H.M.S. Eagle (1918)

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H.M.S. Eagle (1918)
Pendant Number: 94 (1920)[1]
Builder: Armstrong, Whitworth & Company[2]
Laid down: 20 Feb, 1913[3]
Launched: 8 Jun, 1918[4]
Commissioned: Apr, 1920[5]
Torpedoed: 11 Aug, 1942[6]
Fate: Sunk by U-73

H.M.S. Eagle was an aircraft carrier completed for the Royal Navy in 1920 but laid down as a dreadnought battleship for Chile. She is, or is not, a sister to Canada, depending on your perspective. We treat her as distinct. Though she resembled the modern conception of an aircraft carrier in having a continuous flight deck, her basis upon a battleship design offered her no greater aircraft accommodation than the succeeding purpose-built Hermes, which was half her displacement.

Planned Torpedo Armament

Planned Torpedo Control Installation[7]

As originally planned, the ship would have three 21-in Triple Revolving torpedo tubes on each side, with no reloads being provided.[8] While this is a considerable allocation of weaponry, equal in power to one and a half contemporary destroyers' torpedo armament in broadside, it in no conceivable manner excuses the embarrassingly lavish torpedo control structures and machinery envisioned to support its use.

In addition to a torpedo transmitting station below, Eagle was to have a T.C.T. aloft just abaft the G.C.T. and above the navigating top with a 15-foot rangefinder protected against blast. She would also have a second T.C.T. aft, over the stern of the ship. In addition, she had a night firing position on the compass platform.[9] The number of sights, instruments and plotting devices visible in the diagram conveys how excessive was the provisioning to support a torpedo of nine torpedoes per broadside, mounted on an aircraft carrier.

In 1919, it was decided that she should use Torpedo Deflection Sight Mark IIIs rather than Torpedo Deflection Sight Mark IVs.[10]

When the torpedo tubes were removed, it seems likely that all arrangements in the plate above were stricken from the design. It is documented that the ship received none of the Torpedo Deflection Sight Mark IIIs indicated.[11]

Service

On 13 February, 1918, the First Sea Lord Sir Rosslyn E. Wemyss requested the War Cabinet to approve the purchase of Almirante Cochrane for completion as a "seaplane carrier", noting that the Chilean government was willing to transfer the ship on terms similar to those on which Almirante Latorre had been purchased in 1914. Wemyss also noted that at this stage about 9,000 tons of steel had been built into the Cochrane, and that the conversion could be expedited in nine months.[12]

Eagle was commissioned on the Tyne on 6 April, 1920, by Captain Eric V. F. R. Dugmore.[13]

She was paid off at Devonport on 16 November, 1920.[14]

Eagle re-commissioned at Portsmouth on 26 February, 1924.[15]

Eagle re-commissioned at Devonport on 1 October, 1926 for service in the Mediterranean. In mid-1927 her air complement consisted of a Headquarters Flight under Wing Commander E. Osmond, as well as Flights 402, 421b, 423 and 460.[16] By mid-1929 her air complement consisted of a Headquarters Flight under Wing Commander R. M. Field and Flights 402, 423 and 460.[17]

She was re-commissioned at Devonport on 29 May, 1929.[18]

Following a visit to South America to deliver the Prince of Wales to open the British Industries Exhibition, Eagle reduced to special complement on 13 July, 1931 and paid off into Dockyard Control at Devonport in August to begin an extensive repair.[19]

She commissioned at Devonport on 28 November, 1932 with two-fifths complement.[20]

Completed with full complement on 18 April, 1933 for service on the China Station.[21]

Re-commissioned at Devonport on 21 January, 1937.[22]

Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter

As of 1920, she was likely equipped with four Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter Mark II*s with Elliott's Bearing Transmission. The installations may have been similar to those in the Mark I and Mark II patterns used in capital ships:[Inference]

  • one on each side of the foretop, driven by flexible shafting from a gearbox on the director tower
  • one on each side of the Gun Control Tower employing an electrical F.T.P. system.

Supplies of these devices began in June 1918.[23]

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 53.
  2. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 70.
  3. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 70.
  4. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 70.
  5. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 70.
  6. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 70.
  7. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. Plate 133.
  8. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. p. 84.
  9. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. pp. 176, 211.
  10. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1919. p. 111.
  11. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1920. p. 77.
  12. ↑ The National Archives. G.T. 3607. p. 26.
  13. ↑ The Navy List. (December, 1920). p. 765.
  14. ↑ The Navy List. (January, 1921). p. 765.
  15. ↑ The Navy List. (April, 1925). pp. 235, 236.
  16. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1927). p. 234.
  17. ↑ The Navy List. (February, 1929). p. 234.
  18. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1931). p. 234.
  19. ↑ "Aircraft Carriers." The Times (London, England), Wednesday, Aug 05, 1931; pg. 10; Issue 45893.
  20. ↑ The Navy List. (January, 1933). p. 234.
  21. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1934). p. 237.
  22. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1937). p. 236.
  23. ↑ The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. pp. 25-6.
  24. ↑ Dugmore Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/90/92. f. 92.
  25. ↑ The Navy List. (January, 1923). p. 753.
  26. ↑ Dugmore Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/90/92. f. 92.
  27. ↑ The Navy List. (January, 1923). p. 753.
  28. ↑ Preston Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/79. f. 79.
  29. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1924). p. 236.
  30. ↑ Preston Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/79. f. 79.
  31. ↑ Kerr Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/225. f. 225.
  32. ↑ Kerr Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/44/225. f. 225.
  33. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1927). p. 234.
  34. ↑ Money Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/45. f. 215.
  35. ↑ Money Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/45. f. 215.
  36. ↑ Laurence Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/48/175. f. 579.
  37. ↑ Laurence Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/48/175. f. 579.
  38. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1931). p. 234.
  39. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  40. ↑ Robson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/52/55. f. 411.
  41. ↑ Robson Service Records. The National Archives. ADM 196/52/55. f. 411.
  42. ↑ "Naval Appointments." The Times (London, England), Friday, Mar 04, 1932; pg. 4; Issue 46073.
  43. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1934). p. 236.
  44. ↑ Wells Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/49/181., f. 97.
  45. ↑ Wells Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/49/181., f. 97.
  46. ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1937). p. 235.
  47. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  48. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.
  49. ↑ Mackie, Colin. ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS.

Bibliography

British Aviation Ships
Experimental Cruiser Platform, 1913
Hermes
Seaplane Carriers from Converted Steamers
Ark Royal Empress Riviera Engadine Campania Pegasus
Ben-my-Chree Vindex Manxman Nairana Vindictive
Seaplane Carriers from Seized German Steamers
Anne Raven II
Flat Decked Conversions
Argus Furious
Through-Deck Carriers
Eagle Hermes
Kite Balloon Ships
Canning City of Oxford Hector Manica Menelaus
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