Aircraft Carrier Furious (Hardback)

The aircraft carrier HMS Furious was perhaps the most crucial ship in the development of naval aviation. She was effectively the testbed for the carrier aviation which emerged in the First World War and grew to dominate the war at sea in the Second. She underwent a number of conversions during her highly experimental service and the story of her design, her operations and her pivotal role in advancing carrier-based aviation is told in detail in this new book.

Furious was originally designed as a large light cruiser, or battlecruiser, one of ‘Fisher’s children’, with two 18in guns, minimal armour and a designed top speed of 32 knots, but even before completion she was modified with a large hangar and flying-off deck forward in place of one of her guns. In this configuration she carried out the first aircraft landing on a moving carrier, by Squadron Leader Dunning. Further reconstruction led to the addition of a 300ft landing deck astern and in this form she launched the first ever carrier assault on the Zeppelin sheds at Tondern in Denmark in 1815. A further redesign and reconstruction saw her emerge as a flat-top carrier in 1925 and in this format, with a further development in 1938-9 she served until September 1944.

The author stresses that not only was she a hugely important experimental platform for the Fleet Air Arm between the wars, but that she also served with distinction throughout the Second World War, first in the Norwegian campaign and later taking part, for instance, in the attack on Tirpitz in 1944. She was decommissioned the following year but her legacy lived on in the big fleet carriers that emerged after the War.

The story of this remarkable ship is relayed here In a concise and readable text with the help of a superb collection of ship plans and photographs, and it is set to become an invaluable reference work for naval enthusiasts, students of early naval aviation and ship modellers alike.