page_title: HMS Victorious (R38)
section_title: General characteristics after reconstruction
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Victorious (R38) / Service / Postwar / General characteristics after reconstruction
caption_attribution_description: Grand Harbour, Malta. Furthest away is the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Victorious (R38). In the centre, steaming right to left, is the Italian Navy's guided missile destroyer Intrepido (D571). In the foreground is a U.S. Navy Casa Grande-class dock landing ship..
context_page_description: HMS Victorious, ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme, was the third Illustrious-class aircraft carrier after Illustrious and Formidable. She was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939. Her commissioning was delayed until 1941 due to the greater need for escort vessels for service in the Battle of the Atlantic.
  Her service in 1941 and 1942 included famous actions against the battleship Bismarck, several Arctic convoys, and Operation Pedestal. She was loaned to the United States Navy in 1943 and served in the south west Pacific as part of the Third Fleet. Victorious contributed to several attacks on the Tirpitz. The elimination of the German naval threat allowed her redeployment first to the Eastern Fleet at Colombo and then to the Pacific for the final actions of the war against Japan.
  After the war, her service was broken by periods in reserve and, between 1950 and 1958, the most complete reconstruction of any Royal Navy carrier.
context_section_description: General characteristics of Victorious after reconstruction.
caption: Victorious in Grand Harbour, Malta en route back to the UK following her 1966–67 Far East cruise.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "CanoScan 9000F", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "4800", "Image YResolution": "4800", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "MP Navigator EX 3.1", "Image DateTime": "2012:11:24 09:52:25", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2284", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "4800", "Thumbnail YResolution": "4800", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4654", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10930", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:11:22 17:18:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4878", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2785", "EXIF FileSource": "Film Scanner", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "9287DCEDF2D640599E2622044DB3E117", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}