HMS Ark Royal (91)

HMS Ark Royal in 1939, conducting flying operations with Swordfish biplanes
Class overview
Preceded by	Courageous class
Succeeded by	Illustrious class
History
United Kingdom
Name	Ark Royal
Namesake	Ark Royal (1587)
Ordered	1934 build programme
Builder	Cammell Laird
Laid down	16 September 1935
Launched	13 April 1937
Commissioned	16 December 1938
Identification	Pennant number: 91
Motto	Desire n'a pas Repos – "Zeal Does Not Rest"
Honours and awards	Norway 1940 Spartivento 1940 Mediterranean 1940–41 Malta Convoys 1941 Bismarck 1941
Fate	Sunk by U-81, 14 November 1941
General characteristics
Type	Aircraft carrier
Displacement	22,000 long tons (22,353 t) (standard) 27,720 long tons (28,165 t) (deep load)
Length	800 ft (240 m) overall 721 ft 6 in (219.91 m) waterline
Beam	94 ft 9.6 in (28.895 m)
Draught	27 ft 9.6 in (8.473 m)
Installed power	6 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers 102,000 shp (76,000 kW)
Propulsion	3 × shafts; 3 × geared steam turbines
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) as designed 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph) actual
Range	7,600 nmi (14,100 km; 8,700 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	1,580 officers and ratings
Armament	8 × twin 4.5 in (110 mm) DP guns 4 × quadruple 2-pdr (40 mm (1.57 in)) AA guns[1] 8 × quadruple .50 in (12.7 mm) AA MGs
Armour	Belt: 4.5 in (11.4 cm) Deck: 3.5 in (8.9 cm) over boiler rooms and magazines
Aircraft carried	72 (designed) 50–60 (actual) 1939–1940: 26 × Fairey Swordfish, 24 × Blackburn Skuas 1940–1941: 30 × Fairey Swordfish, 12 × Blackburn Skuas, 12 × Fairey Fulmars 1941: 36 × Fairey Swordfish, 18 × Fairey Fulmars
Aviation facilities	2 × catapults

HMS Ark Royal (pennant number 91) was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that was operated during the Second World War.

Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, England, and completed in November 1938. Her design differed from previous aircraft carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. She was used during a period that first saw the extensive use of naval air power; several carrier tactics were developed and refined aboard Ark Royal.

Ark Royal operated in some of the most active naval theatres of the Second World War. She was involved in the first aerial U-boat kills of the war, operations off Norway, the search for the German battleship Bismarck, and the Malta Convoys. Ark Royal survived several near misses and gained a reputation as a 'lucky ship'. She was torpedoed on 13 November 1941 by the German submarine U-81 and sank the following day. One of her 1,488 crew members was killed. Her sinking was the subject of several inquiries, with investigators keen to know how the carrier was lost in spite of efforts to save the ship and tow her to the naval base at Gibraltar. They found that several design flaws contributed to the loss, which were rectified in new British carriers.

The wreck was discovered in December 2002 by an American underwater survey company using sonar mounted on an autonomous underwater vehicle, under contract from the BBC for the filming of a documentary about the ship, at a depth of about 3,300 feet (1,000 m) and approximately 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) from Gibraltar.