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amidships. This was 130ft long and 18ft wide and contained the compass platform, flying control, intelligence office and ready rooms for aircrew. It encroached into the deck, but by moving the painted deck centreline 6ft to port a clear area 72ft wide was left, sufficient to land-on any existing or planned naval aircraft. Contemporary thinking was that aircraft were too light to be kept permanently on deck, but the island arrangement did allow space clear to starboard of the runway in which fighters could be parked forward and aft of the island for short periods. The outstanding feature of Eagle’s design, however, was the ducting of the uptakes from the four boiler rooms horizontally across the ship below the hangar deck to the two funnels on top of the island. This elegant arrangement was far superior to the fore-and-aft trunking fitted in Argus and the reconstructed Furious, and has been copied by the majority of the world’s conventionally powered aircraft carriers ever since. Until the completion of the Invincible class from 1980, Eagle was the only British aircraft carrier to have two funnels.
The ship’s early flying trials explored, among other things, the best way of ranging and launching aircraft. In the days before aircraft had wheel brakes the best way of preparing them for start-up and launch was found to be lining them and chocking them on the runway centreline. There had to be space enough for the forward aircraft to carry out a rolling take-off, and the last aircraft had to be chocked forward of the round-down; this left space enough for six aircraft arranged nose to tail on the centreline. The majority of contemporary aircraft had rotary engines which overheated if there was no significant airflow through them, and six proved to be a practical number to start up together and launch before overheating became a problem. For these reasons the standard units commissioned for operation from RN carriers before 1933 were Flights of six aircraft numbered in the ‘400’ series to differentiate them from shore-based RAF types.
Eagle running partly complete in 1920 for flying trials; only one funnel is fitted and only some of her machinery was operable. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
Taken in 1935, this photograph shows Eagle without arrester wires, although the retaining wires have been removed. The
‘cruciform’ shape of the forward lift allowed aircraft to be struck down with their wings still spread to save time, as the deck had to be clear with the lift up before the next aircraft could land on. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
Eagle was completed with fore-and-aft retaining wires between the lifts, but these were seldom used. In fact by 1925 aircraft were sufficiently heavy not to need retaining when they landed. The gear was removed in 1926 and aircraft landed on the bare deck for a number of years. Torpedo aircraft had never used the wires because their undercarriages had to be split to allow torpedoes to fit between the wheels, so there was no cross-axle on which to fit the hooks. They were among the first
‘heavyweights’ that needed no retaining. There were two lifts. The forward one was cruciform to allow aircraft to be struck down with their wings spread. It had a maximum length of 46ft and a maximum width of 47ft. The after lift could take only folded aircraft and was 33ft wide and 47ft long.
Both lifts could handle aircraft up to 14,000lb and were electro-hydraulically powered. The shape of the forward lift reflected the original concept of landing aircraft on to a clear deck and striking it down before the next astern landed. Thus the interval between aircraft reflected the time taken to taxi the first on to the forward lift, strike it down, push it clear and bring the lift back up to flight-deck level. With pilots and deck crew who were not worked up this could take as much as five minutes, and while this was acceptable for the small launches in the 1920s, it was totally unacceptable for the larger launches which became common from 1933.
Unlike the earlier conversions, Eagle did not have a quarterdeck capable of operating seaplanes with access from an after opening in the hangar. Instead, she was fitted with a large crane aft of the island which could lift aircraft off the flight deck and lower them into the water and then back again after flight. The crane had a secondary use, lifting aircraft from the dockside on to the ship when they were not flown on board. It was put to an imaginative use on at least one occasion when it was used to pick a crashed aircraft up off the flight deck and swing it clear over the starboard side while other aircraft landed on. Once flying had ceased it was brought back over the deck and struck down into the
hangar for repair.
Six arrester-wires were fitted in 1936, each capable of stopping an 11,000lb aircraft at 53 knots relative to the deck, but Eagle was never fitted with a barrier or catapults and was, thus, of limited use after 1939. Avgas was carried in a bulk stowage comprising tanks within water-filled compartments. On build there was sufficient tankage for 14,800gal, but this was increased to 17,750gal in 1942. In her last years Eagle was fitted with a number of improvements including Type 291 air-warning radar, radar-predicted barrage directors for an improved close-range armament and a Type 72 aircraft homing beacon on top of the gunnery control structure on the foremast. Eagle’s original gun battery comprised 6in weapons intended to protect her against attack by destroyers armed with torpedoes.
Eagle technical details in 1942
Displacement: 27.500 tons deep load
Di mentions: length 667ft 6 in beam 115ft draught 26ft Sin
Machinery: 4 shaft Brown & Curtis HP turbines 52 Yarrow boilers 50.000shp delivering 24 knots
Armament: 9 × single 6in; 5 × single 4in HA; 2 × octuple 2pdr added in 1937; 12 × single 20ram Oerlikon addedin 1942
Protection: 4.5in waterline belt; 4in bulkheads; 1,5in hangar deck; lin flightdeck
Fuel: 3,750 tons FFO as built 2,810 tons in 1942
Endurance: 3,000 miles at 17 knots
Complement: 988
Aircraft operating data
Flight deck: 652ft × 96ft steel plate
Hangar: 40Oft × 66ft × 20ft 6in
Arrester wires: 6 × 11,0001b at 53 knots fitted in 1936
Lifts: rbrward 46ft long × 47ft wide Aft 46ft long × 33ft wide Both 14,0001b
Aircraft: 22 in 1942
Aircraft fuel: 8,300gal avgas in 1924 17.750gal avgas in 1942
Air weapons: 18in torpedoes; 500lbSAP bombs; 2501b B' bombs. 1001b A/S bombs; depth
charges; aircraft mines; 0.303in MG ammunition; flares and pyrocchnics
Eagle operational history
The hull that became HMS Eagle was laid down as the Chilean battleship Almirante Cochrane by Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co at its Walker Naval Yard at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 20 February 1913. Work on her was suspended after August 1914 but resumed after her purchase by the Admiralty in 1918 for completion as an aircraft carrier. She was launched as Eagle on 8 June 1918, but then work on her was suspended again while the design was recast in the light of trials with Furious and Argus. In November 1919 Board approval was given to complete her to a limited extent for flying trials to test, among other things, the validity of the starboard-side island arrangement. She raised steam for the first time on 3 March 1920 and sailed from the Tyne for Portsmouth on 23 April.
On 28 May 1920 Eagle began flying trials in the English Channel using a special ‘Eagle Flight’
which was shore-based at RAF Gosport. To gain the widest experience, the Flight was equipped with the Sopwith 2F.1 Camel, Parnall Panther, Bristol Fighter, Sopwith T1 ‘Cuckoo’ and de Havilland
D.H.9A aircraft types. The first to land on was a 2F.1 Camel on 1 June 1920, and as the trial progressed the ship moved north to find bad weather in the Pentland Firth and evaluate its effect on flying operations. In all 143 landings were made with only twelve minor incidents and no casualties, an outstanding achievement for the time. Although the trial was not yet complete, the Admiralty gave approval on 24 September for Eagle to be completed as a carrier and accepted the island and funnel arrangement as viable. The trial was finally completed on 27 October 1920. She paid off in Devonport in November and was moved to Portsmouth Dockyard on 21 February 1921 for completion to the new design.
This photograph was taken from the first Swordfish to get airborne from the range aft. It shows Eagle’s slender but tall island and the crane turned out to starboard. In the event of a crash on deck it would be swung to port over the deck to pick up the wreck and would then be turned back to starboard with the aircraft beneath it, so that the recovery could continue quickly. The damaged aircraft could then be brought in for repair later or ditched if necessary. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
After final completion, Eagle carried out sea trials in September 1923 and acceptance trials for the flying arrangements from 5 October 1923. These were completed on 20 February 1924 and she commissioned for service with the MF on 26 February. On 7 June 1924 she joined the MF and replaced the seaplane carrier Ark Royal. Her initial air group comprised 402 (Flycatcher); 422 (Blackburn); 460 (Dart) and 440 (Seagull III) Flights. Fairey IIIDs replaced the Seagulls in January 1925. On one day’s flying off Malta on 1 May 1925 Eagle’s aircraft used 1,525gal of avgas. In 1926 she was refitted in Devonport Dockyard and the fore-and-aft retaining wires were permanently removed. In fact they were so unpopular that they had been left unrigged and had not been used in the ship’s first operational commission. In 1927 she rejoined the MF with 448 (Bison) Flight embarked in place of 422 and carried out the world’s first multiple carrier task group co-ordination exercises with the new Courageous in 1928. Later in 1928 she underwent a refit during which she was the first carrier to be fitted with a hangar spray fire-fighting system. She returned to the MF in 1930 and carried out successful night-flying trials before returning to the UK in January 1931. She then embarked a ‘Special Service Flight’ equipped with new Hawker Nimrod and Osprey fighters
together with Blackburn Ripon torpedo strike aircraft and sailed for Buenos Aires, where she supported an Exhibition of British Industry which was opened by the Prince of Wales on 14 March 1931. On her return to the UK she started a major refit in Devonport Dockyard, during which she was reboilered and fitted with improved close-range weapons and directors. The refit was actually completed 32 days early in November 1932, but recommissioning was delayed by a manpower shortage. Eventually she recommissioned on 9 January 1933 for service on the China Station.
Eagle in the floating dock at Singapore Dockyard for maintenance in November 1939. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
Eagle sailed for the Far East in July with 803 (Osprey) and 824 (Fairey IIIF) NAS embarked, small Flights having given way to larger squadrons under the Rear Admiral Aircraft Carriers, Rear Admiral Henderson’s reorganisation of naval air units. On the China Station her aircraft typically searched for pirate junks and attacked bands of ‘robbers’ on the coast when requested to do so by the Chinese authorities. In October 1934 she was relieved on station by Hermes and moved into the
Mediterranean to replace Furious; 824 was renumbered as 825 NAS and 811 (Baffin) NAS from Furious embarked to replace 803. In June 1935 Eagle returned to Devonport and paid off into reserve to await refit. The refit was carried out in 1936 and included the fitting of transverse arrester wires and flight deck lighting to allow regular night flying to take place. The stowage for air weapons was increased and more close-range antiaircraft weapons were fitted. She re-commissioned for service on the China Station in February 1937 and embarked 813 (Swordfish) NAS. On arrival in Hong Kong she relieved Hermes and embarked 824 (Fairey Seal) NAS from her. In 1938 824 re- equipped with Swordfish.
In 1939 Eagle was refitted in Singapore Dockyard and subsequently joined the cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire to form Force I and hunt for German commerce raiders in the Indian Ocean. In December she underwent a boiler clean in Durban, and on 1 February 1940 she sailed from Colombo with the battleship Ramillies as part of the escort for the first Australian troop convoy to the Middle East. A week later she left the convoy to rejoin Force I at Aden. On 14 March 1940 a 250lb bomb detonated as it was being moved in a bomb room, killing thirteen men and wounding three more. The flash penetrated the hangar and started fires which were extinguished by the spray system. She remained capable of operating aircraft but took passage to Singapore Dockyard where she was repaired.
Eagle in profile. (IAN STURTON)
On 9 May 1940 Eagle sailed from Singapore to replace Glorious in the Mediterranean after she had been ordered back to the Home Fleet for operations off Norway. She passed through the Suez Canal on 26 May and began operations in support of convoy movements in the Eastern Mediterranean on 11 June, the day after Italy declared war on the British Empire. On 29 June her aircraft carried out an unsuccessful attack on an Italian submarine, and on 5 July disembarked Swordfish of 813 NAS carried out an attack on Tobruk while Eagle was in Alexandria. They sank four ships with torpedoes, including the passenger liner Liguria, and damaged two more. On 7 July three Gloster Sea Gladiator fighters were added to 813 NAS, flown by Commander Keighley-Peach, the Commander ‘Air’, and other volunteer pilots. Eagle provided cover for convoys carrying evacuees and stores from Malta to Alexandria. On 9 July during the Action off Calabria, 813 NAS spotted for the battle fleet’s guns while 824 NAS carried out two unsuccessful torpedo attacks on the Italian Fleet as it withdrew. A day later 813 NAS Swordfish attacked Augusta Harbour, sinking a destroyer and damaging an oiler.
On 11 July Italian aircraft attacked the fleet and 813 NAS Sea Gladiators shot down four Savoia Marchetti SM.79 bombers and damaged three others.
On 20 July 1940 813 and 824 NAS disembarked to bases in the Western Desert while Eagle was in Alexandria, and carried out a devastating series of attacks on Italian shipping in the enemy’s
forward supply ports. During attacks on Tobruk on 20 July and Bomba on 22 August, Swordfish sank two destroyers, one submarine and a depot ship for the expenditure of nine torpedoes and the loss of none of their aircraft. At sea again on 4 September, aircraft struck at Maritsa Airfield on the island of Rhodes in company with aircraft from the new aircraft carrier Illustrious. Enemy aircraft and hangars were destroyed but four of 813 NAS’s Swordfish were shot down by fighters. On 28 September Eagle was damaged by bombs which narrowly missed her and caused extensive damage, not all of which was appreciated at the time.
A Sea Hurricane of 801 NAS lands on Eagle during Operation Harpoon. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
On 27 October Eagle’s aircraft attacked a seaplane station on the island of Stampalia as part of the operations that covered the first Commonwealth troop movements to Crete. On completion of this operation repairs had to be carried out to the aircraft fuel system, which had been found to be defective after the recent near misses. Consequently Eagle was not available for the attack on Taranto in early November, but five Swordfish and eight experienced crews were transferred to Illustrious to take part in the battle. The repair work was completed quickly, and by 16 November 1940 Eagle was at sea again covering convoy movements in the Eastern Mediterranean. On 26 November eight Swordfish dive-bombed an enemy freighter in Tripoli Harbour and subsequently 813 and 824 NAS disembarked to forward airstrips in the Western Desert to fly in support of a variety of British operations. Among other tasks they flew escort sorties for coastal convoys and acted as pathfinders for RAF bombers which had proved unable to navigate over the featureless desert at night.
On 11 January 1941 Eagle sailed with her squadrons re-embarked to attack Axis forces in the Eastern Mediterranean as a diversion a day after Illustrious was badly damaged off Malta. Two Skuas were added to the fighter flight of 813 NAS. On 21 February four Swordfish and the Skuas were disembarked and replaced on board by 805 (Fulmar) NAS. Her squadrons spent another period disembarked after 25 March, this time operating from Port Sudan for strikes against Italian warships in the Red Sea. Success was achieved on 3 April when Swordfish sank two destroyers, damaged two more and forced a torpedo-boat to run aground. The air group re-embarked on 12 April, but Eagle passed through the Suez Canal to carry out a search for the German raider Admiral Scheer in the Indian Ocean. In response to fears that Bismarck was about to break out and might succeed in moving into the South Atlantic, Eagle left Cape Town in company with Nelson to act as a ‘long stop’ on 13 May 1941; a planned boiler-clean was cancelled. On 6 June 1941 Swordfish found and sank the Elbe, one of Bismarck’s supply ships, and on 13 June a second supply ship, the Lothringen, surrendered intact to Swordfish. Following these successes Eagle remained in the South Atlantic, searching for German commerce raiders and their supply ships, but on 20 September an accidental hangar fire
destroyed thirteen aircraft while the ship was operating near St Helena. The damaged it caused was so severe that Eagle had to return to the UK for repairs.
Eagle in her final wartime paint scheme, photographed in 1942. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
Eagle arrived in the Clyde on 26 October 1941 and disembarked her remaining aircraft. Four days later she entered Cammell Laird’s shipyard at Birkenhead for repairs and a refit. The opportunity was also taken to make a number of alterations and additions to improve her operational capability. These included the installation of air- and surface-warning radars, fire-control radars, a Type 72 aircraft homing beacon and extra close-range weapons including 20mm Oerlikons. Aircraft fuel stowage was increased by taking up space formerly used for furnace fuel oil (FFO), and it is a measure of the scale of the protection given to avgas arrangements by the RN that the removal of stowage for 940 tons of FFO allowed an extra 9,450gal of avgas to be carried. At roughly 8lb per Imperial gallon that means that 38 tons of avgas were carried in the space that had formerly contained 940 tons of FFO, the balance being made up with the water-filled spaces that surrounded the avgas tanks. On completion of the refit she embarked 824 (Swordfish) and 813 (Sea Hurricane/Swordfish) NAS and worked up for operational service with Force H in the Western Mediterranean, replacing Ark Royal.
On 22 February 1942 Eagle landed her own aircraft at Gibraltar and embarked sixteen RAF Spitfires which had been ferried from the UK in SS Clan Hawke. To increase the range from Malta at which the aircraft could be launched, naval air mechanics fitted the Spitfires with drop tanks, but difficulty was encountered and one Spitfire had to be ‘cannibalised’ to provide spare parts. Eagle subsequently sailed for Operation Spotter to ferry the aircraft to Malta. Eight Spitfires were flown off in the first range on 6 March and met by two Bristol Blenheims which had flown from Gibraltar and flew on to Malta, providing navigational assistance for the Spitfires after 1020. The remaining seven Spitfires flew off in a second range at 1100 and were met by a single Blenheim. All landed safely in Malta. On 19 March a further seventeen Spitfires intended for Malta arrived in Gibraltar in SS Queen Victoria and were transferred to Eagle. A day later Eagle and Argus sailed in company for Operation Picket 1 to ferry aircraft to Malta; nine Spitfires were flown off at 0824 but their Blenheim escort was late, and that for the second range did not arrive. The weather over Malta then deteriorated and Eagle returned to Gibraltar with eight Spitfires still on board.
On 27 March Eagle embarked six Albacores for passage to Malta and sailed with Argus for Operation Picket 2, which turned out to be a confused ferry operation. The Albacore launch was