Courageous-class battlecruiser

Courageous as a battlecruiser during the First World War
Class overview
Name	Courageous class
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Renown class
Succeeded by	Admiral class
Subclasses	HMS Furious
Cost	£2,038,225 (Courageous)
Built	1915–1917
In service	1916–1944
In commission	1916–1944
Planned	3
Completed	3
Lost	2
Scrapped	1
General characteristics (Courageous)
Type	Large light cruiser/battlecruiser
Displacement	19,180 long tons (19,488 t) 22,560 long tons (22,922 t) (deep load)
Length	786 ft 9 in (239.8 m)
Beam	81 ft (24.7 m)
Draught	25 ft 10 in (7.9 m)
Installed power	90,000 shp (67,113 kW) 18 small-tube boilers
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Complement	842 officers and men
Armament	2 × twin 15-inch (381 mm) guns 6 × triple 4-inch (102 mm) guns 2 × single 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft guns 2 × single 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Decks: .75–3 in (19–76 mm) Barbettes: 3–7 in (76–178 mm) Gun turrets: 7–9 in (178–229 mm) Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm) Torpedo bulkheads: 1–1.5 in (25–38 mm)

The Courageous class consisted of three battlecruisers known as "large light cruisers" built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. The class was nominally designed to support the Baltic Project, a plan by Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher that was intended to land troops on the German Baltic Coast. Ships of this class were fast but very lightly armoured, with only a few heavy guns. They were given a shallow draught, in part to allow them to operate in the shallow waters of the Baltic but also reflecting experience gained earlier in the war. To maximize their speed, the Courageous-class battlecruisers were the first capital ships of the Royal Navy to use geared steam turbines and small-tube boilers.

The first two ships, Courageous and Glorious, were commissioned in 1917 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. They participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and were present when the High Seas Fleet surrendered a year later. Their half-sister Furious was designed with a pair of 18-inch (457 mm) guns, the largest guns ever fitted on a ship of the Royal Navy, but was modified during construction to take a flying-off deck and hangar in lieu of her forward turret and barbette. After some patrols in the North Sea, her rear turret was removed and another flight deck added. Her aircraft attacked the Zeppelin sheds during the Tondern raid in July 1918.

All three ships were laid up after the war, but were rebuilt into the Courageous-class aircraft carriers during the 1920s. Glorious and Courageous were sunk early in the Second World War and Furious was sold for scrap in 1948.