HMS Victorious built
by Vickers Armstrong on the Tyne laid down 4th of May 1937 Launched 14
Sept 1939 and completed 15th May 1941 Served in the Home Fleet 1941 -
43 moved to the South Pacific in 1943 and in 1944 to Home and
Eastern Fleets and rejoined the Pacific fleet in 1945. While in the
Pacific was twice hit by KAMIKAZES. Finally scraped in June 1969 at
Faslane on the Clyde.
Displacement: 23,000
tons, Speed: 30.5
knots, Range: 11,000nautical miles at
14 knots.
Compliemnt:1200
Aircraft
36
Guns Sixteen 4.5 inch and Forty Eight 2 pounders.
FAIREY SWORDFISH, Torpedo Bomber and reconnaissance Biplane, crewed by Three,
with a top speed of 154mph, reduced to 136mph as a float plane. maximum ceiling
19,000 feet. reduced as a float plane. armed with a .303 Vickers machine gun
fixed forward and one in the rear cockpit.. One 1610lb Torpedo or up to
1500lb bomb load
HMS Victorious by Ivan Berryman Completed in May 1941, HMS Victorious had been in commission just nine
days when her pilots encountered and attacked the Bismarck. She is seen
here in August 1942 with HMS Eagle astern of her.
Safe Return by Ivan Berryman The pilot of a Fairey Swordfish MKII guides his aircraft towards the
landing ramp of HMS Victorious following a sortie in the Mediterranean Sea
1940
HMS Victorious 1937
- 1969 by Neil McCart with foreword by Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McIntosh
Fifteen chapters of highly readable text tell the story of the
Royal Navys most remarkable aircraft carrier, from the laying of the
first keel plates in 1937 to her controversial decommissioning in 1967
and her departure to the shipbreakers yard in the summer of 1969.
