Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Kopfdorfer]

Hey Gang,

Here's the history of an important and unrepresented RN Aircraft Carrier, and aircraft carrier type.

Beautifully made by Asheshouse , get it here:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,20349.0.html

  HMS Eagle

Equipped with only a complement of 21 Aircraft, the HMS Eagle (Pennant 94) was no fleet carrier, yet she fought in the Pacific, South Atlantic, and especially the Med, as well as refitting in old Blighty, and therefore has the right to show up in a heck of a lot of scenarios and campaigns. She acted as a fleet escort, an attack carrier (her aircraft participated in the Taranto riad), and as a vital fighter ferry to Malta - delivering a deckload of Spitfires a couple of times (including the young Canadian ace-to-be George "Screwball" Beurling - soon to be known as the Falcon of Malta).

Beurling's Spit VC         


She participated in the famous Pedestal Convoy delivering the sorely needed tanker Ohio with Avgas for the Malta Defenders, and hunted German capital ships from South Africa to the Cape Verde Islands and north into English waters.

She was finally sunk off Majorca August 11, 1942.

  Swordfish Mk I of HMS Eagle


At the outbreak of World War II, HMS Eagle was at Singapore and in October 1939 she was part of Force I hunting for the German ship pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.


HMS Eagle in her 1942 Camouflage

For the first two months of 1940 she was escorting troop transports in the Indian Ocean but on 14 March 1940 was damaged by an internal explosion in her foreward bomb room, when 13 ratings were killed, and she returned to Singapore for repairs.

HMS Eagle joined the Mediterranean fleet in May 1940 after the departure of HMS Glorious, and on 5 July her aircraft attacked enemy shipping in Tobruk. They sank the Italian destroyer Zeffiro, the merchant ships Manzoni (3,955 tons) and Serenitas (5,171 tons) besides damaging the Liguria (15,354 tons) which was later scuttled. After four days she was in action off Calabria when her aircraft attacked the Italian fleet. During her return to Alexandria after this engagement she was heavily bombed and four Italian bombers were shot down during the attacks. On 20 July 1940, on another attack on shipping in Tobruk, her aircraft sank the Italian destroyers Ostro and Nembo as well as the merchant ship Sereno (2,333 tons). On 22 August her aircraft attacked and sank the Italian submarine Iride in the Gulf of Bomba. At the end of the month she took part in Operation 'Hats' in a reinforcement of the Mediterranean fleet, and her aircraft attacked the airfield at Maritza, Rhodes.

For the next six months she provided cover for convoys in the Eastern Mediterranean, her aircraft attacked Italian airfields, laid mines, and attacked shipping.

HMS Eagle took part in one of the most memorable Fleet Air Arm events in history. On 11 November 1940, five of her aircraft which were embarked in HMS Illustrious took part in the attack on Italian battleships at Taranto.

Subsequently, she was ordered through the Suez canal in March 1941. Her aircraft flew to Port Sudan and assisted in the destruction of the Italian ships at Massawa and in the Red Sea. She arrived at Simonstown, South Africa on 8th May and then proceeded to Freetown, remaining on the South Atlantic station until October 1941. On 6 June 1941 her aircraft sank the German merchant Elbe (9,179 tons) and on 15 June 1941, in conjunction with the British light cruiser HMS Dunedin, she intercepted the U-boat supply ship Lothringen (10,746 tons) which surrendered about 1000 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.

                                 

After refitting in the UK she returned back to the Mediterranean early in 1942. In February 1942 she carried aircraft for Malta and took part in Operations "Spotter" and 'Picket". In June 1942, Sea Hurricanes from 801 Squadron on HMS Eagle provided top cover for Harpoon, the essential supply convoy heading for Malta. Upon entering the Mediterranean, the convoy came under almost constant attack from the Germans and Italians.


                                                   

She was later involved in the famous August 1942 convoy (Operation 'Pedestal') when 41 warships fought through just five out of 14 merchantmen to lift the Malta siege. On 11 August 1942 whilst still in the Malta bound convoy HMS Eagle (Capt. Lachlan Donald Mackintosh, RN) was hit by 4 torpedoes from the German submarine U-73 and sank in position 38º05'N, 03º02'E. Two officers and 158 ratings were lost but 927 of her ship's company including Captain Mackintosh, were picked up by the British destroyers HMS Laforey, HMS Lookout and the British tug HMS Jaunty.

The wreck is located in the Mediterranean Sea, 70 nautical miles south of Cape Salinas, Majorca (the Balearic Islands).
 She was sunk on 11 Aug 1942 by U-73.


I hope one of the resident ship wrights will tackle this old lady someday.

HMS Eagle
Navy   The Royal Navy
Type   Aircraft Carrier
Class   Eagle
Pennant   94
Built by   Armstrong (Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.) : John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland)
Ordered   
Laid down   22 Jan 1913
Launched   8 Jun 1918
Commissioned   26 Feb 1924

Tonnage    Displacement: 22,200 tons standard ; 27,229 tons full load
Engines    Propulsion: Steam Turbines (32 Yarrow boilers, 4 shafts, Parsons geared turbines), 55,000 shp.

Brown Curtis (AG) turbines by J Brown and Co, Clydebank.
Speed in Knots    Speed: 24 knots
Armament    Guns: 9 x 6 inch ; 4 x 4 inch AA; 4 x 3 pdr (22 smaller guns) 12 x 1 x 20mm Oerlikon AA
Crew Complement    834 Officers & Ratings including Air Group
Range     Range: 4,000 nmiles at 18 knots

 
Length (ft/inches)    Dimensions: 667ft long, 92ft beam and 24ft draught
Beam (ft/inches)    
Draught (ft/inches)    
Flight Deck length (ft/inches)    
Flight Deck width (ft/inches)    
Armour    
Number of aircraft carried    Aircraft: 21


Sincerely,

Kopfdorfer

[asheshouse]

I've got it in hand. This will probably get priority when Duilio is completed.
The hull still needs much work to get the shape of the bulges correct.
She was sunk during Operation Pedestal, the critical Malta convoy.
Only 5 out of 14 merchant ships which set out reached Malta, but this was enough to ensure the islands survival. Getting supplies into Malta was considered so critical that the 14 merchant ships were escorted by 33 warships, which included 4 carriers. One of the carriers, HMS Furious, flew off 37 Spitfires which went ahead to Malta and then assisted with providing air cover when the convoy came close enough. The 5 surviving ships included the tanker Ohio which was towed into Grand Harbour by two destroyers and a number of tugs and sank in the harbour soon after discharging its vital cargo.

[HundertzehnGustav]

she is not the most beautiful ship i have ever seen. almost if WWI vintage, bulky and unaestetic, Eagle is, to me, THE british aircraft Carrier par excellence.
She went to battle repeatedly, in critical moments of War. An important Ship, maybe more than many others.

[Thunda]

I had no idea HMS Eagle had such extensive battle honours. This really is the sort of ship that needs bringing to the game- could make a great Malta campaign with it!

[Kopfdorfer]

She will be beautiful in her homeliness!




Nice Ashes!

Kopfdorfer

[Fenrir]

Oooooh, Ashes, that lil' piccy of yours fills me with delight - I'm currently working an as-historically-correct-asmodded-Il-2-will-allow Malta campaign, and wanted to kick off with a flight down the Med from this very vessel! I shall be watching your efforts with much nail-biting anticipation!

[asheshouse]

You may also be interested in the RM Caio Duilio BB
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,16437.msg176582.html#msg176582