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The HMS Illustrious was a British aircraft carrier launched in 1939 that participated actively in the Second World War, being her
main operative action the attack performed by aeronaval torpedo bombers against the Italian Fleet anchored at Taranto. During her career
in the Mediterranean, where she was hit repeated times by German and Italian dive bombers, the HMS Illustrious was saved from being
sunk in numerous occassions thanks to her armored deck. This feature was useful as well in the Pacific, where British carriers
suffered much less damage than their American counterparts when hit by kamikaze pilots.
The illustration shows the HMS Illustrious as she was during the landings at Salerno in 1943. Two Swordfish
torpedo bombers can be seen on the deck, one of them "packed" in the elevator astern. Three fire control directors can be seen in the
edges of the flight deck. The long antennas on the edges of the deck were
lowered when flight operations were in progress. After a very active war career, the HMS Illustrious was relegated to training and trial tasks
until being decommissioned at the end of 1954, and finally scrapped in 1956.
Class: Illustrious (6 units - Formidable, Illustrious, Implacable, Indefatigable, Indomitable, Victorious)
Type: Aircraft carrier
Length: 234 meters
Beam: 29.2 meters
Draught: 7.3 meters
Displacement (standard): 23580 tonnes
Propulsion: 3 x shaft, 3 x steam turbine Parsons, 6 x boiler Admiralty, 110000 horsepower
Speed: 30.5 knots (56.5 kilometers/hour)
Range: 11000 nautical miles (20000 kilometers) at 14 knots
Fuel: 4932 tonnes of petrol
Complement: 1500 as built
Armament (as built): 16 x 114-millimeter 45-caliber cannon, 48 x 40-millimeter cannon
Armor: 114 millimeters in waterline/hangars, 64 millimeters in bulkheads, 76 millimeters in flight deck
Aircraft (in 1940): 15 x Fairey Fulmar fighter, 18 x Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber
Aircraft (in May 1942): 20 x F4F Wildcat fighter, 1 x Fairey Fulmar fighter, 20 x Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber
Aircraft (in June 1944): 42 x F4U Corsair fighter, 15 x Barracuda II torpedo/dive bomber
Aircraft (in December 1944): 36 x F4U Corsair fighter, 21 x TBF Avenger torpedo bomber
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