HMS Nairana (D05)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Nairana and HNLMS Karel Doorman.
"MV Port Victor" redirects here. For other ships, see Port Victor.

HMS Nairana
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Nairana
BuilderJohn Brown & Company
Laid down7 November 1941[1]
Launched20 May 1943[1]
Commissioned12 December 1943[1]
Decommissioned1946
IdentificationPennant number D05
FateTransferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy
Netherlands
NameHNLMS Karel Doorman
NamesakeKarel Doorman
Commissioned23 March 1946[1]
Decommissioned28 May 1948[1]
FateReturned to Royal Navy
United Kingdom
NamePort Victor
OperatorPort Line
Acquired1948
FateScrapped 1971[1]
General characteristics
Class and typeNairana-class escort carrier
Displacement14,050 long tons (14,275 t)
Length528 ft 6 in (161.09 m)
Beam68 ft 6 in (20.88 m)
Draught21 ft (6.4 m)
Installed power11,000 hp (8,200 kW)
Propulsion
Speed17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Complement728
Armament
Aircraft carried15–20
Aviation facilities
  • Hangar; 231 ft × 61 ft (70 m × 19 m)
  • 1 × lift; 45 ft × 34 ft (14 m × 10 m)
  • 8 × arrester wires

HMS Nairana (/naɪˈrɑːnə/) was the lead ship of the Royal Navy's Nairana-class escort carriers that saw service in the Second World War. She was built at John Brown & Company shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland. When construction started in 1941 she was intended as a merchant ship, but was completed and launched as an escort carrier, entering service at the end of 1943.

Nairana operated escorting convoys and doing anti-submarine work in the Atlantic and Arctic theatres. On 26 May 1944, Royal Navy Sea Hurricanes operating from Nairana claimed the destruction of three Junkers Ju 290s during the defence of a convoy. This represented 10 percent of the total German inventory of the type.[2] She survived the war, and in 1946 was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy as the Karel Doorman (QH1), the first Dutch aircraft carrier. In 1948, she was replaced in the Royal Netherlands Navy by another vessel of the same name. Nairana was returned to the Royal Navy, and sold to the Port Line company, becoming the merchant ship Port Victor.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference uboat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Obituary, Sammy Mearns". The Daily Telegraph. 14 June 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2010.