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HMS ''Vindex'' (D15) was a of the Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War. She was built at Swan Hunter shipyards in Newcastle upon Tyne. When construction started in 1942 she was intended as a merchant ship, but was completed and launched as an escort carrier, entering service at the end of 1943. ''Vindex'' operated escorting convoys and doing anti-submarine work in the Atlantic and Arctic theatres. Her Swordfish aircraft were involved in the sinking of four U-boats during her service. She survived the war, and immediately afterwards served in the Far East transporting men and material to and from Japan. In 1947, she was decommissioned and sold for commercial use, to Port Line and renamed ''Port Vindex''. In 1971, she was scrapped in Taiwan. ==Design and description== The s were a class of three escort carriers built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War.〔Cocker (2008), pp.76–78〕 Escort carriers were designed to protect convoys of merchant ships from U-boat and aircraft attack.〔Poolman (1972), p.155.〕 Following the successful conversion and operation of HMS Activity, the Admiralty decided to take over three more merchant ships while they were still under construction and convert them into escort carriers.〔Poolman (1972), p.111.〕 The three ships chosen were being built at three different shipyards Harland and Wolff in Northern Ireland, Swan Hunter in England and John Brown & Company in Scotland.〔 The prototype was built by John Brown who supplied the other two companies with copies of the plans. The three ships were supposed to be identical but in reality they were all slightly different.〔 HMS ''Vindex'' was launched on 4 May 1943 and completed on 3 December 1943.〔Poolman (1972), pp.111–112.〕 She had a complement of 700 men and displaced . Her other dimensions were a length of , a beam of and a draught of .〔Cocker (2008), p.77.〕 Her aircraft and her aircraft facilities included a flight deck,〔 a hangar, six arrestor wires, and a aircraft lift.〔 She had a traditional rivetted hull, steel flight decks and a closed hangar.〔Poolman (1972), p.112.〕 Propulsion provided by diesel engines connected to two shafts giving , which could propel the ship at .〔 Her armaments concentrated on anti-aircraft (AA) defence and comprised two dual purpose guns on a twin mount, sixteen autocannons on eight twin mounts and sixteen 2-pounder "Pom Pom" guns on four quadruple mounts.〔 Aircraft assigned were either anti-submarine or fighter aircraft, which could be made up of a mixture of Hawker Sea Hurricanes, Grumman Wildcats or Fairey Swordfish.〔Cocker (2008), p.80.〕 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 Vindex (D15)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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