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HMS Ocean (R68)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 HMS Ocean off Korea in July 1952 |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | November 8, 1942 |
| Launched: | July 8, 1944 |
| Commissioned: | August 8, 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 1960 |
| Out of service: | In reserve, 1957 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in 1962 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Colossus-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 13,190 tons |
| Length: | 630 ft (192 m) |
| Beam: | 80 ft (24.4 m) |
| Draught: | 18 ft 6 in (5.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | Parson geared turbines, 4 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers 2 shafts 40,000 shp (29,800 kW) |
| Speed: | 25 knots (46 km/h) |
| Range: | 12,000 nm at 14 knots (22,200 km at 26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,300 officers and men |
| Armament: | 24 × 2 pdr 32 × 20 mm |
| Aircraft carried: | 48 |
The fifth HMS Ocean was a Royal Navy Colossus-class light fleet aircraft carrier of 13,190 tons built in Glasgow by Alexander Stephen and Sons. Her keel was laid in November 1942, and she was commissioned on 30 June 1945.
On 3 December 1945 the first landing by a jet aircraft on an aircraft carrier took place when a Sea Vampire flown by Eric "Winkle" Brown landed on Ocean. The last Fairey Swordfish to make an official flight from a Royal Navy aircraft carrier did so earlier in October 1945 from the deck of Ocean. When British forces withdrew from Palestine in 1948, Ocean supported the withdrawal. Ocean twice deployed to Korea, firstly from May to October 1952 and then from May to November 1953.
In August 1954 she joined the Home Fleet's Training Squadron but saw an active role in the Suez crisis. In the first ever large-scale helicopter borne assault, Westland Whirlwind and Bristol Sycamore helicopters from Ocean and HMS Theseus landed 425 men of 45 Commando and 23 tons of stores into Port Said in 90 minutes. After Suez, the ship did not see much more active service. She went into Extended Reserve in 1958 and was scrapped in 1962 at Faslane.
- Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present An Illustrated Encyclopedia by Roger Chesneau - Brockhampton - ISBN 1-86019-875-9