November 1918 and the Military Senators meet to decide the fate
of the major construction in progress. The follow up ships to
the Captain Scott class have been cancelled. The order to
complete the Captain Scot is reviewed and continued. The
sistership, Major Roald Amundsen, is stopped. Orders are changed
and the 18 month old hull and upper works are to be completed as
an aircraft carrier. Work on the ship continues albeit in a new
direction.
Work on the ship progresses slowly at peacetime rates and then
the acceptance trials add more time to the overall building of
the ship. It is not until 1924 that the ship is finally accepted
for service in the Navy. Service with the Navy showed up
negatives with the armament of the ship. The need for a medium
calibre armament (12x6") was found to not be required. A ship
this valuable would always have escorts that would carry at
least these size weapons and normally bigger. The single 6" were
slowly removed and replaced with AA weapons. The 6" director
being replaced with a dual purpose director for the 4". By the
mid 1930's all of the 6" had gone and been replaced with 2pd pom
pom mountings and 5" AA guns. Where the single 4" had been, fore
and aft of the bridge superstructure, were now quad 2 pounder
pom pom mountings.
The above drawing is of 1938. The first electronic aids are
appearing with the homing beacon replacing the old foretop. The
armament changes, noted above, have all been made. It s the next
4-5 years that will change the ship again. The 5" remain. The 2
pounder are swapped out for 40mm Bofors mountings. The 20mm grew
in numbers and were then reduced by replacing them with 40mm
weapons. But most of all, electronics appeared everywhere.
.PNG)
The main threat to aircraft carriers was from the air. The Major
Amundsen's armament reflected that in 1943. the Dual Purpose 5"
had increased to twelve. The 40mm had both twin and quadruple
mountings fitted. The number of barrels kept increasing till 76
had been fitted. The problem after that was finding places to
put all the radar predictors for the 40mm mountings.
| Displacement | 44,500 tons standard, 48,500 tons full load | ||
| Length | 770 ft | ||
| Breadth | 116 ft | ||
| Draught | 31 ft | ||
| Machinery | 4 shaft, steam turbines, 130,000shp | ||
| Speed | 27 knots | ||
| Range | 8000 miles at 12 knots | ||
| Armour | 6" side, 6" deck, 1.5" turrets (later removed) | ||
| Armament | As completed 12 x 6" (12x1) 4 x 4" AA (4x1) 6 x 2pd AA (6x1) |
1938 8 x 5" (8x1) 48 x 2pd (4x8, 4x4) 8 x 20mm (8x1) |
1943 12 x 5" (12x1) 76 x 40mm (14x4, 10x2) |
| Aircraft | 74 | 78 | 72 |
| Complement | 2350-2400 as Flagship | ||
| Notes | Major Roald Amundsen - | ||
Antarctican aircraft available in 1943.
