HMS Indefatigable (R10)

Aerial view of Indefatigable at sea, 7 November 1944
History
United Kingdom
Name	Indefatigable
Builder	John Brown & Co., Clydebank, Scotland
Laid down	3 November 1939
Launched	8 December 1942
Completed	3 May 1944
Commissioned	8 December 1943
Recommissioned	28 May 1950
Decommissioned	December 1946
Identification	Pennant number: 10[1]
Honours and awards	Palembang 1945 Okinawa 1945 Japan 1945[2]
Fate	Sold for scrap, September 1956
General characteristics
Class and type	Implacable-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	32,110 long tons (32,630 t) (deep load)
Length	766 ft 6 in (233.6 m) (o/a) 730 ft (222.5 m) (waterline)
Beam	95 ft 9 in (29.2 m)
Draught	29 ft 4 in (8.9 m) (deep load)
Installed power	8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 148,000 shp (110,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range	6,900 nmi (12,800 km; 7,900 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	2,300 (1945)
Sensors and processing systems	1 × Type 277 height-finding radar 1 × Type 279 early-warning radar 1 × Type 281 early-warning radar 6 × Type 282 gunnery radars 4 × Type 285 gunnery radars
Armament	8 × twin QF 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns 5 × octuple, 1 × quadruple QF 2-pdr anti-aircraft guns 19 × twin, 17 × single Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft guns
Armour	Waterline belt: 4.5 in (114 mm) Flight deck: 3 in (76 mm) Bulkheads: 2 in (51 mm) Hangar sides: 2 in (51 mm) Magazines: 3–4.5 in (76–114 mm)
Aircraft carried	81
Aviation facilities	1 catapult

HMS Indefatigable was one of two Implacable-class aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy (RN) during World War II. Completed in 1944, her aircraft made several attacks that year against the German battleship Tirpitz, inflicting only light damage; they also raided targets in Norway. The ship was transferred to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) at the end of the year and attacked Japanese-controlled oil refineries in Sumatra in January 1945 before joining the American forces in March as they prepared to invade the island of Okinawa in Operation Iceberg. Indefatigable and the BPF joined the Americans in attacking the Japanese Home Islands in July and August. Following the end of hostilities she visited ports in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

After returning to the UK in early 1946, Indefatigable was modified for transport duties, and ferried troops and civilians for the rest of the year before she was reduced to reserve. She was recommissioned in 1950 as a training ship for service with the Home Fleet Training Squadron, participating in exercises and making several port visits overseas. The Board of Admiralty decided that she was redundant in early 1954 and decommissioned her later that year. Indefatigable was sold for scrap the following year.