HMS Hermes (R12)
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Vickers-Armstrong |
| Laid down: | 21 June 1944 |
| Launched: | 16 February 1953 |
| Commissioned: | 25 November 1959 |
| Decommissioned: | N/A |
| Struck: | 1985 |
| Homeport: | HMNB Portsmouth |
| Fate: | Sold to India in 1986. Active in service as INS Viraat |
| Notes: | Pennant = R12, |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 23,000 tonnes standard 2; 28,000 tonnes Full Load |
| Length: | 236.14 m |
| Beam: | 45.10 m |
| Draught: | 27.8 ft (8.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 Parson turbines, 76,000 shp (57 MW) |
| Speed: | 28 knots (52 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,000 miles at 18 knots (13,000 km at 33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 2,100 |
| Armament: | 10 × 40 mm Bofors |
| Aircraft carried: | Up to 1970:12 Sea Vixens, 7 Buccaneers, 5 Gannets and 6 Wessex After 1980: up to 28 Sea Harriers |
HMS Hermes (R12) was a Centaur-class aircraft carrier, the last of the postwar conventional aircraft carriers commissioned into the Royal Navy.
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[edit] Construction and modifications
She was laid down by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness during WW II as HMS Elephant. Construction was suspended in 1945 but work was resumed in 1952 to clear the slipway and the hull was launched on 16 February 1953. The vessel remained unfinished until 1957, when she entered service on 18 November 1959 as HMS Hermes after extensive modifications which included installation of a massive Type 984 'searchlight' 3D radar.
[edit] Operations
[edit] Proposed International Fleet
Hermes served as one of four Royal Navy strike carriers mainly in the Indian Ocean area until 1970. She could have seen action against the Egyptians when Egypt closed off the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping in May 1967. The UK and US contemplated forming an international fleet to open the strait with force if necessary,[1] but the idea never materialized.
[edit] Falklands War
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. Hermes carried BAe Sea Harrier FRS.Mk.1 jets of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, Harrier GR.Mk.3 jets of the Royal Air Force, Sea King MK4s and MK5s as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines.
When the proposed sale of HMS Invincible to the Royal Australian Navy was cancelled following the Falklands War, in 1983 an offer was made to sell Hermes and a squadron of Sea Harriers to the Australia. However the new Hawke government decided against purchasing a replacement for HMAS Melbourne.[2]
[edit] INS Viraat
She served with the Royal Navy until 12 April 1984. She was paid off in 1985 and in April 1986 she was refitted and sold to India and recommissioned as the INS Viraat in 1989.
[edit] Complement
Her typical aircraft complement in the late 1960s consisted of 12 Sea Vixen FAW2s, 7 Buccaneer S2s, 4 Gannet AEW3s, 1 Gannet COD4, 5 Wessex HAS3s and 1 Wessex HAS1. She was recommissioned as a commando carrier in 1973, as an ASW carrier in 1976, and then as a V/STOL carrier.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/johnsonlb/xix/28055.htm The international naval task force proposal in May 1967
- ^ Sea Harrier Down Under. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
[edit] External links
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