HMS Implacable (R86)

Profile view of Implacable at anchor
History
United Kingdom
Name	Implacable
Ordered	October 1938
Builder	Fairfield Shipbuilding, Govan
Laid down	21 February 1939
Launched	10 December 1942
Commissioned	28 August 1944
Decommissioned	1 September 1954
Identification	Pennant number: 86[1]
Honours and awards	Norway 1944 Japan 1945[2]
Fate	Sold for scrap, 27 October 1955
General characteristics
Class and type	Implacable-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	32,110 long tons (32,630 t) (deep load)
Length	766 ft 6 in (233.6 m) (o/a) 730 ft (222.5 m) (waterline)
Beam	95 ft 9 in (29.2 m)
Draught	29 ft 4 in (8.9 m) (deep load)
Installed power	8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 148,000 shp (110,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range	6,720 nmi (12,450 km; 7,730 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	2,300 (1945)
Sensors and processing systems	1 × Type 277 height-finding radar 1 × Type 279 early-warning radar 1 × Type 281 early-warning radar 6 × Type 282 gunnery radars 4 × Type 285 gunnery radars
Armament	8 × twin QF 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns 5 × octuple, 1 × quadruple QF 2-pdr anti-aircraft guns 21 × twin, 19 × single Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft guns
Armour	Waterline belt: 4.5 in (114 mm) Flight deck: 3 in (76 mm) Bulkheads: 2 in (51 mm) Hangar sides: 2 in (51 mm) Magazines: 3–4.5 in (76–114 mm)
Aircraft carried	81
Aviation facilities	1 catapult

HMS Implacable was the name ship of her class of two aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Upon completion in 1944, she was initially assigned to the Home Fleet and attacked targets in Norway for the rest of the year. She was subsequently assigned to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) where she attacked the Japanese naval base at Truk and targets in the Japanese Home Islands in 1945. The ship was used to repatriate liberated Allied prisoners of war (PoWs) and soldiers after the Japanese surrender, for the rest of the year. Implacable returned home in 1946 and became the Home Fleet's deck-landing training carrier, a role that lasted until 1950. She briefly served as flagship of the Home Fleet in 1950. During this time she participated in many exercises and made a number of port visits in Western Europe. She was placed in reserve in 1950 and converted into a training ship in 1952, and served as flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron. The ship was considered for a major modernisation in 1951–1952, but this was rejected as too expensive and time-consuming. Implacable was decommissioned in 1954 and sold for scrap the following year.