The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also used by the Royal Air Force (RAF), as well as several overseas operators, including the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the Royal Netherlands Navy. It was initially operated primarily as a fleet attack aircraft. During its later years, the Swordfish was increasingly used as an anti-submarine and training platform. The type was in frontline service throughout the Second World War.
A merchant aircraft carrier was a limited-purpose aircraft carrier operated under British and Dutch civilian registry during World War II. MAC ships were adapted by adding a flight deck to a bulk grain ship or oil tanker enabling it to operate anti-submarine aircraft in support of Allied convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic.
HMS Furious was a modified Courageous-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and designed with a main battery of only two 18-inch guns. Furious was modified as an aircraft carrier while under construction. Her forward turret was removed and a flight deck was added in its place, such that aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure to land. Later in the war, the ship had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence. Furious was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck in the early 1920s.
HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. She was converted from an ocean liner that was under construction when the First World War began and became the first aircraft carrier with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. After commissioning, the ship was involved for several years in the development of the optimum design for other aircraft carriers. Argus also evaluated various types of arresting gear, general procedures needed to operate a number of aircraft in concert and fleet tactics. The ship was too top-heavy as originally built, and had to be modified to improve her stability in the mid-1920s. She spent one brief deployment on the China Station in the late 1920s before being placed in reserve for budgetary reasons.
836 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.
MV Empire MacAlpine was a grain ship converted to become the first Merchant Aircraft Carrier.
MV Empire MacAndrew was a grain ship converted to become a Merchant Aircraft Carrier or MAC ship.
MV Empire MacKay was an oil tanker constructed with rudimentary aircraft handling facilities as a merchant aircraft carrier.
MV Empire MacKendrick was a Merchant Aircraft Carrier or MAC ship converted to become a grain ship.
MV Empire MacRae was a grain ship converted to become a Merchant Aircraft Carrier or MAC ship during the Second World War.
MV Acavus was one of nine Anglo Saxon Royal Dutch/Shell tankers converted to become a Merchant Aircraft Carrier. The group is collectively called the Rapana Class.
MV Rapana was a Dutch-built oil tanker converted to a Merchant Aircraft Carrier during World War II. She was the first tanker to be converted to a MAC ship, and was the lead ship of her class of conversions. Rapana was launched as a tanker in April 1935, and served as a merchant vessel until July 1943, when she was converted into a MAC ship. After World War II, the ship was converted back into a tanker and returned to civilian service. In 1950 she was sold and renamed Rotula. She was scrapped in Osaka in January 1958.
The Attacker class were a class of escort aircraft carriers in service with the British Royal Navy during the Second World War.
The Nairana-class escort carrier was a British-built class of three escort carriers. They were constructed one each in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to the same basic design during the Second World War for service with the Royal Navy.
825 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Naval Air Squadron which was re-commissioned on 10 October 2014 and currently flies the AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA2.
823 Naval Air Squadron was a Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadron before and during World War II.
735 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active from 1943 as an ASV Radar Training Unit. Forming at HMS Nightjar, at RNAS Inskip, Lancashire, in 1944 the squadron moved to HMS Ringtail, RNAS Burscough, also in Lancashire. Various flights from the squadron moved on to form other Naval Air Squadrons, with the squadron eventually disbanding in 1946.
860 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II, which was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1946, and remains active.
Perle was a Saphir-class submarine built for the French Navy in the mid-1930s. Laid down in 1931, she was launched in July 1935 and commissioned in March 1937. In November 1942, after Operation Torch, Perle joined the Allied fleet. While returning from refitting in the United States, Perle was mistaken for a U-boat by an aircraft from the British Merchant Aircraft Carrier Empire MacCallum and sunk.
United Kingdom