HMS Pegasus

HMS PEGASUS, launched (as HMS ARK ROYAL) on 5th September 1914 at Blyth. The Admiralty purchased her as a part-finished collier in May 1914 and converted her as the first aircraft carrier able to carry a large number of aircraft. She entered service on 9th December 1914. She could carry up to eight seaplanes in her hold, and her cranes hoisted them onto the flat forecastle deck ready to operate. The cranes would then lower the aircraft into the sea to take off, and lift them back on board when they returned from missions.

She sailed to the Mediterranean in February 1915, and spent most of the First World War there, taking part in the Dardanelles operation as a base for reconnaissance aircraft. After the war she operated as an aircraft transport until 1923 when she was used as a depot ship until 1930. A catapult was then fitted for experimental work, and in December 1934 her name changed to HMS PEGASUS, so that a newly-ordered aircraft carrier could be named ARK ROYAL.

She continued to carry out trials and train pilots to fly aircraft launched by catapult until, in 1940, she was the only available ship to carry a fighter in defence of convoys. However, the fighter could not land back onboard, and landed at a shore base after its mission; if launched out of range of shore, the fighter would crash-land in the sea, and sink. She escorted convoys as a Fighter Catapult Ship from December 1940 until July 1941. On 11 January 1941, she launched her Hurricane aircraft to drive off a German reconnaissance aircraft, the first operational use of these expendable fighters.

After this she served in a number of minor roles before becoming a depot ship in 1944. In October 1946 a civilian company bought her and converted her into a merchant ship named ANITA I, but she only operated until 1949. She finally went to the shipbreakers in Grays, Essex, in April 1950.

HMS Pegasus Photos for Sale
Click on the images below to see purchasing options for these photos!
To view an enlarged image click the +Enlarge Image button (where available)