|
|
|
HMS Furious
26th June 1917 HMS Furious 
HMS Furious HMS Furious was a modified Courageous-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Lord John Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured with only a few heavy guns.
Furious was modified and became an aircraft carrier while under construction. Her forward turret was removed and a flight deck was added in its place, so that aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure to land. Later in the war, the ship had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence. Furious was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck in the early 1920s.
- Name: HMS Furious
- Builder: Armstrong Whitworth, Low Walker Yard, Wallsend
- Laid down: 8 June 1915
- Launched: 15 August 1916
- Commissioned: 26 June 1917
- Reclassified: As aircraft carrier, September 1925
- As completed, her complement numbered 737 officers and enlisted men.
- Fate: Sold for scrap, 1948
Aircraft landing and the First World War
On 2 August 1917, while performing trials, Squadron Commander Edwin Dunning landed a Sopwith Pup, believed to have been N6453, successfully on board Furious. He became the first person to land an aircraft on a moving ship.
On 7 August, he made one more successful landing in the same manner, but on his third attempt, in Pup N6452, the engine choked and the aircraft crashed off the starboard bow, killing him. The deck arrangement was unsatisfactory because aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure in order to land. In the meantime, all three Courageous-class ships were assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron (CS) in October 1917. When the Admiralty received word of German ship movements on 16 October, possibly indicating a raid, Admiral Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, ordered most of his light cruisers and destroyers to sea in an effort to locate the enemy ships.
Furious was detached from the 1st CS and ordered to sweep along the 56th parallel as far as 4° East and to return before dark. Her half-sisters Courageous and Glorious were not initially ordered to sea, but were sent to reinforce the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron patrolling the central part of the North Sea later that day. Two German Brummer-class light cruisers managed to slip through the gaps in the British patrols and destroyed the Scandinavia convoy during the morning of 17 October, but no word was received of the engagement until that afternoon. The 1st CS was ordered to attempt to intercept the German ships, but they proved to be faster than hoped and the British ships were unsuccessful. Furious returned to the dockyard in November to have the aft turret removed and replaced by another deck for landing, giving her both a launching and a recovery deck. Two lifts (elevators) serving the hangars were also installed. Furious was recommissioned on 15 March 1918 and her embarked aircraft were used on anti-Zeppelin patrols in the North Sea. In July 1918, she flew off seven Sopwith Camels which participated in the Tondern raid, attacking the Zeppelin sheds there with moderate success.
John Doran
7th August 1917 First landing of an aircraft on a ship
September 1917 Aircraft carrier patrols
March 1918 Aircraft carrier design unsuccessful
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
|
Want to know more about HMS Furious?
 There are:4 articles tagged HMS Furious available in our Library |
Those known to have served in HMS Furious during the Great War 1914-1918. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please Add a Name to this List
Records of HMS Furious from other sources.
|
|
The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.
- 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time.
|
Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the Great War? Our
Library contains many many diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.
|
Looking for help with Family History Research?
Please see Family History FAQ's
Please note: We are unable to provide individual research.
|
|
Can you help?
The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors.
If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
If you enjoy this site
please consider making a donation.
Announcements
- 19th Nov 2024
Please note we currently have a massive backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than
264989 your submission is still in the queue, please do not resubmit.
Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to the Great War. If you have any unwanted
photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted.
|
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great battalion regiment artillery
Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a
Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.
|
|
|
Want to know more about HMS Furious? There are:3 items tagged HMS Furious available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
|
|
Recomended Reading.Available at discounted prices.
|
|
|
