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HMS ARK ROYAL 1914
HMS Ark Royal was the world's first ship designed
and built as a seaplane carrier. She was purchased
by the Royal Navy in 1914 shortly after her keel had
been laid and modified almost totally to accommodate
seaplanes. 7,000 tons and 366 feet long, she was
propelled by a single vertical triple-expansion
steam engine, with 3,030 nautical miles range.
HMS Ark Royal was armed with four QF 12-pounder 12 cwt
guns and two machine guns. Her crew consisted in 180
officers and men plus 60 aviation personnel. Rather
unique, she was fitted with a steadying sail on the
mizzen to stay on course in the wind.
Normal
provision for the onboard squadron was five seaplanes,
but also 2-4 wheeled aircraft. They took off from the
platform, and landed on the coast after the operation,
while the seaplanes operated at all times with the
carrier.
During the First World War, Ark Royal participated
in the Gallipoli Campaign in early 1915, with her
aircraft conducting aerial reconnaissance and
observation missions. Her aircraft later supported
British troops on the Macedonian Front in 1916, before
she returned to the Dardanelles to act as a depot ship
for all the seaplanes operating in the area. In January
1918, several of her aircraft unsuccessfully attacked
the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben when she sortied
from the Dardanelles to attack Allied ships in the area.
The ship left the area later in the year to support
seaplanes conducting anti-submarine patrols over the
southern Aegean Sea.
After the
war, HMS Ark Royal was used as an aircraft transport and
depot ship. She operated in support of White Russian and
British troops against the Bolsheviks in the Caspian Sea
and the Black Sea area. The next year she was sent in
Africa, conveying and supplying Royal Air Force aircraft
in British Somaliland to deal with an insurrection. When
she returned home, she was placed in reserve but
recommissioned to carry squadron to the Dardanelles (Chanak
Crisis in 1922). By 1923 she was placed in reserve.
Recommissioned in 1930, HMS Ark Royal was used for training
seaplane pilots. She also participated in aircraft
catapult tests and further launch training. Renamed at
last HMS Pegasus in 1934, she served until the beginning
of WW2. She started a new wartime career as an aircraft
transport, and training ship. But soon she was modified
to test a new model of prototype fighter catapult ship.
The value of aircraft for maritime reconnaissance
had been recognized by the Royal Navy before war
broke out in 1914 but carrying aircraft to launching
points, and recovering them later represented a
major challenge. Floatplanes represented the most
immediate solution. They
would take off from the water and land on it
afterwards, at the end of the mission, being lifted
back on board by crane. It was obvious that rough
sea conditions would make such operations dangerous,
and often impossible, but the system still proved of
utility, especially in the calmer waters of the
Mediterranean.
This primarily wood model
of the HMS Ark Royal 1914 is 30.5" long (1/144 scale,
$3,170.) The model carries one Short
184 floatplane, one Sopwith
Baby, three Sopwith Type 807, and two wheeled Sopwith
Tabloid. We also build this ship at
1/200 and 1/100 scale. One will be completed soon. Email us for
prices.
Learn more about the
HMS ARK ROYAL 1914 here:
Ark Royal model.
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