HMS Courageous (50)
Service
- as Courageous? — 17 September 193916 days of the war
- Name
- HMS Courageous
- Pennant / hull number
- 50
- Builder
- Armstrong Whitworth
- Ordered
- 14 March 1915
- Laid down
- 26 March 1915
- Launched
- 5 February 1916
- Fate
- Sunk in the North Atlantic, 17 September 1939 (1939)
- Status
- Wreck
Specifications — As battlecruiser
- Displacement, standard
- 19,180 long tons (19,488 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 22,560 long tons (22,922 t)
- Length
- 239.57 m (786 ft)
- Beam
- 24.69 m (81 ft)
- Draught
- 7.62 m (25 ft)
- Speed
- 32 knots (59.3 km/h, 36.8 mph)
- Range
- 6,000 nmi (11,112 km)
- Complement
- 842
- Main gun
- 381 mm (15 in)
HMS Courageous was a aircraft carrier of the Courageous-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy. She carried the pennant number 50. Armstrong Whitworth laid her keel on 26 March 1915. She was launched on 5 February 1916.
Three ships of the class were built. The class followed the HMS Eagle (1918) and was succeeded by the HMS Ark Royal (91).
She displaced 19,180 long tons standard and 22,560 long tons at full load. She measured 239.6 m (786 ft) long with a beam of 24.7 m (81 ft). Her designed speed was 32 knots, and she carried a complement of 842.
Her main battery was four 381 mm (15 in) guns in two twin mountings. 90,000 shp drove four shafts.
She was in commission for 16 days of the Second World War.
She was sunk on 17 September 1939, at 50°10′N 14°45′W. The wreck survives.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
This vessel is recorded in 2 configurations. Wartime refits changed armament and complement substantially, so each is kept separately rather than averaged into one set of figures. The figures above are as built.
As battlecruiser
- Propulsion
- 4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
- Power
- 18 Yarrow boilers
- 90000 shp
- Armament
- 2 × twin 15 in (381 mm) guns
- 6 × triple 4 in (102 mm guns)
- 2 × single 3 in (76 mm) AA guns
- 2 × single 21 in torpedo tubes
- Armour
- Belt: 2 - 3 in
- Decks: 0.75 - 3 in
- Barbettes: 3 - 7 in
- Gun turrets: 7 - 9 in
- Conning tower: 10 in
- Torpedo bulkheads: 1 - 1.5 in
As aircraft carrier
- Displacement, standard
- 24,210 long tons (24,598 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 26,990 long tons (27,423 t)
- Length
- 239.57 m (786 ft) OA
- Beam
- 27.43 m (90 ft)
- Draught
- 8.23 m (27 ft)
- Speed
- 30 knots (55.6 km/h, 34.5 mph)
- Range
- 5,860 nmi (10,853 km)
- Complement
- 814
- Main gun
- 120 mm (4.7 in)
- Propulsion
- 4 shafts, 4 geared steam turbines
- Power
- 18 Yarrow boilers
- 90000 shp
- Armament
- 16 × single 4.7 in (120 mm) AA guns
- Armour
- Belt: 2 - 3 in
- Decks: .75 - 1 in
- Bulkhead: 2 - 3 in
- Torpedo bulkheads: 1 - 1.5 in
- Aircraft
- 48
Sister ships
Sources
- Facts harvested from HMS Courageous (50) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: Oscar Parkes — This photograph SP 1780 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 1900-01) — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons