[CougarGA7]

Something I forgot to post yesterday. On December 16th 1938 the Commissioning of the HMS Ark Royal took place. The carrier would later play a roll in hunting and sinking the German Battleship Bismark.

HMS Ark Royal
Country United Kingdom
Ship Class Ark Royal-class Aircraft Carrier
Builder Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd., Birkenhead, England, Britain
Laid Down 16 September 1935
Launched 13 April 1937
Commissioned 16 December 1938
Sunk 14 November 1941
Displacement 22352 tons standard; 28143 tons full
Length 800 feet
Beam 95 feet
Draft 28 feet
Machinery 6 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 3 Parsons geared turbines
Speed 31 knots
Range 7,600nm at 20 knots
Crew 1600
Armament 8x2.4.5in AA, 48x2-pdr 'pom-pom' AA, 8x4x12.7mm/0.50cal machine guns
Armor 4.5in belt, 3.5in deck over boiler rooms and magazines
Aircraft 60 to 72

Ark Royal was the first purpose-built fleet carrier built by the British. She was capable of carrying 60 to 72 aircraft, while still meeting the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty. Her distinctive feature of having side plating running up to the flight deck would become the symbol of future British carriers.

More here

[CougarGA7]

Sigh. Lets try this picture.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Her distinctive feature of having side plating running up to the flight deck would become the symbol of future British carriers.

Is that as opposed to having the flight deck supported by exposed struts with an open area beneath? I think the Japanese carriers were built like that.

[PAR35]

For comparison, the Yorktown class (The Yorktown and the Enterprise of that class having bracketed the Ark Royal in construction:

CV-5: dp. 19,800; l. 809’ 6”; b. 83’ 1”; dr. 28’ 0”; s. 32.5 k.; cpl. 2.919; a. 8 5”, 22 .50-cal mg., ac. 81-85; cl. Yorktown