HMS Courageous was present at the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight fought between the British and German navies on November 17th, 1917. The battle proved indecisive for both sides with the British receiving damage to a single light cruiser while the Germans had one damaged light cruiser and lost a minesweeper. She ended the war on patrols across the North Sea and, in 1918, added gear to launch Sopwith biplane fighters. On February 1st, 1919, with the war over by way of the Armistice of November 1918, she was set in reserve.
During the ensuing Interwar period, and the rise of the aircraft carrier as a prominent piece in naval warfare, HMS Courageous proved a perfect candidate for conversion to such a type. From the period spanning 1925-1928, she was completely reworked for her second life as the Royal Navy continued to operate under the restrictions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. The ship's profile changed to include an starboard-set island superstructure and smoke funnel with a two-piece, straight-through flight deck replacing the main gun turrets and hull superstructure of old. Over the forecastle was had a short-length "fly-off" deck while a longer deck was positioned over the mass of the ship covering the hull from ahead of midships to just short of the stern's extreme edge. Hangar facilities constituted two full levels within and a total of forty-eight combat aircraft could be carried into action.
18 x Yarrow boiler units fed 4 x Parsons geared-steam turbines driving 90,000 horsepower to 4 x Shafts astern.
Her original hull shape could still be made out under all of the new work and her performance more or less remained intact. The crew complement now involved 814 total men as well as 403 additional personnel dedicated to the air arm. Speed was only slightly reduced to 30 knots and range was 5,860 nautical miles under steam at 16 knots. Armament was strictly for air defense duties, made up of 16 x 4/7" (120mm) Mark VIII Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns in single-gunned mountings about the hull structure.
The work on Courageous ended in February of 1928 and the vessel undertook a period of trials and training. She was first assigned to Mediterranean waters and gained upgrades throughout the 1930s. At the start of World War 2 on September 1st, 1939, she was assigned to the British Home Fleet and operated Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers.
On September 17th, 1939, HMS Courageous was hunted by the German U-boat U-29. As the carrier turned to launch its aircraft into the wind (and present a juicy target to the German commander), U-29 seized the opportunity and launched three torpedoes into the side of Courageous. Two of the trio hit their mark which cut electrical power to critical systems. In just twenty minutes, the carrier went under with 519 of her crew. In this action, HMS Courageous became the first British warship to be lost to the Germans in the war.
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