 Ark Royal around 1918 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Ark Royal |
| Builder | Blyth Shipbuilding Company,Blyth, Northumberland |
| Laid down | 7 November 1913 |
| Launched | 5 September 1914 |
| Acquired | May 1914 |
| Commissioned | 10 December 1914 |
| Out of service | February 1944 |
| Renamed | Pegasus, 21 December 1934 |
| Fate | Sold, 18 October 1946 |
 Panama | |
| Name | Anita I |
| Owner | R. C. Ellerman |
| Operator | Compania de Navigation Ellanita |
| Acquired | 18 October 1946 |
| Fate | Seized for debts, 16 June 1949 |
| Notes | Sold forscrap, October 1950 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Seaplane carrier |
| Displacement | 7,080long tons (7,190 t) (normal) |
| Length | 366 ft (111.6 m)o/a |
| Beam | 50 ft 10 in (15.5 m) |
| Draught | 18 ft 9 in (5.7 m) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Range | 3,030 nmi (5,610 km; 3,490 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 180 |
| Armament | 4 × single12 pdr (3 in (76 mm)) guns |
| Aircraft carried | 8 ×floatplanes |
HMSArk Royal was the first ship designed and built as aseaplane carrier.[1] She was purchased by theRoyal Navy in 1914 shortly after her keel had been laid and the ship was only inframes; this allowed the ship's design to be modified almost totally to accommodateseaplanes. During theFirst World War,Ark Royal participated in theGallipoli Campaign in early 1915, with her aircraft conducting aerial reconnaissance and observation missions. Her aircraft later supported British troops on theMacedonian Front in 1916, before she returned to theDardanelles to act as adepot ship for all the seaplanes operating in the area. In January 1918, several of her aircraft unsuccessfully attacked the GermanbattlecruiserSMS Goeben when she sortied from the Dardanelles to attackAllied ships in the area. The ship left the area later in the year to support seaplanes conductinganti-submarine patrols over the southernAegean Sea.
After the end of the war,Ark Royal mostly served as an aircraft transport and depot ship for those aircraft in support ofWhite Russian and British operations against theBolsheviks in theCaspian andBlack Sea regions during theAllied intervention in the Russian Civil War. She also supportedRoyal Air Force (RAF) aircraft inBritish Somaliland in the campaign againstMohammed Abdullah Hassan in 1920. Later that year, the ship was placed inreserve.Ark Royal wasrecommissioned to ferry an RAF squadron to the Dardanelles during theChanak Crisis in 1922. She was reduced to reserve again upon her return to the United Kingdom the following year.
The ship was recommissioned in 1930 to serve as atraining ship, for seaplane pilots and to evaluateaircraft catapult operations and techniques. She was renamed HMSPegasus in 1934, freeing the name for theaircraft carrier ordered that year, and continued to serve as a training ship until the beginning of theSecond World War in September 1939. Assigned to theHome Fleet at the beginning of the war, she took on tasks as an aircraft transport, in addition to her training duties, until she was modified to serve as the prototypefighter catapult ship in late 1940. This type of ship was intended to defend convoys against attacks by German long-rangemaritime patrol bombers by launchingfighters via their catapult to provide air cover for the convoy.Pegasus served in this role until mid-1941 when she reverted to her previous duties as a training ship. This lasted until early 1944 when she became abarracks ship. The ship was sold in late 1946 and her conversion into a merchant ship began the following year. However, the owner ran out of money during the process andAnita I, as she had been renamed, was seized by her creditors in 1949 and sold forscrap. She was not broken up until late 1950.
The Royal Navy had conducted trials in 1913 with a modifiedcruiser,Hermes, to evaluate the ability of seaplanes to work with the fleet. They were successful enough that theAdmiralty allocated £81,000 in the 1914–1915 Naval Programme to purchase a merchant ship for a more thorough modification than had been possible withHermes to better accommodate seaplanes. Atramp steamer was purchased in 1914 that had just begun construction at theBlyth Shipbuilding Company so it could be easily modified to suit its new role.[2]
Ark Royal waslaid down on 7 November 1913 by the Blyth Shipbuilding Company inBlyth, Northumberland, as a freighter, probably intended for the coal-for-grain trade in the Black Sea. She was purchased in May 1914[1] and waslaunched on 5 September 1914. The ship wascommissioned on 10 December 1914.[3]
Extensive changes to the ship were made in converting her to a seaplane tender, with the superstructure,funnel, and propulsion machinery moved aft and a working deck occupying the forward half of the ship. The deck was not intended as a flying-off deck, but for starting and running up of seaplane engines and for recovering damaged aircraft from the sea.[4] The ship was equipped with a large aircraft hold, 150 feet (45.7 m) long, 45 feet (13.7 m) wide and 15 feet (4.6 m) high along with extensive workshops. Two 3-long-ton (3.0 t) steamcranes on the sides of theforecastle lifted the aircraft through the sliding hatch of thehangar onto the flight deck or into the water. She carried 4,000 imperial gallons (18,000 L; 4,800 US gal) of petrol for her aircraft in standard commercial 2-imperial-gallon (9.1 L; 2.4 US gal) tins.[5]
She could carry five floatplanes and two to four wheeled aircraft. The seaplanes would take off and land in the water alongside the carrier, lifted on and off the ship by cranes; the other aircraft would have to return to land after launch. Her original complement of aircraft consisted of a Short Folder, two Wight Pushers, three Sopwith Type 807 seaplanes and two to four Sopwith Tabloid wheeled aircraft.[6]
Ark Royal had anoverall length of 366 feet (111.6 m), abeam of 50 feet 10 inches (15.5 m), and adraught of 18 feet 9 inches (5.7 m). She normallydisplaced 7,080 long tons (7,190 t), with a displacement of 7,450 long tons (7,570 t) atdeep load.[7] The ship had one vertical triple-expansion steam engine driving one propeller shaft. The ship's three cylindricalboilers generated enough steam to produce 3,000indicated horsepower (2,200 kW) from the engine.[8] The ship had a designed speed of 11knots (20 km/h; 13 mph); she made a speed of 10.64 knots (19.71 km/h; 12.24 mph) during hersea trials with 2,675shaft horsepower (1,995 kW) in December 1914.[9]Ark Royal carried 500 tonnes (490 long tons) offuel oil, enough to give her a range of 3,030nautical miles (5,610 km; 3,490 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[7]
The ship was armed with four QF 12-pounder 12 cwt guns[Note 1] and two machine guns.[10] Her crew totalled 180 officers and men, including 60 aviation personnel.[8] "Her truly unique feature was the steadying sail on themizzen to help keep her head to the wind; she remains the only aircraft carrier to have been fitted with a sail."[11]
The ship proved to be too slow to work with theGrand Fleet and for operations in theNorth Sea in general, soArk Royal was ordered to the Mediterranean in mid-January 1915 to support theGallipoli campaign.[10] Under the command ofCommanderRobert Clark-Hall, the ship sailed on 1 February 1915 and arrived at the island ofTenedos on 17 February. She attempted to fly three of her seaplanes on the day of her arrival to reconnoitre the Straits, but two of them had engine troubles and the third could not take off because the water was too calm, a common problem with many early seaplanes. A Wight Pusher eventually managed to get into the air and discovered new fortifications down the Straits; it dropped a single 20-pound (9.1 kg) bomb on the Asiatic side of theDardanelles and returned with seven bullet holes in its skin. Two days later, the ship's aircraft attempted unsuccessfully to spot for the fleet as they bombarded the Ottoman fortifications defending the Straits. They conducted moreaerial reconnaissance and observation missions in support of the fleet later in the month and in early March as it moved further up the Straits.Ark Royal lost her first aircraft on 5 March as thepropeller of one of her Sopwiths splintered into pieces at 3,000 feet (910 m). Both of the aircraft's crewmen were recovered by thedestroyerHMS Usk.[12]
Later in the month, the ship's aircrew learned to spotmines from the air and were moderately successful, although they failed to detect the minefield that sank one French and two Britishpredreadnoughts and damaged a British battlecruiser on 18 March. Later in the month,Ark Royal and her aircraft were relieved byNo. 3 Squadron of theRoyal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In preparation for the squadron's arrival, the ship's crew cleared avineyard on the island to serve as anairfield and unloaded its crated aircraft on 26–27 March. From 31 March to 7 April,Ark Royal and her companions made several fake landing attempts and her aircraft bombarded the port ofSmyrna with little effect. When she returned to Tenedos on 8 April, she exchanged her Tabloids, which had never flown from the ship, for a pair ofSopwith Schneider single-seat floatplanes. In addition, she received two Sopwith Type 860s, another Wight Pusher, and a Short Type 166, all two-seat floatplanes, as replacements. The ship had no room for all these aircraft and she used the collierPenmorvalt to store them and for additional workshop space. Her aircraft resumed reconnaissance and observation missions over the Dardanelles; aircraft discovered a large ammunition dump on 12 April, and provided corrective data to direct gunfire fromHMS Lord Nelson onto the target.[13]
Ark Royal's aircraft provided support to the Australian and New Zealand troops atAnzac Cove as they landed on 25 April on theGallipoli Peninsula. Two days later, the ship was taken under fire by the Ottoman predreadnoughtTurgut Reis, firing across the peninsula, and she had to move in a hurry to avoid being hit. A month later, the battle on the peninsula had bogged down and the success of the GermansubmarineU-21 in sinking two British predreadnoughts forcedArk Royal to move to a safer anchorage atImbros at the end of May. There she became adepot ship for all the seaplanes in the area, while her own aircraft continued to support operations at Gallipoli. On occasion, aircraft were loaned out to other ships for reconnaissance or observation missions.[14]
The ship left Imbros on 1 November forMytilene, from where her aircraft flew aerial reconnaissance missions over Smyrna, before she continued onwards toSalonika, where she arrived on 8 November. While based there, her aircraft supported British troopsfighting the Bulgarians, spotted for British ships conducting shore bombardments, and conducted anti-submarine patrols. At this time,Ark Royal operated five Short 166s and a couple of Sopwith seaplanes. On 27 March 1917, the ship was transferred toMudros to serve as a depot ship for all the seaplanes assigned toNo. 2 Wing RNAS, which controlled all RNAS aircraft in the area. By the end of 1917, she operated a mixture ofShort Type 184 andSopwith Baby aircraft.[15]
On the morning of 20 January 1918, the Ottoman battlecruiserYavûz Sultân Selîm, together with thelight cruiserMidilli (formerly the GermanGoeben andBreslau, and still with German crews), sortied from the Dardanelles to attack British warships based at Mudros.Yavuz struck a mine shortly after they exited the mouth of the Dardanelles so they switched targets and sank two Britishmonitors off Imbros Island.[16] As they were returning to the Dardanelles, the two ships were attacked by two ofArk Royal's Sopwith Babies with 65-pound (29 kg) bombs. One Baby was quickly shot down and the other was forced to make an emergency landing with engine problems off Imbros; the pilot was able to taxi the aircraft onto a beach and it was recovered several days later.[15]Midilli struck five mines and sank on the return whilstYavuz struck two more mines and then ran aground inside the Straits.Ark Royal's Short 184s attempted to bomb her at dawn on the following morning, but all ten bombs missed, and an attempt to attack the ship with a Short 184 modified to carry a 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo failed when the weight of the torpedo proved to be more than the aircraft could lift.[16][17]
On 3 April, the ship was transferred to the island ofSyros, where she could support the seaplanes ofNo. 62 Wing of theRoyal Air Force (RAF) on anti-submarine patrols; part of the former No. 2 Wing RNAS redesignated when the RNAS and theRoyal Flying Corps were merged to form the RAF.Ark Royal was transferred to Piraeus in October and was still there when theArmistice of Mudros with Turkey was signed on 31 October. The ship joined the Allied fleet that occupiedConstantinople after the surrender.[18]
After the war,Ark Royal transported aircraft across the Black Sea toBatumi, where they were ferried across the Caucasus to theBritish naval forces supporting White Russian forces fighting the Bolsheviks in the Caspian Sea during theRussian Civil War. The ship was withdrawn from the Black Sea in late 1919 and disembarked her seaplanes atMalta to load a dozenAirco DH.9 bombers and 181 personnel of the supporting Z Force for transport toBritish Somaliland. The ship arrived inBerbera on 30 December and the squadron was unloaded to supportthe air and land campaign againstDiiriye Guure.[19]Ark Royal served during this campaign solely as a depot and repair ship for the RAF. She was withdrawn before its conclusion and transferred to the Black Sea to support the White Russian forces there as they began to collapse. The ship twice ferried refugees from the Caucasian coast to theCrimea and, after the second voyage, had to be fumigated at Constantinople after an outbreak oftyphus among her passengers. During the summer of 1920,Ark Royal ferried RAF aircraft and personnel toBasra. She then returned to Britain for a refit and was put into reserve atRosyth in November.[20]
She was recommissioned in September 1922 to transport4 Squadron, equipped with a dozenBristol F.2 Fighters, out to the Dardanelles during theChanak crisis. The aircraft were ferried semi-assembled and then transferred to the aircraft carrierArgus where they were fully assembled. On 11 October, the F.2s flew from the carrier to an airfield at Kilya on the European side of the straits. The ship remained in the area until she was given a brief refit at Malta in early 1923. Now equipped withFairey IIID seaplanes,Ark Royal returned to the Dardanelles until she was transferred back to the United Kingdom late in the year. Upon her arrival, the ship was placed back in reserve and became the depot ship for the reserve ofminesweepers atSheerness until 1930.[20]
In 1930,Ark Royal was recommissioned again as a training ship and an aircraft catapult was installed on her forecastle, forward of her cranes. For the next nine years, the ship conducted trials and evaluations of catapults and seaplane launch and recovery equipment and techniques. On 21 December 1934, she was renamed HMSPegasus to release her name fora new carrier that was then beginning construction. The ship was assigned to the Home Fleet when the Second World War began, and was mostly used to train sailors in catapult launching and shipboard recovery techniques. The ship used theFairey Seafox,Supermarine Walrus, andFairey Swordfish of764 Naval Air Squadron.[21] She also served as an aircraft transport and was present inScapa Flow, having just delivered some aircraft, on 14 October when the battleshipRoyal Oak was sunk by theGerman submarine U-47. As the closest ship toRoyal Oak,Pegasus was able to rescue some 400 survivors.[22]
Pegasus was converted to the prototype fighter catapult ship in November 1940,[23] carrying threeFairey Fulmar fighters from807 Naval Air Squadron between 1 December and 10 February 1941, which were replaced by aircraft from804 Naval Air Squadron between 10 February and 23 July.[24] These fighters were supposed to defend convoys against attacks fromFocke-Wulf Fw 200 maritime patrol bombers and to prevent them from radioing location reports toU-boats. If out of range of land, the fighters would have toditch at sea and hope to be recovered by a ship from their convoy.[25] The ship escorted nine convoys between December 1940 and July 1941.[23] At some point during the war, the ship's anti-aircraft armament was supplemented with a pair ofOerlikon 20 mm lightanti-aircraft guns mounted in the bow, the ship'sbridge was enlarged and the mast was replaced with a tripod mast bearing aType 291 air warningradar.[26] The ship then became a seaplane training ship again, hosting763 NAS aboard from 20 April 1942 to 13 February 1944.[27]Pegasus then became a barracks ship until May 1946 and was then listed for disposal in June.[28]
She was sold to R. C. Ellerman on 18 October, renamedAnita I, andregistered under the Panamanian flag. Under the management of theCompania de Navigation Ellanita, the ship sailed fromCardiff toAntwerp in October 1947 to begin conversion to a freighter. The work ceased in early 1948 andAnita I was seized by her creditors and auctioned off to a Dutch shipbreaking firm on 16 June 1949. She was resold once more before the ship was purchased by theBritish Iron and Steel Corporation in October 1950. Later that year, the ship was broken up for scrap atThos. W. Ward,Grays, Essex.[29]
This letter is sent by all the Dervishes, the Amir, and all the Dolbahanta to the Ruler of Berbera ... We are a Government, we have a Sultan, an Amir, and Chiefs, and subjects ... (reply) In his last letter the Mullah pretends to speak in the name of the Dervishes, their Amir (himself), and the Dolbahanta tribes. This letter shows his object is to establish himself as the Ruler of the Dolbahanta
| Preceded by | HMS Ark Royal 1914–1946 | Succeeded by |