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HMS Ark Royal - World Naval Ships Directory

HMS Ark Royal

Name : HMS Ark Royal
Laid Down : 7th November 1913
Launched : 5th September 1914
Completed : 9th December 1914
Type : Aircraft Carrier
Class :
Builder : Blyth Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. Ltd.
Country : UK
Pennants :
Fate : Renamed Pegasus 21st December 1934.
Later became : HMS Pegasus

HMS PEGASUS, launched (as HMS ARK ROYAL) on 5th September 1914 at Blyth. The Admiralty purchased her as a part-finished collier in May 1914 and converted her as the first aircraft carrier able to carry a large number of aircraft. She entered service on 9th December 1914. She could carry up to eight seaplanes in her hold, and her cranes hoisted them onto the flat forecastle deck ready to operate. The cranes would then lower the aircraft into the sea to take off, and lift them back on board when they returned from missions.

She sailed to the Mediterranean in February 1915, and spent most of the First World War there, taking part in the Dardanelles operation as a base for reconnaissance aircraft. After the war she operated as an aircraft transport until 1923 when she was used as a depot ship until 1930. A catapult was then fitted for experimental work, and in December 1934 her name changed to HMS PEGASUS, so that a newly-ordered aircraft carrier could be named ARK ROYAL.

She continued to carry out trials and train pilots to fly aircraft launched by catapult until, in 1940, she was the only available ship to carry a fighter in defence of convoys. However, the fighter could not land back onboard, and landed at a shore base after its mission; if launched out of range of shore, the fighter would crash-land in the sea, and sink. She escorted convoys as a Fighter Catapult Ship from December 1940 until July 1941. On 11 January 1941, she launched her Hurricane aircraft to drive off a German reconnaissance aircraft, the first operational use of these expendable fighters.

After this she served in a number of minor roles before becoming a depot ship in 1944. In October 1946 a civilian company bought her and converted her into a merchant ship named ANITA I, but she only operated until 1949. She finally went to the shipbreakers in Grays, Essex, in April 1950.

HMS Ark Royal Photos for Sale
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HMS Ark Royal, c.1915.


HMS Ark Royal, c.1915.


HMS Ark Royal.


HMS Ark Royal at Devonport


HMS Ark Royal


HMS Ark Royal.

Timeline Entries :


5th September 1914 - Launched
9th December 1914 - Commissioned
9th December 1914 - Cdr. R.H. Clark-Hall
9th December 1914 - Commissioned
February 1915 - At Gallipoli
1st February 1915 - Ark Royal sailed for Mediterranean
16th February 1915 - Ark Royal Joined Mediterranean fleet
17th September 1918 - Cdr. Waterer in Command
11th September 1919 - Sailed Malta
27th March 1920 - Arrived Constantinople
10th October 1920 - Cdr. D. Faviell in Command
16th October 1920 - Cdr. R. Watkins in Command
16th October 1920 - En-route from Malta to Aden
12th November 1920 - Sailed Sheerness for Rosyth to Pay off
15th March 1923 - Cdr. F.E. Byrne in Command
October 1923 - Became depot ship
21st December 1931 - Renamed Pegasus
1st October 1932 - Cmdr. C. R. E. W. Perryman, DSC in Command
1st October 1932 - In reserve. The Nore
25th April 1933 - Sailed Sheerness for Spithead
31st July 1933 - Sailed Portsmouth for Sheerness
1st August 1933 - Arrived Sheerness
15th January 1934 - Sailed Sheerness for Birkenhead
19th January 1934 - Arrived Ellesmere Port
26th January 1934 - Arrive Plymouth and sailed for Gibraltar
31st January 1934 - Arrived Gibraltar
1st February 1934 - Sailed Gibraltar for Malta
5th February 1934 - Arrived Malta
25th February 1934 - Sailed Malta for Gibraltar
2nd March 1934 - Arrived Gibraltar and sailed for Ellesmere Port
28th March 1934 - Capt. A.W. La T. Bisset Assumed Command
21st August 1934 - Sailed Portsmouth for Chatham
10th December 1934 - Sailed Portsmouth for Chatham
11th December 1934 - Arrived Sheerness
29th December 1934 - Renamed to HMS Pegasus

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Database Currently Holds : 6284 ships and 6289 crew!

Last edited : 17:05, February 21, 2011
By : jbryce1437

First Added : 16:15, December 6, 2010
By : kc


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