuts and revisions, she was indeed brand new (even her powerplant … Read more
United Kingdom (1939-1960) Genesis of the Vanguard design It should be tempting to reduce HMS Vanguard to a solution for “reusing old turrets”. A monitor could have done the job just as well for a fraction of the price. The truth is that the design went by leaps and bounds with a real theater in … Read more
Royal Navy Guided Missile Destroyers (1975-2013): HMS Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle, Coventry, Glasgow, Cardiff, Exeter (b2), Southampton, Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester(b3), York, Gloucester, Edinburgh, +ARG Hércules, Santísima Trinidad The Type 42 class destroyers were designed in the late 1960s, in parralel to the ambitious Type 82 escorting the CV01 class carriers. This was was seen as a … Read more
Guided Missile Destroyer D23, sole of her class (1973-2020, preserved). The Type 82 destroyer only had a single ship in class built for the Royal Navy, HMS Bristol (D23). She was intended as the first of new large destroyers escorting the CVA-01 aircraft carriers planned for the early 1970s. But the the 1966 Defence White … Read more
Fleet Aircraft Carrier 1944-2017: HMS Elephant (1944), HMS Hermes (1959-85), INS Viraat (1986-2021) The story of HMS Hermes is one of an aircraft carrier with the longest service in hostory so far: HMS Hermes (R12). From keel laying in 1944 to scrapping in 2021, HMS Hermes had been around for 77 years, with more than … Read more
United Kingdom: 4 aircraft carriers: HMS Albion, Centaur, Bulwark, Hermes, 4 more cancelled The first postwar British aircraft carriers First British cold war carriers, last started in WW2, the Centaur class were part of the 1942 Light Fleet Carrier program, later modified to include eight “intermediary fleet carriers” in 1943: HMS Albion, Centaur, Bulwark, HMS … Read more
United Kingdom: 5 light fleet aircraft carriers: HMS Majestic, Terrible, Powerful, Magnificient, Hercules, Powerful, 1 more cancelled (1944-1999) The majestic class were part of the 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier programme, the most ambitious of the Royal Navy in WW2. This planned for a total of sixteen unprotected fleet carriers, thought at notably as second … Read more
Royal Navy – 8 ships (2 cancelled), 2 batches 1962-2006 HMS Devonshire, Hampshire, Kent, London, Fife, Glamorgan, Antrim, Norfolk The new “county” are missile destroyers The Royal Navy in the 1950s the needed a new “county class”, but at the time it seemed obvious that they would have been armed with missiles. Development started in … Read more
