Shipbucket

Cheers Obi Wan,thanks for the info

Altough I quite agree with what Obi Wan had just said, there are two tings. One HMS Bulwark in some part of her career carried the letter 'O' not 'Z', and HMS Albion was 'O' before being 'A'. AFIK HMS Ark Royal was allways 'R'

HMS Albion -'Z' is clearly shown on the front of the flight deck.
As for HMS EAgle I belive you were right and she carried the letter 'E' from 1970 at least.

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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"

This is from Royal Navy aircraft carriers 1945-1990 by Leo Marriot.I hope this clears up the deck numbers.Also had good scans of Victorious' guns.Not so sure either look right,has this one been missed of the PS?

I gave the correct dates and letters based on photograhic evidence and I also have the full set of Neil McCart's books on the lives of these carriers!

Centaur completed for first of class trials with axial deck and code letter L 1953. Oncompletion of trials immediatley taken in hand for modification with 5 degree angled deck; commissioned in 1954 with deck code C. refitted 1956-58 with two BS4 steam catapults and enlarged island (starboard side). Refitted with type 965 AKE1 radar on new foremast (taken from reserve weapon class radar picket DD!) 1963. Paid off 1965 for use as accomodation ship after a career barely 10 years...
scrapped 1972.

Bulwark commissioned in 1954 with deck code B, and kept it all her life, though from her first commission as a Commando Carrier in 1960 to paying off into reserve in 1976 she wore no deck code. The helicopters assigned to her did carry B on their tails and when the 'Rusty B' recommissioned in 1979 she once again had B on her deck. She never had 'O'. paid off 1981, scrapped 1984.

Albion commissioned in 1954 with deck code Z, changing to A around 1958. No code worn as a commando carrier. Paid off in 1973, scrapped faslane.

Ark Royal commissioned 1955 with deck code O, changed to R in 1958. Not painted on deck from 1973 onwards as she was the last fixed wing carrier, thus she could not be confused with another carrier from the air. Paid off 1978, scrapped 1980.

Eagle commissioned 1951 with axial deck and deck code J, refitted with 5 degree deck 1954, deck code changed to E 1957, rebuilt with 8 degree deck, two BS5 catapults etc 1959-64, paid of prematurely 1972, scrapped 1978.

Victorious recommissioned 1958 deck code V. paid off 1967, scrapped 1969

Hermes commissioned 1959 deck code H. retained throughout her RN career. paid off 1984, sold to India 1986. New deck code V (Viraat).

Obi Wan is this air wing right? Still ploding on the plan view any advice welcome.Thanks to PB for aircraft.

A most worthy project (Centaur) shipmate: its made my Friday . I'm on the home straight with the Melbourne, but I'm off camping this weekend on the Norfolk coast; so the side view will be finished next week. I'm inspired to try the overhead 'plan' view as well for both RAN carriers, but that will have to come later.

Be good to see your carriers complete PB.I must admit it was easier to do the port side view than the deck plan which has been a bit of a struggle.

The aircraft shown are correct for the period, though as I said earlier in this guise (axial decked) Centaur never actually embarked any aircraft. She ran first of class trials and then immediately afterwards was taken in hand for conversion to an angled deck carrier. Curiously though, whilst both her sisters Albion and Bulwark commissioned in the same year as Centaur finally commissioned (1954), those two ships embarked air groups consisting of Sea Hawks, Sea Venoms, Gannets (ASW), Skyraiders (AEW) and Dragonflies (SAR), Centaur's first air group was mostly piston engined types, Sea Furies and Avengers. As such Fireflies were probably not embarked, as the Avenger had taken it's place in the fleet as primary ASW type pending service entry of the Gannet. Centaur's first air group can be seen as a stop gap interim air group pending availability of the types embarked a few months later by her sisters.
Btw, the Avengers would have been painted dark blue like the Skyraiders as they were USN aircraft on 'loan' (MDAP).

Thanks Obi Wan,thats what my book says,but I liked the aircraft.Iv'e looked on the net so some of these books are on my Christmas list.The Tiger class looks good too,already got Vanguard.

One minor correction needed on the drawing; the starboard extension to the island below the funnel wasn't fitted until her 1956-58 refit when she also recieved her Steam catapults. Neither of her sisters recieved this modification (or steam cats). Also the CALE gear on her catapults (the rollers set at 90 degrees to the catapult track used to correctly align aircraft on the catapult as well as providing hydraulically retractable Chocks) aren't shwon correctly positioned. As mentioned earlier, they should be at 90 degrees to the catapult track not 90 degrees to the ship's centreline. the drawing is supposed to be her initial configuration (1953), so if further incarnations of the ship are shown then remember that although the Hydraulic catapults initially fitted (BH3s I think) outwardly looked the same as the Steam catapults (BS4s) that replaced them in 56-58, the latter were longer stroke so the CALE gear will need to be repositioned further aft, nearer to the forward lift. Also JBDs were fitted either side of the lift, angled to port and starboard. I have a number of reference photos, PM me your email and I can send any over you might find useful.