HMS Vindictive

Harland & Wolff, Belfast launched this ship on 17 January 1918 and she entered service in the Royal Navy as an experimental aircraft carrier on 1 October 1918. She was converted before launch from a Hawkins class cruiser, previously named HMS CAVENDISH. VINDICTIVE was converted back to a cruiser in 1924 as the first Royal Navy cruiser; she subsequently became a training ship in 1937, and a repair ship in 1939. In this role she served in the South Atlantic from 1940–42, and in the Mediterranean Fleet from 1943–44, ending up in the Home Fleet and reserve in 1945 before arriving at Blyth for scrapping in February 1946. For details of her previous service, see Vindictive entries under the appropriate date (1918, 1925, 1937).