HMS Hermes (R12)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 21 June 1944 |
| Launched: | 16 February 1953 |
| Commissioned: | 25 November 1959 |
| Struck: | 1985 |
| Fate: | Sold to India in 1986. Active in service as INS Viraat |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 23000 t |
| Length: | 236.14 m |
| Beam: | 45.10 m |
| Draught: | 8.48 m |
| Propulsion: | 2 Parson turbines, 76,000 shp (57 MW) |
| Speed: | 28 knots (52 km/h) |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 2,100 |
| Armament: | 10 × 40 mm Bofors |
| Aircraft (after 1980): | up to 28 Sea Harriers |
| Aircraft (until 1970): | up to 12 Sea Vixens, 7 Buccaneers, 5 Gannets and 6 Wessex |
| Motto: | |
The second HMS Hermes (R12) was a Centaur-class aircraft carrier, the last of the postwar conventional aircraft carriers commissioned into the Royal Navy.
She was laid down by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness during WW II as Elephant. Construction was suspended in 1945 but work was resumed in 1952 to clear the slipway and the hull was launched on 16 February 1953. The vessel remained unfinished until 1957, when she entered service on 18 November 1959 as Hermes after extensive modifications which included installation of a massive Type 984 'searchlight' 3D radar.
Hermes served as one of four Royal Navy strike carriers mainly in the Indian Ocean area until 1970. She could have seen action against the Egyptians when Egypt closed off the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping in May 1967. The UK and US contemplated forming an international fleet to open the strait with force if necessary, but the idea never materialized.
Her typical aircraft complement in the late 1960s consisted of 12 Sea Vixen FAW2s, 7 Buccaneer S2s, 4 Gannet AEW3s, 1 Gannet COD4, 5 Wessex HAS3s and 1 Wessex HAS1. She was recommissioned as a commando carrier in 1973, as an ASW carrier in 1976, and then as a V/STOL carrier.
Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a defence review by the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was quickly refitted and made the flagship of the British forces. Hermes carried BAe Sea Harrier FRS.Mk.1 jets of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, Harrier GR.Mk.3 jets of the Royal Air Force, as well as a troop of Special Air Service (SAS) and Royal Marines.
She served with the Royal Navy until 12 April 1984. She was stricken in 1985 and in April 1986 she was refitted and sold to India and recommissioned as the INS Viraat in 1989.
Between 1983 and 1992, Hermes was featured in the opening titles of the ITV/TV-AM programme Good Morning Britain.
See HMS Hermes for other Navy ships of the same name.
[edit] External links
| Centaur-class aircraft carrier |
| Centaur | Albion | Bulwark | Hermes |
List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy |
Categories: Centaur class aircraft carriers | Aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom | Royal Navy aircraft carriers | Cold War aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom | Amphibious warfare vessels of the United Kingdom | Royal Navy amphibious warfare ships | Cold War amphibious warfare vessels of the United Kingdom
