HMS Argus (I49)

Argus in harbour in 1918, painted in dazzle camouflage
History
United Kingdom
NameArgus
NamesakeArgus Panoptes
BuilderWilliam Beardmore, Dalmuir
Yard number519
IdentificationPennant number: I49
Nickname(s)
  • Hat Box
  • Flatiron
Laid down1914
AcquiredSeptember 1916
Launched2 December 1917
Commissioned16 September 1918
DecommissionedAbout 1929
Recommissioned30 July 1938
ReclassifiedAs accommodation ship, December 1944
FateSold for scrap, 5 December 1946
General characteristics (as built)
TypeAircraft carrier
Displacement14,450 long tons (14,680 t) (standard load)
Length565 ft (172.2 m) (o/a)
Beam68 ft (20.7 m)
Draught23 ft 3 in (7.1 m) (deep load)
Installed power
Propulsion4 × shafts; 4 × steam turbines
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range3,600 nmi (6,700 km; 4,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement495
Armament
Aircraft carried15–18

HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. She was converted from an ocean liner that was under construction when the First World War began and became the first aircraft carrier with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. After commissioning, the ship was involved for several years in the development of the optimum design for other aircraft carriers. Argus also evaluated various types of arresting gear, general procedures needed to operate a number of aircraft in concert and fleet tactics. The ship was too top-heavy as originally built, and had to be modified to improve her stability in the mid-1920s. She spent one brief deployment on the China Station in the late 1920s before being placed in reserve for budgetary reasons.

Argus was recommissioned and partially modernised shortly before the Second World War and served as a training ship for deck-landing practice until June 1940. The following month she made the first of her many ferry trips to the Western Mediterranean to fly off fighters to Malta; she was largely occupied in this task for the next two years. The ship also delivered aircraft to Murmansk, Russia, Takoradi in the Gold Coast, and Reykjavík, Iceland. By 1942, the Royal Navy was very short of aircraft carriers, and Argus was pressed into front-line service despite her lack of speed and armament. In June, she participated in Operation Harpoon, providing air cover for the Malta-bound convoy. In November, the ship provided air cover during Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, and was slightly damaged by a bomb. After returning to the UK for repairs, Argus was used again for deck-landing practice until late September 1944. In December, she became an accommodation ship, and was listed for disposal in mid-1946. The ship was sold in late 1946 and scrapped the following year.