ANS Smyrna (CV-1924)
The Amazonian Navy took in all the information they could get from the other Allied countries that were working on building and or converting ships to aircraft carriers, to put toward their own conversions. One thing that the Amazonian designers did not follow was the placing of intermediate sized guns on their conversions (5.5" to 8"). Some of the casemate 6" could have been left on, from the original armament. but the space taken up and the crew required to man them was deemed to be excessive for the benefit they might give the ship. The space could be better utilised. The original 12" belt armour was never fitted and replaced with a 4" strake that was thought to be enough to defeat cruiser and lesser vessels guns.
The two carriers, Smyrna and Prindylla, gave the Amazonian Navy the chance to
fully evaluate the type before committing more funds to what could become White
Elephants. Many lovers of the big gun hoped they would. Unfortunately things
like Billy Mitchell's sinking of a surrendered German battleship with aerial
bombing, pointed to the way of the future. Warships were going to become more
and more vulnerable to attack from the air. As aircraft themselves got better,
warships started taking a lot more interest in their air defences. For an
aircraft carrier its frontline air defence was its own aircraft. then the AA
guns of its own and the ships around it.
The Smyrna differed little from its completion state when war broke out in 1939.
The ship was due for a major overhaul of equipment in 1940. 1939 was spent
solving the Argentinian problem (See Sea Battles:
Falklands Islands and
Tristan da
Cunha). Early 1940 saw the Smyrna heading North, with other ships of Task
Force South, heading for European waters. While in transit, Smyrna received
orders to proceed to Belfast for its refit. Rounding the top of Ireland, a
U-boat tracked and torpedoed the Smyrna, sinking it. One of the parts of the
refit was to have been the fitting of bulges to increase the underwater
protection against torpedo damage. Whether that would have saved the ship after
receiving three torpedo hits will never be known.
| Displacement | 34,000 tons std, 37,500 tons full load |
| Length | 739 ft |
| Breadth | 101 ft (hull) |
| Draught | 30 ft |
| Machinery | 3 shaft, Steam Turbines, 100,000shp |
| Speed | 27 knots |
| Range | 10,000 miles at 12 knots |
| Armour | 4" side, 3" deck, 4" box around magazines |
| Armament | As Completed 1924 12 x 4" (12x1) 16 x 2pd (4x4) 12 x 20mm (12x1) added 1930 |
| Aircraft | 64 |
| Complement | 1400 (1475 as Flagship) |
| Notes | ANS Smyrna - torpedoed and sunk off Ireland 1940 |
Smyrna was one of the original archers and spent time teaching the trade.
