Great work on Victorious, all these carriers are looking great and Centaur also looks good. There could be many versions of the basic hull as they chaged over the years with various roles etc.
_________________ Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft
Posts:4126 Joined: July 27th, 2010, 5:25 am
Location: Vrijstaat
Wasn't the recognition letter for HMS Centaur 'C'?
Ark Royal is 'R', Eagle was 'J', Hermes was 'H'
During the Suez operation HMS Albion was 'Z' (later 'A') and Bulwark 'O' (later 'B').
_________________ Thank you Kim for the crest
"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"
The earliest image I could find of Centaur showing strait deck and deck code L.I think this was changed shortly after to 5 1/2 degree angled painted deck and letter C.
Centaur was the first of the original three to complete, and though the decision to install the angled deck had already been made before completion, it was decided Centaur should be finished to the original design so she could run the 'First of class' trials, and the results could assist the completion and service entry of Albion and Bulwark as all three were due into service in the same year (1954). Thus Centaur completed for trials as a straight (axial) decked carrier and ran trials with the deck letter L. On completion of the trials she was immediately taken in hand by the RN for conversion to angled deck standard, a simple process as it involved suppressing the portside midships 40mm Bofors mounts and extending the fight deck over the sponson, whilst realigning the arrestor wires. This work was done to her two sisters before they completed fitting out.
Albion commissioned for service with the deck letter 'Z', but changed to 'A' sometime around 1958. Eagle commissioned in 1951 with deck code 'J', but changed to 'E' around 1956/57 (her deck code J was reallocated to HMS Warrior for her last few years of RN service before going to Argentina). Bulwark had letter 'B' from start to finish (1954-84), Ark Royal entered service in 1955 with deck code 'O' but changed to 'R' around 1958. Hermes had 'H' from commissioning in 1959 onwards, and Victorious returned to service in 1958 with 'V', though in her previous incarnation had used 'P' and 'S' (late 40s). Hope this has been useful.