17th September 1939, just two weeks after Britain had declared war on Germany, Aircraft Carrier HMS Courageous was on patrol off the west coast of Ireland. Unbeknown to her, she was being stalked by a hidden predator.
Within 20 minutes of being attacked she had slipped beneath the Atlantic surface, taking with her the lives of over 500 men.
She became the first British Naval casualty of World War 2.
1ST WORLD WAR
HMS Courageous began her service in 1916 during WW1 as the lead ship of the Courageous-class cruisers. The Courageous Class were a trio of ‘large light cruisers’ built for the Royal Navy to support the landing of troops on the German Baltic coast; an operation known as The Baltic Project.
These ships were lightly armoured with only a few heavy guns, but this helped them to be very fast.
Speed had become the most vital attribute for ships of this class as Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher had earlier noted in a letter to First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill in 1912.
He wrote ‘There must be sacrifice of armour. There must be further, very great increase in speed, your speed must vastly exceed that of your enemy’.
To enable this requirement, she had an overall length of 786 feet 9 inches, a beam of 81 feet and a draught of 25 feet, 10 inches.
She was armed with
4 x 15” main guns in twin-gunned turrets
18 x 4” secondary guns in six three-gunned turrets
2 x 3” Anti-Aircraft guns in single gunned mountings
As well as 2 x 21” torpedo tubes.
All of this gave a displacement of around 20,000 tons.
This design had enabled her to achieve a speed of 32 knots and a range of some 6000 nm.
Her keel was laid down on 26 March 1915 on the banks of the River Tyne by Armstrong Whitworth, launched on 5th February 1916 and was completed on 4th November 1916.
Her first duties for the Royal Navy was with the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet but she wasn’t their long as due to large losses at the Battle of Jutland, she assumed the role of Flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron.
Throughout 1917 the British had laid minefields in the Heligoland Bight with the intention of restricting the German High Seas Fleet as well as their submarines, however the Admiralty had become increasingly concerned by the German successes at sweeping a path through these minefields.
As a result of this, on the 17th November 1917, the Admiralty deployed Courageous at the head of the 1st Cruiser Squadron and with cover provided by the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron as well as the 1st Battle Squadron they were sent to seek and destroy the German minesweepers along with their light cruiser escorts.
Early in the morning, at 07:30 the German ships comprising of 4 Light Cruisers, 8 Destroyers and 3 divisions of minesweepers were spotted.
HMS Cardiff joined Courageous in opening fire with their forward guns and in an effort to escape, the Germans put out a smoke screen. This worked as despite being chased by Courageous and Cardiff, the smaller ships managed to disappear into the smoke.
The British ships continued to concentrate their fire onto the German cruisers’ estimated location.
Courageous’ contribution to the battle was a barrage of 92 x 15 inch shells and 180 x 4 inch shells but despite this, the only hit was a single 15 inch shell that hit a gun shield of the light cruiser SMS Pillau which had little effect on her speed or her attempts to escape the battle.
By 09:30am, the 1st Cruiser Squadron, realising that their pursuit was takin them into a known minefield, broke off and turned south. They played no further part in the battle of Heligoland Bight
The remainder of the war would saw Courageous only taking part in the occasional patrol of the North Sea and in 1918 she was fitted with short take-off platforms for Sopwith Camel and Sopwith Strutter aircraft. This was an early foresight into Courageous’ relationship with aircraft.
HMS Courageous’ final contribution to WW1 was her attendance at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918 following which she was placed into reserve at Rosyth.
INTER WAR
The years following the war saw a considerable overhaul to the fleet of the Royal Navy due to the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.
In an attempt to prevent an arms race, the major allies of WW1 agreed to limit naval construction and applied limits on tonnage across the fleets and this had a major impact on the Courageous class of ships. The treaty allowed for the conversion of existing ships with a tonnage of up to 67,000 tons into aircraft carriers.
Due to their large hull and high speed, HMS Courageous, HMS Glorious and their half sister HMS Furious were ideal and chosen for the conversions.
The conversion of HMS Courageous began on 29th June 1924 at Devonport.
All superstructure, guns, torpedo tubes and fittings down to the main deck were removed. On top of the remaining hull a two-storey hanger was built, each level being 16 feet high and 550 feet long.
The upper hangar level opened out onto a short ‘flying-off’ deck which was below and forward of the main flight deck. This was designed to improve the launch and recovery flexibility,
which started off fine for aircraft of the day but by the 1930s, newer aircraft required longer take-off runs and so it became obsolete.
To bring aircraft to the flight deck, two 46 by 48 foot lifts were fitted at the fore and aft of the main flight deck.
Finally, an island containing the bridge, flying control station and funnel was added to the starboard side. HMS Furious hadn’t been fitted with an island as it was thought that it may cause turbulence but this was proved not to be the case and so both Courageous and Glorious had them built.
Her initial armament comprised of 16 dual-purpose 4.7inch guns in single mounts spread along the ship. During a later refit in the 1930s she also received 3 quadruple mounts for 1.6inch anti-aircraft guns as well as four 50 calibre anti-aircraft guns.
Following the completion of the conversion on 21st February 1928, Courageous was equipped to carry up to 48 aircraft comprising of Blackburn Dart, Fairey Flycatchers and Fairy IIIFs, and she had her first deck landing on 15th May 1928 when a Blackburn Dart of 463 Flight touched down.
Following several months of sea trials she sailed to Malta to be assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet where she would operate until June 1930 before being recalled for a refit following which she re-entered service with that Atlantic and Home Fleets.
Further refits during the course of the 1930s would see her upgraded further with aircraft arresting gear as well as two hydraulic aircraft catapults fitted to the upper flight deck.
She was now equipped to carry a wide range of aircraft types including Hawker Nimrod, Hawker Osprey, Blackburn Baffin, Blackburn Shark, Blackburn Ripon, Fairey Swordfish and Fairey Seal.
In December 1938, the newly commissioned HMS Ark Royal entered service with the Royal Navy and was assigned to the Home Fleet and so Courageous was taken out of active service and became a training carrier. She remained in the training role until May 1939 when she was replaced by her half sister HMS Furious.
WW2
By the time war operations commenced in September 1939, Courageous was serving with the Home Fleet, carrying 811 Squadron and 822 Squadron. Each of these squadrons were equipped with 12 Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft and were used as part of a Hunter Killer Group to seek out and destroy enemy submarines.
On the evening of 17th September 1939, under the command of Capt William Tofield Makeig-Jones, and a compliment of 1202 crew, she was on an anti-submarine patrol off the south west coast of Ireland, accompanied by 4 destroyers. Word had been received that a merchant ship was under attack nearby and so two of the destroyers had been despatched to assist, leaving Courageous with only half of her protection.
For the next two hours, unheard and unseen, she was being stalked by U-Boat U-29, commanded by Capt, Lieutenant Otto Schuhart.
Courageous now needed to launch some of her patrol aircraft and so to do this she was turned into the wind. This manoeuvre placed Courageous right across the bow of U-29 which wasted no time in firing three torpedos at the exposed carrier.
Two of the torpedoes scored direct hits on her port side before any of the assembled aircraft were able to launch.
All electrical power had been lost and Courageous began to list over as the two accompanying destroyers attempted a counterattack against U-29.
Within 20 minutes HMS Courageous had capsized and sank, with the loss of 519 crew including her Captain. The survivors were rescued by the British freighter Collingworth and the Dutch ocean liner, Veendam.
The counterattack against U-29 continued for some 4 hours but the U-Boat had escaped.
Only 3 days earlier on the 14th September, another U-Boat attack, albeit unsuccessful, on HMS Ark Royal had shown the risk these Hunter Killer Groups posed to British aircraft carriers and so following the sinking of HMS Courageous, the Royal Navy decided to withdraw it’s aircraft carriers from anti-submarine patrols.
HMS Courageous had become the first British warship to be sunk by German forces in World War 2.
Within 20 minutes of being attacked she had slipped beneath the Atlantic surface, taking with her the lives of over 500 men.
She became the first British Naval casualty of World War 2.
1ST WORLD WAR
HMS Courageous began her service in 1916 during WW1 as the lead ship of the Courageous-class cruisers. The Courageous Class were a trio of ‘large light cruisers’ built for the Royal Navy to support the landing of troops on the German Baltic coast; an operation known as The Baltic Project.
These ships were lightly armoured with only a few heavy guns, but this helped them to be very fast.
Speed had become the most vital attribute for ships of this class as Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher had earlier noted in a letter to First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill in 1912.
He wrote ‘There must be sacrifice of armour. There must be further, very great increase in speed, your speed must vastly exceed that of your enemy’.
To enable this requirement, she had an overall length of 786 feet 9 inches, a beam of 81 feet and a draught of 25 feet, 10 inches.
She was armed with
4 x 15” main guns in twin-gunned turrets
18 x 4” secondary guns in six three-gunned turrets
2 x 3” Anti-Aircraft guns in single gunned mountings
As well as 2 x 21” torpedo tubes.
All of this gave a displacement of around 20,000 tons.
This design had enabled her to achieve a speed of 32 knots and a range of some 6000 nm.
Her keel was laid down on 26 March 1915 on the banks of the River Tyne by Armstrong Whitworth, launched on 5th February 1916 and was completed on 4th November 1916.
Her first duties for the Royal Navy was with the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet but she wasn’t their long as due to large losses at the Battle of Jutland, she assumed the role of Flagship of the 1st Cruiser Squadron.
Throughout 1917 the British had laid minefields in the Heligoland Bight with the intention of restricting the German High Seas Fleet as well as their submarines, however the Admiralty had become increasingly concerned by the German successes at sweeping a path through these minefields.
As a result of this, on the 17th November 1917, the Admiralty deployed Courageous at the head of the 1st Cruiser Squadron and with cover provided by the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron as well as the 1st Battle Squadron they were sent to seek and destroy the German minesweepers along with their light cruiser escorts.
Early in the morning, at 07:30 the German ships comprising of 4 Light Cruisers, 8 Destroyers and 3 divisions of minesweepers were spotted.
HMS Cardiff joined Courageous in opening fire with their forward guns and in an effort to escape, the Germans put out a smoke screen. This worked as despite being chased by Courageous and Cardiff, the smaller ships managed to disappear into the smoke.
The British ships continued to concentrate their fire onto the German cruisers’ estimated location.
Courageous’ contribution to the battle was a barrage of 92 x 15 inch shells and 180 x 4 inch shells but despite this, the only hit was a single 15 inch shell that hit a gun shield of the light cruiser SMS Pillau which had little effect on her speed or her attempts to escape the battle.
By 09:30am, the 1st Cruiser Squadron, realising that their pursuit was takin them into a known minefield, broke off and turned south. They played no further part in the battle of Heligoland Bight
The remainder of the war would saw Courageous only taking part in the occasional patrol of the North Sea and in 1918 she was fitted with short take-off platforms for Sopwith Camel and Sopwith Strutter aircraft. This was an early foresight into Courageous’ relationship with aircraft.
HMS Courageous’ final contribution to WW1 was her attendance at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918 following which she was placed into reserve at Rosyth.
INTER WAR
The years following the war saw a considerable overhaul to the fleet of the Royal Navy due to the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.
In an attempt to prevent an arms race, the major allies of WW1 agreed to limit naval construction and applied limits on tonnage across the fleets and this had a major impact on the Courageous class of ships. The treaty allowed for the conversion of existing ships with a tonnage of up to 67,000 tons into aircraft carriers.
Due to their large hull and high speed, HMS Courageous, HMS Glorious and their half sister HMS Furious were ideal and chosen for the conversions.
The conversion of HMS Courageous began on 29th June 1924 at Devonport.
All superstructure, guns, torpedo tubes and fittings down to the main deck were removed. On top of the remaining hull a two-storey hanger was built, each level being 16 feet high and 550 feet long.
The upper hangar level opened out onto a short ‘flying-off’ deck which was below and forward of the main flight deck. This was designed to improve the launch and recovery flexibility,
which started off fine for aircraft of the day but by the 1930s, newer aircraft required longer take-off runs and so it became obsolete.
To bring aircraft to the flight deck, two 46 by 48 foot lifts were fitted at the fore and aft of the main flight deck.
Finally, an island containing the bridge, flying control station and funnel was added to the starboard side. HMS Furious hadn’t been fitted with an island as it was thought that it may cause turbulence but this was proved not to be the case and so both Courageous and Glorious had them built.
Her initial armament comprised of 16 dual-purpose 4.7inch guns in single mounts spread along the ship. During a later refit in the 1930s she also received 3 quadruple mounts for 1.6inch anti-aircraft guns as well as four 50 calibre anti-aircraft guns.
Following the completion of the conversion on 21st February 1928, Courageous was equipped to carry up to 48 aircraft comprising of Blackburn Dart, Fairey Flycatchers and Fairy IIIFs, and she had her first deck landing on 15th May 1928 when a Blackburn Dart of 463 Flight touched down.
Following several months of sea trials she sailed to Malta to be assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet where she would operate until June 1930 before being recalled for a refit following which she re-entered service with that Atlantic and Home Fleets.
Further refits during the course of the 1930s would see her upgraded further with aircraft arresting gear as well as two hydraulic aircraft catapults fitted to the upper flight deck.
She was now equipped to carry a wide range of aircraft types including Hawker Nimrod, Hawker Osprey, Blackburn Baffin, Blackburn Shark, Blackburn Ripon, Fairey Swordfish and Fairey Seal.
In December 1938, the newly commissioned HMS Ark Royal entered service with the Royal Navy and was assigned to the Home Fleet and so Courageous was taken out of active service and became a training carrier. She remained in the training role until May 1939 when she was replaced by her half sister HMS Furious.
WW2
By the time war operations commenced in September 1939, Courageous was serving with the Home Fleet, carrying 811 Squadron and 822 Squadron. Each of these squadrons were equipped with 12 Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft and were used as part of a Hunter Killer Group to seek out and destroy enemy submarines.
On the evening of 17th September 1939, under the command of Capt William Tofield Makeig-Jones, and a compliment of 1202 crew, she was on an anti-submarine patrol off the south west coast of Ireland, accompanied by 4 destroyers. Word had been received that a merchant ship was under attack nearby and so two of the destroyers had been despatched to assist, leaving Courageous with only half of her protection.
For the next two hours, unheard and unseen, she was being stalked by U-Boat U-29, commanded by Capt, Lieutenant Otto Schuhart.
Courageous now needed to launch some of her patrol aircraft and so to do this she was turned into the wind. This manoeuvre placed Courageous right across the bow of U-29 which wasted no time in firing three torpedos at the exposed carrier.
Two of the torpedoes scored direct hits on her port side before any of the assembled aircraft were able to launch.
All electrical power had been lost and Courageous began to list over as the two accompanying destroyers attempted a counterattack against U-29.
Within 20 minutes HMS Courageous had capsized and sank, with the loss of 519 crew including her Captain. The survivors were rescued by the British freighter Collingworth and the Dutch ocean liner, Veendam.
The counterattack against U-29 continued for some 4 hours but the U-Boat had escaped.
Only 3 days earlier on the 14th September, another U-Boat attack, albeit unsuccessful, on HMS Ark Royal had shown the risk these Hunter Killer Groups posed to British aircraft carriers and so following the sinking of HMS Courageous, the Royal Navy decided to withdraw it’s aircraft carriers from anti-submarine patrols.
HMS Courageous had become the first British warship to be sunk by German forces in World War 2.