HMS Ark Royal (R09)

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HMS Ark Royal with Phantom FG1 and Buccaneer S2 aircraft on deck, 1976
History
United Kingdom
Name	Ark Royal
Ordered	18 March 1942
Builder	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, England
Laid down	3 May 1943
Launched	3 May 1950
Commissioned	22 February 1955
Decommissioned	14 February 1979
Stricken	February 1979
Homeport	HMNB Devonport
Identification	Pennant number: R09
Motto	Desire Does Not Rest
Nickname(s)	The Mighty Ark
Fate	Scrapped 1980
General characteristics
Class and type	Audacious-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	36,800 long tons (41,200 short tons; 37,400 t) (as built) 43,060 long tons (48,230 short tons; 43,750 t), 53,950 long tons (60,420 short tons; 54,820 t) full load (1978)
Length	804 feet (245 m)
Beam	112 feet (34 m) (as built) 171 feet (52 m) (1978)
Draught	33 feet (10 m) standard 31 feet (9.5 m) deep
Propulsion	8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers in 4 boiler rooms 4 sets of Parsons geared turbines, 4 shafts Power: 152,000 shaft horsepower (113,000 kW)
Speed	31.5 knots (58.3 km/h)
Range	7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h) 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km) at 24 knots (44 km/h)
Complement	2,250 (2,640 inc. air staff)
Sensors and processing systems	After 1970: Type 974 Navigation Radar 2x Type 965 Long Range Air Search Radar Type 963 Carrier Controlled Approach Radar Radar types 986 used in sync with 965, 987x2 Fwd and aft height finding, 993 Medium range; all E/F band radars
Armament	As built: 16 × 4.5 inch (113 mm) guns (8 × 2) 52 × 40 mm Bofors (6 × 6, 2 × 2, 12 × 1) 1969 refit: 4 x Seacat missiles (never fitted)[1] 4x Corvus Decoy launchers
Aircraft carried	As built: 50 40 after 1967–1970 refit

HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1979, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the first aircraft carrier to be equipped with an angled flight deck at its commissioning; her sister ship, HMS Eagle, was the Royal Navy's first angle-decked aircraft carrier after modification in 1954. Ark Royal was the only non-United States vessel to operate the McDonnell Douglas Phantom at sea.