After the Improved Ark Royal type, the Illustrious Class of three ships, the war broke out while those ships were still building. In 1940 a larger class of aircraft carrier was ordered. This was the Indefatigable class. Two ships were laid down in 1940 (Implacable and Indefatigable) and completed in 1944, while two more were ordered in 1941 (originally as Malta and Gibraltar, but the names were changed to Ark Royal and Eagle to commemorate lost ships) with completion due for 1945, this date went out to 1946 after the steel shortage of 1941. The last pair were delayed again to take advantage of the new angled deck technology and the necessary upgrades to handle the early jets of the Meteor and Vampire types.
These were the ultimate of British carrier designs. For many years these four ships would be the largest ships built for the Royal Navy. At 45,000 tons, 900 x 114 feet they were huge ships. The design included the novel feature of split bridge structures with the after bridge being for the aircraft commander and his staff. A heavy defensive armament was carried with eight twin 4.5" of the new Mk.V mountings, and 16 of the latest 40mm twin STAAG mountings. No lesser weapons of 20mm or smaller were fitted. The aircraft also were the very latest of the piston engine aircraft available to the RN, with 3 squadrons of Fairey Spearfish, 3 squadrons of Hawker Sea Fury, and 1 1/2 squadrons of De Havilland Sea Hornet aircraft.
The first two ships finished their trials and were accepted for service just in time to be transferred to the Pacific Theatre for action against the Japanese. It was there that the new weapons and aircraft more than proved their worth against the Kamikaze menace and in being able to launch many valuable sorties against Japanese targets. Both ships remained undamaged through to the end of the war. On completion of the second pair in 1948, these two ships were taken in hand to receive the same modifications as the later pair. While these ships were under refit, the second pair fought in the Korean War.
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1dt8s2kykrhe6f/CV_HMS_Implacable_1944.png?dl=1)
1950 is about the limit of my knowledge of ship fittings. I would like to see these ships have a thirty-five year service life for the early pair and 40 year service life for the later pair. If some of you great guys and girls who have more knowledge of this later era could give me some pointers as to when the major updates to the ships should be drawn for e.g. rebuild required to handle Phantoms, mirror landing sights and other innovative equipment and introduction of major RADAR advances. Both pairs would go through a continual cycle of refits for updated systems which once finished the other pair might then be required to go through another refit with the then even newer systems. This would give the UK four ships through to about 1980, then two ships to 1990.
RN Aircraft Aboard HMS Implacable 1945.
![[ img ]](https://www.dropbox.com/s/8os40kcdvprl3av/RN_Aircraft_1944-45.png?dl=1)
While there is a link in the FD aircraft index for Sea Fury, there is no drawing for it at the other end. If someone has a Hawker Sea Fury drawing I would like to include it to the above roster.
(is it something as silly as using the old design for the to small island and then just adding a block to save designers during WW2 ?)
![[ img ]](http://www.shipbucket.com/Misc%20Drawings/FD%20Scale%202/FD%20Air%20-%20Real%20Designs/H/Hawker%20Fury%20I%20-%20Iraq.png)