HMS Eagle was an of the Royal Navy, in service 1951–1972. Until the arrival of the s in the 21st century, she and her sister were the two largest Royal Navy aircraft carriers ever built.
She was laid down on 24 October 1942 at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast as one of four ships of the Audacious class. These were laid down during World War II as part of the British naval buildup during that conflict. Two were cancelled at the end of hostilities, and the remaining two were suspended. Originally designated Audacious, she was renamed as Eagle (the fifteenth Royal Navy ship to receive this name), taking the name of the cancelled third ship of the class on 21 January 1946. She was finally launched by Princess Elizabeth on 19 March 1946.
Although Eagle was completed in October 1951 without an angled flight deck, one was added three years later. In 1952 she took part in the first large NATO naval exercise, Exercise Mainbrace.
Design and construction
The s were intended as a larger follow-on to the of aircraft carriers with armoured hangars, with the design being modified prior to orders being placed to accommodate larger and heavier aircraft, which led to the displacement growing from the originally planned to by the time the ships were ordered. Four ships were ordered, although one, Africa, was cancelled before construction began.
The first of the class, Audacious was laid down at Harland & Wolff's Belfast shipyard on 24 October 1942. Construction was slowed by the need to concentrate resources on more urgent requirements, such as the construction of landing craft, and none of the ships of the class had been launched when end of the Second World War brought large cuts in the shipbuilding programme for the Royal Navy. The third ship of the class, Eagle, which was only 26% complete, was cancelled in December 1945, with Audacious being renamed Eagle on 21 January 1946. The newly renamed Eagle was launched by Princess Elizabeth on 19 March 1946, but construction of the two carriers was slowed for three years while the Royal Navy's requirements for aircraft carriers was reviewed, it being eventually decided to complete Eagle to a similar standard to that planned in 1945, while Ark Royal would be completed to an improved design. Eagle was finally completed on 1 October 1951.
As built, Eagle was long overall, at the waterline and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of at deep load. Displacement was standard, with full load of up to . Eight Admiralty three-drum water-tube boilers fed steam to Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines rated at which in turn drove four propeller shafts. This gave a speed of at deep load.
Service
Eagle started Sea trials on 31 October 1951, with initial flying trials starting on 14 February 1952 and the ship being accepted into service on 1 March 1952. Eagle continued to work up her crew, embarking an initial air wing equipped with two squadrons of Supermarine Attacker jet fighters, two squadrons of Fairey Firefly anti-submarine aircraft and a squadron of Blackburn Firebrand attack aircraft, and in September 1952, took part in the big NATO naval exercise, Exercise Mainbrace off the coast of Norway and Denmark.
In early 1953 Eagle visited the Mediterranean, before returning to home waters when in June she took part in the Fleet Review at Spithead to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. She joined the Mediterranean Fleet in February 1954, before returning to British waters in May.
Eagle was refitted at Devonport Dockyard from June 1954 to February 1955. In order to ease operations with jet aircraft, the ship was fitted with a 5.5 degree angled flight deck, which owing to the width of Eagles flight deck, could be accommodated without major structural changes, although it required the ship's arrestor gear to be rearranged, and removal of nine Bofors guns (one Mark-6 six barrelled mount and three single mounts). A mirror landing aid was also fitted. Following work-up, Eagle deployed to the Mediterranean before taking part in the autumn NATO exercises in the North Atlantic. In May 1956, Eagle was deployed to Malta to work up for another stint in the Mediterranean Fleet.
Eagles first wartime service came in 1956, when she took part in the Suez Crisis. with Captain H C D MacLean, DSC in command. The ship's aircraft of that period included Westland Wyverns, Douglas Skyraiders, Hawker Sea Hawks and de Havilland Sea Venoms.
