HMS Courageous (50)

Coordinates: 50°10′N 14°45′W / 50.167°N 14.750°W / 50.167; -14.750
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Courageous.

Courageous shortly after completion in 1916
History
United Kingdom
NameCourageous
Ordered14 March 1915
BuilderArmstrong Whitworth
Cost£2,038,225
Yard number895
Laid down26 March 1915
Launched5 February 1916
Completed4 November 1916
ReclassifiedConverted to aircraft carrier, June 1924 – February 1928
IdentificationPennant number: 50
Nickname(s)Outrageous[1]
FateSunk by U-29, 17 September 1939
General characteristics as battlecruiser
Class and typeCourageous-class battlecruiser
Displacement
  • 19,180 long tons (19,490 t) (normal)
  • 22,560 long tons (22,920 t) (
    deep load
    )
Length786 ft 9 in (239.8 m)
Beam81 ft (24.7 m)
Draught25 ft 10 in (7.9 m)
Installed power
Propulsion4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Range6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement842
Armament
  • 2 × twin
    15 in (381 mm) guns
  • 6 × triple
    4 in (102 mm guns)
  • 2 × single
    AA guns
  • 2 × single
    21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour
Courageous as an aircraft carrier in 1935
General characteristics as aircraft carrier
Class and typeCourageous-class aircraft carrier
Displacement
  • 24,210 long tons (24,600 t) (normal)
  • 26,990 long tons (27,420 t) (deep load)
Length
  • 735 ft 1.5 in (224.1 m) (p/p)
  • 786 ft 9 in (239.8 m) (o/a)
Beam90 ft 6 in (27.6 m) (at waterline)
Draught27 ft 9 in (8.5 m)
Installed power
  • 18 Yarrow boilers
  • 90,000 shp (67,000 kW)
Propulsion4 shafts, 4 geared steam turbines
Speed30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range5,860 nautical miles (10,850 km; 6,740 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement814 + 403 air group (1938)
Armament16 × single
4.7 in (120 mm)
AA guns
Armour
Aircraft carried48

HMS Courageous was the

First Sea Lord John Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns. Courageous was completed in late 1916 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. She participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and was present when the German High Seas Fleet
surrendered a year later.

Courageous was

Second World War in September 1939. A German U-boat
sank Courageous by torpedo later that month, with the loss of more than 500 of her crew.

Origin and construction

In the First World War, Admiral Fisher was prevented from ordering an improved version of the preceding Renown-class battlecruisers by a wartime restriction that banned construction of ships larger than light cruisers in 1915. To obtain ships suitable for the doctrinal roles of battlecruisers, such as scouting for fleets and hunting enemy raiders, he settled on ships with the minimal armour of a light cruiser and the armament of a battlecruiser. He justified their existence by claiming he needed fast, shallow-draught ships for his Baltic Project, a plan to invade Germany via its Baltic coast.[1][2]

Courageous had an

deep load. She displaced 19,180 long tons (19,490 t) at load and 22,560 long tons (22,922 t) at deep load.[3] Courageous and her sisters were the first large warships in the Royal Navy to have geared steam turbines. To save design time, the installation used in the light cruiser Champion, the first cruiser in the navy with geared turbines, was simply replicated for four turbine sets. The Parsons turbines were powered by eighteen Yarrow small-tube boilers. They were designed to produce a total of 90,000 shaft horsepower (67 MW) at a working pressure of 235 psi (1,620 kPa; 17 kgf/cm2). The ship reached an estimated 30.8 knots (57.0 km/h; 35.4 mph) on sea trials.[4]

The ship's normal design load was 750 long tons (762 t) of fuel oil, but she could carry a maximum of 3,160 long tons (3,211 t). At full capacity, she could steam for an estimated 6,000 nautical miles (11,110 km; 6,900 mi) at a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[5]

Courageous carried four

21-inch torpedoes and carried 10 torpedoes for them.[5]

First World War

Courageous was

angle irons securing the deck armour in place.[9] The ship was stiffened with 130 long tons (130 t) of steel in response.[7] As of 23 November 1916, she cost £2,038,225 to build.[10]

Upon commissioning, Courageous was assigned to the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron of the

mainmast on the upper deck and two mounts on each side of the rear turret on the quarterdeck.[12][13] On 30 July 1917, Rear-Admiral Trevylyan Napier assumed command of the 1st Cruiser Squadron and was appointed Acting Vice-Admiral Commanding the Light Cruiser Force until he was relieved on 26 October 1918.[14]

On 16 October 1917, the Admiralty received word of German ship movements, possibly indicating a raid. Admiral

2nd Light Cruiser Squadron patrolling the central part of the North Sea later that day.[15] Two German Brummer-class light cruisers managed to slip through the gaps between the British patrols and destroy a convoy bound for Norway on the morning of 17 October, but no word was received of the engagement until that afternoon. The 1st Cruiser Squadron was ordered to intercept, but was unsuccessful as the German cruisers were faster than expected.[16]

Second Battle of Heligoland Bight

Main article: Second Battle of Heligoland Bight

Throughout 1917 the Admiralty was becoming more concerned about German efforts to sweep paths through the British-laid

1st Battle Squadron, to destroy the minesweepers and their light cruiser escorts.[17]

The German ships—four light cruisers of II Scouting Force, eight destroyers, three divisions of minesweepers, eight Sperrbrechers (cork-filled trawlers) and two other trawlers to mark the swept route—were spotted at 7:30 am.[Note 2] Courageous and the light cruiser Cardiff opened fire with their forward guns seven minutes later. The Germans responded by laying an effective smoke screen. The British continued in pursuit, but lost track of most of the smaller ships in the smoke and concentrated fire on the light cruisers. Courageous fired 92 fifteen-inch shells and 180 four-inch shells in the battle,[18] and the only damage she received was from her own muzzle blast.[19] One fifteen-inch shell hit a gun shield of the light cruiser SMS Pillau but did not affect her speed. At 9:30 the 1st Cruiser Squadron broke off their pursuit so that they would not enter a minefield marked on their maps; the ships turned south, playing no further role in the battle.[20]

After the battle, the mine fittings on Courageous were removed, and she spent the rest of the war intermittently patrolling the North Sea. In 1918, short take-off platforms were fitted for a

Flag Captain in 1920.[23] He was relieved by Capt John Casement in August 1921.[24]

Between the wars

Conversion

The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 severely limited capital ship tonnage, and the Royal Navy was forced to scrap many of its older battleships and battlecruisers. The treaty allowed the conversion of existing ships totalling up to 66,000 long tons (67,059 t) into aircraft carriers, and the Courageous class's combination of a large hull and high speed made these ships ideal candidates. The conversion of Courageous began on 29 June 1924 at Devonport.[25] Her fifteen-inch turrets were placed into storage and reused in the Second World War for HMS Vanguard, the Royal Navy's last battleship.[26] The conversion into an aircraft carrier cost £2,025,800.[27]

The ship's new design improved on her half-sister HMS Furious, which lacked an

island and a conventional funnel. All superstructure, guns, torpedo tubes, and fittings down to the main deck were removed. A two-storey hangar was built on top of the remaining hull; each level was 16 feet (4.9 m) high and 550 feet (167.6 m) long. The upper hangar level opened onto a short flying-off deck, below and forward of the main flight deck. The flying-off deck improved launch and recovery cycle flexibility until new fighters requiring longer takeoff rolls made the lower deck obsolete in the 1930s.[28] Two 46-by-48-foot (14.0 m × 14.6 m) lifts were installed fore and aft in the flight deck. An island with the bridge, flying control station and funnel was added on the starboard side, since islands had been found not to contribute significantly to turbulence. By 1939 the ship could carry 34,500 imperial gallons (157,000 L; 41,400 US gal) of petrol for her aircraft.[29]

Courageous received a

anti-aircraft guns, two of which were transferred from the battleship Royal Sovereign. Each side of the flying-off deck had a mount, forward of the 4.7-inch guns, and one was behind the island on the flight deck. She also received four water-cooled .50-calibre Mk III anti-aircraft machine guns in a single quadruple mounting. This was placed in a sponson on the port side aft.[31]

The reconstruction was completed on 21 February 1928, and the ship spent the next several months on trials and training before she was assigned to the

Fleet Review at Spithead on 20 May 1937 for King George VI. The ship became a training carrier in December 1938 when Ark Royal joined the Home Fleet. She was relieved of that duty by her half-sister Furious in May 1939. Courageous participated in the Portland Fleet Review on 9 August 1939.[32]

Air group

Fairey Flycatcher
Blackburn Skua

Courageous could carry up to 48 aircraft; following completion of her trials and embarking stores and personnel, she sailed for

Fairey IIIFs of 445 and 446 Flights and the Darts of 463 and 464 Flight. The ship sailed for Malta on 2 June to join the Mediterranean Fleet.[34]

From 1933 to the end of 1938 Courageous carried

Gloster Sea Gladiator fighters of 801 Squadron and the Swordfish torpedo bombers of 811 Squadron, although both of these squadrons were disembarked when the ship was relieved of her training duties in May.[37]

Second World War and sinking

Courageous sinking after being torpedoed by U-29

Courageous served with the Home Fleet at the start of World War II with 811 and

port side before any aircraft took off, knocking out all electrical power, and she capsized and sank in 20 minutes with the loss of 519 of her crew, including her captain.[39] The US cargo ship Collinsgworth, Ellerman Lines cargo ship Dido, and Dutch ocean liner Veendam rescued survivors. The two escorting destroyers counterattacked U-29 for four hours, but the submarine escaped.[40]

The liner Veendam

An earlier unsuccessful attack on Ark Royal by U-39 on 14 September, followed by the sinking of Courageous three days later, prompted the Royal Navy to withdraw its carriers from anti-submarine patrols. Courageous was the first British warship to be sunk by German forces. (The submarine Oxley had been sunk a week earlier by friendly fire from the British submarine Triton.)[41] The commander of the German submarine force, Commodore Karl Dönitz, regarded the sinking of Courageous as "a wonderful success" and it led to widespread jubilation in the Kriegsmarine (German navy). Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, commander of the Kriegsmarine, directed that Schuhart be awarded the Iron Cross First Class and that all other members of the crew receive the Iron Cross Second Class.[42]

Notes

  1. ^ "cwt" is the abbreviation for hundredweight, 30 cwt referring to the weight of the gun.
  2. ^ The times used in this article are in UTC, which is one hour behind CET, which is often used in German works.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Burt 1986, p. 303
  2. ^ Roberts, pp. 50–51
  3. ^ Roberts, pp. 64–65
  4. ^ Roberts, pp. 71, 76, 79
  5. ^ a b c Burt 1986, p. 306
  6. ^ Burt 1986, p. 294
  7. ^ a b Roberts, p. 54
  8. ^ Burt 1986, p. 309
  9. ^ Burt 1986, pp. 309, 313
  10. ^ Burt 1986, p. 307
  11. ^ Parkes, p. 621
  12. ^ McBride, p. 109
  13. ^ a b Burt 1986, p. 314
  14. ^ a b "Private papers of Sir Trevylyan Napier". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  15. ^ Newbolt, pp. 150–51
  16. ^ Newbolt, pp. 156–57
  17. ^ Newbolt, pp. 164–65
  18. ^ Campbell, p. 67
  19. ^ McBride, p. 115
  20. ^ McBride, pp. 110–12
  21. ^ Campbell, p. 66
  22. ^ Burt 1986, p. 315
  23. ^ "Meyrick, Sir Sidney Julius (1879–1973), Admiral". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  24. ^ Navy List 1921
  25. ^ Burt 1993, pp. 273, 285
  26. ^ Parkes, p. 647
  27. ^ "An Over-Age Ship More Vulnerable Than Latest Designs". News. The Times. No. 48414. London. 19 September 1939. col C, p. 8.
  28. ^ Brown, D., p. 2
  29. ^ Friedman, pp. 103, 105–06
  30. ^ Burt 1993, pp. 274–78
  31. ^ Burt 1993, pp. 165, 278, 281
  32. ^ a b Burt 1993, pp. 281, 285
  33. ^ Sturtivant Air EnthusiastSeptember–December 1988, p. 13.
  34. ^ a b "HMS Courageous". Air-Britain Aeromiltaria (3). Shepperton, Middlesex:
    ISSN 0262-8791
    .
  35. ^ Sturtivant, pp. 155, 157–58
  36. ^ Sturtivant, pp. 197, 200, 243, 247, 250, 252
  37. ^ Sturtivant, pp. 161, 164–65, 203–04
  38. ^ Brown, J.D., p. 12
  39. ^ Burt 1993, pp. 286–88
  40. ^ Blair, pp. 90–91
  41. ^ Rohwer, pp. 1–3
  42. ^ Blair, p. 91

References

External links

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