HMS Unicorn (I72)
Service
- as Unicorn? — 17 November 19532,193 days of the war
- Name
- HMS Unicorn
- Pennant / hull number
- I72
- Namesake
- Unicorn
- Builder
- Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Ordered
- 14 April 1939
- Laid down
- 26 June 1939
- Launched
- 20 November 1941
- Decommissioned
- January 1946
- Recommissioned
- 1949
- Fate
- Scrapped, 15 June 1959 (1959)
- Status
- Scrapped
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 16,510 long tons (16,775 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 20,300 long tons (20,626 t)
- Length
- 195.07 m (640 ft)
- Beam
- 27.43 m (90 ft)
- Draught
- 7.01 m (23 ft)
- Speed
- 24 knots (44.4 km/h, 27.6 mph)
- Range
- 7,000 nmi (12,964 km)
- Complement
- 1,200
- Main gun
- 102 mm (4 in)
HMS Unicorn was a aircraft carrier, operated by the Royal Navy. She carried the pennant number I72. She was named for Unicorn. Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland laid her keel on 26 June 1939. She was launched on 20 November 1941.
She displaced 16,510 long tons standard and 20,300 long tons at full load. She measured 195.1 m (640 ft) long with a beam of 27.4 m (90 ft). Her designed speed was 24 knots, and she carried a complement of 1,200.
Her main battery was eight 102 mm (4 in) guns in four twin mountings. Her machinery developed 40,000 shp.
She was in commission for 2,193 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned in January 1946. She recommissioned in 1949.
She was broken up for scrap on 15 June 1959.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 2 × shafts; 2 ×geared steam turbine sets
- Power
- 4 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers
- 40000 shp
- Armament
- 4 × twin 4 in DP guns
- 4 × quadruple 2-pdr (40 mm) AA guns
- 2 × twin, 8 × single 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns
- Armour
- Flight deck: 2 in
- Magazines: 2 - 3 in
- Bulkheads: 1.5 in
- Aircraft
- Approximately 33 (operational use)
Sources
- Facts harvested from HMS Unicorn (I72) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. — Naval Historical Center home page — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons