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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 example of what is now the standard pattern of aircraft carrier, with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. After commissioning, the ship was heavily 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. ''Argus'' was recommissioned and partially modernised shortly before the Second World War and served as a training ship for deck-landing practice until June 1940. The following month she made the first of her many ferry trips to the Western Mediterranean to fly off fighters to Malta; she was largely occupied in this task for the next two years. The ship also delivered aircraft to Murmansk in Russia, Takoradi on the Gold Coast, and Reykjavík in Iceland. By 1942, the Royal Navy was very short of aircraft carriers and ''Argus'' was pressed into front-line service despite her lack of speed and armament. In June, she participated in Operation Harpoon, providing air cover for the Malta-bound convoy. In November, the ship provided air cover during Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, and was lightly damaged by a bomb. After returning to the UK for repairs, ''Argus'' was used again for deck-landing practice until late September 1944. In December, she became an accommodation ship and was listed for disposal in mid-1946. ''Argus'' was sold in late 1946 and scrapped the following year. ==Design, description and construction== ''Argus'' had her genesis in the Admiralty's desire during the First World War for an aircraft carrier that could fly off wheeled aircraft and land them aboard. Existing carriers could launch wheeled aircraft, but had no way to recover them as they lacked flight decks. In 1912, the ship builder William Beardmore had proposed to the Admiralty an aircraft carrier design with a continuous, full-length flight deck, but it was not accepted. As the limitations of existing carriers became more apparent, this design was dusted off and the Admiralty located two large, fast hulls suitable for conversion into an aircraft carrier. Construction of the Italian ocean liners ''Conte Rosso'' and ''Giulio Cesare'' had been suspended by William Beardmore and Company at the outbreak of the war, and both met the Admiralty's criteria. ''Conte Rosso'' was purchased on 20 September 1916, possibly because her machinery was more complete than that of ''Giulio Cesare'', and the company began work on converting the ship.〔McBride, pp. 73–75〕 The initial design had two islands with the flight deck running between them. Each island contained one funnel; a large net could be strung between them to stop out-of-control aircraft. The islands were connected by braces and the bridge was mounted on top of the bracing, which left a clear height of for the aircraft on the flight deck. Fairly early in the design process, the decision was made to delete the funnels to reduce turbulence over the flight deck. The exhaust gases were, instead, ducted aft in the space between the roof of the hangar deck and the flight deck and were enclosed by a casing through which cooler air was driven by electric fans. They normally exhausted underneath the aft end of the flight deck, but the exhaust could be vented through openings on the rear side of the hull by two large electric fans.〔Friedman, pp. 62, 65〕 In November 1916, the ship's design was tested in a wind tunnel by the National Physical Laboratory to evaluate the turbulence caused by the twin islands and the bridge over them. They were found to cause problems, but no changes were made until the ship was nearly complete. In April 1918, ''Argus'' was ordered to be modified to a flush-decked configuration after the sea trials of the carrier had revealed severe turbulence problems caused by her superstructure. The ship was given a bridge underneath her flight deck, extending from side to side, and she was fitted with a retractable pilot house in the middle of the flight deck for use when not operating aircraft.〔Friedman, pp. 65–66〕 ''Argus''s stability had been a concern from the beginning. Despite having been originally conceived as a liner with a hull designed to minimise rolling, most of the changes made to the ship during her conversion added topside weight, raising her centre of gravity. Even the addition of of ballast still left the ship with a very low metacentric height of only lightly loaded and at deep load. This meant that she was very steady, but heeled noticeably when turning. The ship proved to be very manoeuvrable at medium and high speeds, but steered badly at low speeds and in wind due to her large surface area.〔Friedman, p. 66〕 ''Argus'' had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draught of at deep load. She displaced at standard load and at deep load. Each of the ship's four sets of Parsons geared steam turbines drove one propeller shaft. Steam was supplied by 12 cylindrical Scotch boilers. The turbines were designed for a total of , but they produced during her sea trials in September 1918, and gave ''Argus'' a speed of . The ship carried of fuel oil, which gave her a range of at .〔Friedman, pp. 67, 365〕 The ship's flight deck was long and her hangar was long, wide, and high.〔McBride, pp. 76, 86〕 Aircraft were transported between the hangar and the flight deck by two aircraft lifts (elevators); the forward lift measured and the rear .〔Friedman, p. 365〕 ''Argus'' was the only British carrier serving in the Second World War capable of striking down (stowing away) aircraft with non-folding wings because of her wide lifts and tall hangar ceiling.〔Brown 2003, p. 115〕 Three fire curtains divided the hangar and another separated the hangar and the quarterdeck.〔 She could accommodate between 15 and 18 aircraft.〔 No arresting gear was fitted as completed. Two large cranes were positioned on the quarterdeck, beneath the rear of the flight deck. Petrol storage consisted of in tins stowed below the waterline. The ship's crew totalled 495 officers and men.〔McBride, p. 76〕 The ship was armed with four anti-aircraft guns, two on the quarterdeck and one on each side of the hull. She was also fitted with two low-angle 4-inch guns, one also on each side of the hull. The rear magazine and the torpedo warhead storage magazine were protected by a total of of protective plating on all sides, but the forward magazine and bomb storage rooms only had a 2-inch thick deck to protect them.〔 ''Argus'' was laid down in 1914 by William Beardmore and Company in Dalmuir, as the ''Conte Rosso''. She was renamed after her purchase in September 1916 and was launched on 2 December 1917, her building having been slowed by labour shortages.〔McBride, pp. 75, 77〕 The ship was commissioned on 16 September 1918.〔Friedman, p. 363〕 Formally named after Argus of the 100 Eyes from Greek mythology,〔Silverstone, p. 211〕 ''Argus'' was nicknamed the ''Hat Box'' or the ''Flatiron'' due to her flat-topped appearance.〔McBride, p. 79〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Argus (I49)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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