HMS Centaur (R06)
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Centaur |
Builder | Harland and Wolff |
Laid down | 30 May 1944 |
Launched | 22 April 1947 |
Commissioned | 1 September 1953 |
Decommissioned | 1965 |
Homeport | HMNB Portsmouth |
Identification | Pennant number: R06 |
Fate | Scrapped in 1972-73 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Centaur-class aircraft carrier |
Displacement | 22,000 tons standard, 27,000 full load |
Length | 737.75 ft (224.87 m) |
Beam | 123 ft (37 m) |
Draught | 27.8 ft (8.5 m) |
Installed power | 76,000 shp (57,000 kW) |
Propulsion | 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 2 shafts, Parsons geared turbines |
Speed | 28 kn (52 km/h) |
Range | 7,000 nmi (13,000 km) at 18 kn (33 km/h) |
Complement | 1,390 (including air group) |
Sensors and processing systems | Radars, Types 960/965(AW) 982(2 sets) 983 978 293. |
Armament |
|
Armour | 1–2 in (25–51 mm) on flight deck |
Aircraft carried | 42 (decreased to 26 with jet fighters). 1958-60 Sea Hawk & Sea Venom, 1961-63 Sea Vixen FAW1 & Supermarine Scimitar, 1963-65 12 Sea Vixen |
HMS Centaur was the first of the four
Centaur saw service throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. Due to budgetary issues Centaur was not converted to a commando carrier like two of her sister ships. Centaur was withdrawn from service in August 1965 and sold for scrapping in 1972.
Completion
Centaur was completed with an axial flight deck, marked by a broken white line running down the middle of the entire length of the flight deck. She began her contractor's sea trials in March 1953[1] and commissioned on 17 September 1953. Her aviation facilities as completed included 2 x BH5 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) hydraulic catapults at the bow, six 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) arrestor wires, two 35,000 lb (16,000 kg) capacity aircraft lifts, measuring 54 ft × 44 ft (16 m × 13 m) forward and aft. Her single hangar measured 329 by 62 by 17.5 ft (100.3 by 18.9 by 5.3 m), and she had stowage for 349,000 imp gal (1,590,000 L) of AVCAT and Avgas aviation fuel.[2]
Following the completion of her sea and machinery trials in October 1953, she was taken in hand at Portsmouth Dockyard, to be fitted with an interim 5.5-degree angled deck, which was already being added to her as yet uncompleted sister ships, Albion and Bulwark. This required cutting down the port sheerstrake, re-siting the walkways and removing three twin Bofors guns and their directors.[3][4] Upon completion of this work in April 1954, she was finally able to join the fleet as the first angled-deck carrier in the Royal Navy and undertook her initial flying trials in the English Channel from May to July 1954.
Operational history
First commission
Centaur's initial air group of 25 aircraft, as embarked in July 1954, consisted of nine
From June 1955 until January 1956, Centaur was based in home waters and undertook a range of visits and exercises with other carriers of the fleet. After two months spent in Portsmouth from November 1955, she left for the Far East on 10 January 1956, in company with Albion. Further changes to her air-group saw the Avengers of 814 Squadron replaced by the re-formed 820 Squadron, with six
Modernisation
In the mid-1950s Government Defence Policy was to maintain a fleet of four active aircraft carriers to meet both
The design limitations of the three Centaur-class carriers completed in 1953-4 meant that a rebuild to the standard adopted for the other carriers would be difficult, if not impossible. A particular problem was the lack of hangar deck strength, which when the ships were ordered in 1943, was specified to handle 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) aircraft.[15] A fully loaded Sea Vixen FAW1 could weigh up to 35,000 lb (16,000 kg) and the Scimitar up to 34,200 lb (15,500 kg).[16] This would mean that in operation these aircraft would have to be armed and fuelled on the flight deck. Nonetheless, no other hulls were available, and given the potential "gap", a quick solution was needed. It was therefore decided that one Centaur-class would be given a limited modernisation, to give her the minimum capability to operate these aircraft. Centaur herself was selected for this purpose in May 1956.[17]
Between June 1956 and August 1958, Centaur underwent her partial modernisation at Devonport Dockyard. This involved the installation of two 139-foot (42 m) BS4 40,000 lb (18,000 kg) steam catapults forward, the removal of the Bofors guns on the flight deck, improved air operations facilities and the addition of a Type 963 blind-landing radome at the rear of the island.[18][19][20] Some work was also done on a further slight extension on the port-side, to enable a six-degree angled flight deck to be used.[21] Her arrestor cables were not upgraded at this stage, however. This was rectified in her 1960–1961 refit, when five 35,000 lb (16,000 kg) arrestor wires were fitted.[22][23]
Second commission
Centaur recommissioned at Devonport on 3 September 1958, under the command of Captain
From January to March she operated with the Mediterranean Fleet based in Malta, before proceeding to the North Atlantic to take part in Exercise Dawn Breeze IV, in company with Eagle and the recently rebuilt and re-commissioned Victorious. During March the Whirlwind helicopters of 845 Squadron were landed due to technical problems with their engines and she re-embarked Dragonflies to carry out search And rescue duties.[27][28] Six Gannet AS4s of 810 NAS were also embarked from June 1959, to provide anti-submarine capability.[29]
In April 1959, Centaur was used during the making of the film Sink the Bismarck! to depict flight operations from both Royal Navy aircraft carriers Victorious and Ark Royal; (her post-war pennant number R06 is clear in both scenes). Three surviving Fairey Swordfish biplanes were restored and flown from her decks, and scenes were also shot on the bridge of the carrier, and in the aircrew briefing room. One of the Swordfish was piloted by the test pilot Peter Twiss.[30]
After her brief spell in the limelight, Centaur spent a few weeks in home waters, carrying out flying operations, and paid visits to
Third commission
Centaur was refitted at
During April she sailed for the Mediterranean to continue flying exercises with her new air-group and met Hermes for the first time at Gibraltar. Although she was originally scheduled to cross the North Atlantic for a visit to the US and Canada, events in the Middle East were to lead to a rapid change of plans.[38]
In June 1961, President
With a reduction in tension following the decisive action of the Royal Navy to deter the would-be aggressor, Centaur was ordered to return to station off Aden, and subsequently returned home to Devonport in September, for a six-week maintenance period. During October she re-embarked her air-group and headed back through the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, to once again relieve Victorious as the duty carrier East of Suez in December. This duty saw visits to Mombasa (Kenya), Aden, Singapore and Hong Kong. In early December she was engaged in flood relief work in Kenya, where the Tana River had burst its banks. Her Whirlwinds helped to ferry essential supplies to the cut-off areas and temporary camps.[40] There was also a brief return to the Gulf in December 1961 when President Kassim of Iraq resumed threats against Kuwait, before backing down again. Centaur was relieved as the duty carrier by Ark Royal at the end of March and began her journey home.[41]
During May 1962, her air group was disembarked as she entered a short maintenance period in Portsmouth Dockyard. 807 squadron was disbanded at this time, following a decision to phase out the Scimitar in favour of the Blackburn Buccaneer. Centaur lacked the capacity to operate the Buccaneer; however, the removal of the Scimitar Squadron did enable her to operate an enlarged squadron of twelve Sea Vixens instead.[42][43][44]
On 18 June 1962, a new commanding officer, Captain Philip G Sharp, took over the ship, before she sailed to take part in exercises in the North Sea, following which she departed for Gibraltar.
After working up with her air-group in the Channel, during which a Sea Vixen of 893 Squadron was lost with her crew, Centaur took part in further emergency relief work, this time at home, carrying supplies for isolated communities in Wales and Northern Ireland, cut off by the severe blizzards of the
There had been speculation during this period that Centaur would be converted to a
Fourth commission
Centaur was refitted in Portsmouth Dockyard between June and November 1963, during which she was fitted with a large Mirror Landing Sight on a sponson on the port-side of the flight deck and a Type 965 air search radar was installed on a lattice foremast (taken from the Air Direction Destroyer Battleaxe, which had been earmarked for disposal, after being badly damaged in a collision the previous year) at the front of her island. More air-conditioning units were also installed and further improvements were made to her Operations Room. Whilst alongside in Portsmouth in October she sustained slight damage to her bow, when the submarine HMS Porpoise collided with her after being caught by the ebb tide.[49]
She re-commissioned on 15 November 1963. Her final, twenty-two strong, air-group was embarked shortly afterwards, consisting of twelve Sea Vixen FAW1 of 892 Squadron, four Gannet AEW3 of 849 Squadron, A Flight, and the ships flight of one Whirlwind. She also occasionally embarked small detachments of Scimitars seconded from other squadrons.[50][51] She was destined to be sent to the Far East, however before departing she undertook an emergency mission from 23 to 24 December, to assist the Greek Cruise Liner TSMS Lakonia, which had caught fire near Madeira. Centaur's helicopter helped to recover the victims of the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 128 passengers and crew; their bodies were disembarked on the ships lighter at Gibraltar on Christmas Day 1963 .[52]
After a quick passage through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, she arrived off Aden in January to continue her work-up, during which time she embarked the six Wessex helicopters of 815 Squadron from RAF Khormaksar to complete her air-group. She was also engaged in providing air support for Operations Damon and Nutcracker, an attempt to put down a rebellion in the Radfan region of Aden.[53]
In January 1964, a mutiny occurred in
Centaur completed her work-up during February in the South China Sea. and spent the next three months in the region, which included a high-profile visit to Singapore to deter threatened Indonesian aggression against Singapore and the newly formed Malaysian Federation. During May Centaur was ordered to return to the Indian Ocean to provide further support in Aden, where the Radfan rebellion was escalating into a major conflict. Her Wessex helicopters were used to replace RAF Belvedere's suffering from engine failures.[54]
During the summer her Sea Vixens undertook air strikes against the rebel forces in Radfan, helping to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion. Whilst exercising off
During a refit that lasted until March 1965, it was announced that Centaur would be withdrawn from service later that year, the first of the Royal Navy's modern carrier fleet to be withdrawn. A deployment to the Mediterranean during April, May and June included a number of high-profile port visits and exercises with the fleet, as well as close encounters with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. She returned to the UK during July and undertook a series of farewell visits to various ports and participated in a Royal Review of the Home Fleet in the Clyde during August. She returned to Portsmouth on 24 August 1965, and was open for visits by the public during Navy Days, before paying off for the last time on 27 September 1965.[56][57]
Final years
Pressures on the Defence Budget meant that there was no money available to further modernise Centaur nor convert her to a Commando Carrier; such funds and resources as might have been available, were already committed to converting the Tiger Class Cruisers to become rudimentary Helicopter Carriers.[58] Her use to the Navy was not quite over however, as she was consigned to the role of an accommodation ship for the crew of Victorious while the latter ship undertook a refit. In 1966, Centaur was towed to Devonport and was again used as an accommodation ship, this time for the aircraft carrier Eagle, while that ship was also refitted. In 1967 she was used as a tender for the RN Barracks, HMS Drake at Devonport, and was towed back to Portsmouth later that year, to act as an accommodation ship for Hermes during the latter ships' refit. In 1970, she was towed to Devonport, where after another spell as an accommodation ship, and with her condition now deteriorating significantly, she was put on the disposal list. She was sold on 11 August 1972 to Queenborough Shipbreaking Company, and shortly afterwards she was towed to Cairnryan and broken up.[59]
See also
References
- ^ McCart, p15
- ^ A.C.Walton
- ^ McCart, p16
- ^ Friedman, p267
- ^ A.C.Walton
- ^ McCart, p26
- ^ Sturtivant, p216
- ^ Askins, p122
- ^ Janes 1958-59 p84
- ^ McCart, p49
- ^ Friedman p305
- ^ Hobbs BAC, p239
- ^ Friedman, p311
- ^ Friedman, p312
- ^ Friedman p 257
- ^ Thetford, p113, p345
- ^ Friedman p312
- ^ Friedman p312
- ^ McCart, p51
- ^ Hobbs, BAC, p241
- ^ A.C.Walton
- ^ A.C.Walton
- ^ Hobbs, BAC, p241
- ^ McCart, p51
- ^ A.C. Walton
- ^ McCart, p54
- ^ McCart, p55
- ^ Sturtivant, p314
- ^ Sturtivant, p200.
- ^ McCart, p55
- ^ Sturtivant, p340
- ^ McCart, p56
- ^ McCart, p58
- ^ McCart, p63
- ^ A.C.Walton
- ^ A.C.Walton
- ^ McCart, p68
- ^ McCart p64
- ^ White, Christopher J; Robinson, Peter (2008–2010). "Gulf War Part 1: Operation Vantage". Historical RFA. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- ^ McCart p68
- ^ McCart p68
- ^ McCart, p68, p69
- ^ A.C.Walton
- ^ Hobbs, BAC, p239
- ^ McCart, p69,70
- ^ McCart, p71,73
- ^ McCart p73
- ^ McCart, p74,p99
- ^ McCart, p74, p76
- ^ McCart, p107
- ^ A.C.Walton
- ^ McCart, pp76-84
- ^ McCart p87
- ^ McCart p95
- ^ McCart p97
- ^ McCart, p107
- ^ Hobbs, BAC, p244
- ^ Hobbs, BCS, p479
- ^ Hobbs, BAC, p244
Publications
- Askins, Simon (2008). From the Cockpit No. 7: Fairey Gannet. Ad Hoc Publications.
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Friedman, Norman (1988). British Carrier Aviation: The Evolution of the Ships and Their Aircraft. Naval Institute Press.
- Hobbs, David (2013). British Aircraft Carriers: Design, Development and Service Histories. Seaforth Publishing. ("Hobbs BAC")
- Hobbs, David (2015). The British Carrier Strike Fleet after 1945. Seaforth Publishing. ("Hobbs BCS")
- Janes Fighting Ships 1958-59.
- McCart, Neil (1997). HMS Centaur, 1943-1972. Fan Publications.
- Sturtivant, Ray; Battle, Theo (1984). The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. Air-Britain Publications.
- Thetford, Owen (1982). British Naval Aircraft Since 1912. Putnam.
- Walton, A.C. "Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers, Part 3". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.