![]() HMS Centaur in 1965
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Class overview | |
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Name | Centaur class |
Builders | |
Operators | |
Preceded by | 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier |
Succeeded by | Invincible class |
Subclasses | Hermes (completed to a modified design) |
Built | 1944-1959 |
In commission |
|
Planned | 8 |
Completed | 4 |
Cancelled | 4 |
Retired | 4 |
General characteristics 1947 design | |
Type | Light aircraft carrier |
Displacement | |
Length | 736 ft (224.3 m)[1] |
Beam | 120.6 ft (36.8 m)[1] |
Draught | 27.2 ft (8.3 m)[1] |
Installed power | 76,000 hp (57,000 kW)[1] |
Propulsion | 2 shaft geared steam turbines, 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers[2] |
Speed | 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph)[1] |
Range | 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 kn[1] |
Complement | 227 officers, 1596 ratings[1] |
Sensors and processing systems |
|
Armament | 32 40 mm Bofors guns (2 × 6), (8 × 2), (4 × 1)[1] |
Armour | 1 in (25 mm) flight deck |
Aircraft carried | 50[1] |
Aviation facilities |
The Centaur class aircraft carrier was the final iteration of the 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier developed by the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. They were designed in 1943 to operate higher-performance aircraft than the preceding Majestic-class aircraft carrier. Four ships were laid down in 1944-1945 and completed in 1953-1959. Rapid developments in carrier warfare and technology overtook the ships even as they were under construction, and the associated costs of modernization led to ships being completed to different specifications. Only the last ship, HMS Hermes (R12), was fitted as a modern fixed-wing carrier; she was also the last of the class to retire in 2017 as INS Viraat.