page_title: HMS Argus (I49)
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Argus (I49) / Service history / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: Five Royal Navy Hawker Sea Hurricanes and a single Supermarine Seafire lined up in the hangar of HMS Argus (I49), with several mechanics working on them. The base of the lift is in the foreground. Note the space needed for aircraft with non-folding wings.
context_page_description: HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1944. She was converted from an ocean liner that was under construction when the First World War began and became the first example of the standard pattern of aircraft carrier, with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. After commissioning, the ship was involved for several years in the development of the optimum design for other aircraft carriers. Argus also evaluated various types of arresting gear, general procedures needed to operate a number of aircraft in concert and fleet tactics. The ship was too top-heavy as originally built and had to be modified to improve her stability in the mid-1920s. She spent one brief deployment on the China Station in the late 1920s before being placed in reserve for budgetary reasons.
  Argus was recommissioned and partially modernised shortly before the Second World War and served as a training ship for deck-landing practice until June 1940. The following month she made the first of her many ferry trips to the Western Mediterranean to fly off fighters to Malta; she was largely occupied in this task for the next two years.
context_section_description: After recommissioning, Argus served as a training carrier to allow pilots to practice their deck-landing skills. She was carrying out this duty in the Gulf of Lion when the Second World War began. By April 1940, the ship had been rearmed with two QF Mk V 4-inch anti-aircraft guns on her quarterdeck, as well as three quadruple Vickers .50 machine gun mounts; one of these was on each side of her hull and the third was on the centreline of the quarterdeck. Together with the battlecruiser Hood and six destroyers, Argus escorted Convoy US-3, loaded with Australian and New Zealand troops, to the United Kingdom in mid-June. A week later, she ferried Supermarine Walrus amphibians of 701 Squadron to Reykjavík, Iceland. Argus loaded a dozen Hawker Hurricane and two Blackburn Skua fighters of 418 Flight RAF in late July for delivery to Malta as part of Operation Hurry. Escorted by Ark Royal, three battleships, two cruisers and 10 destroyers, the ship flew them off without incident on 2 August 1940 from a point west of Sicily, although two of the Hurricanes crashed on landing. Accompanied by the battleship Valiant and escorted by two destroyers, she returned to Liverpool to load 30 Hurricanes with their wings removed. Argus sailed on 22 August and arrived at Takoradi on the Gold Coast on 5 September where her aircraft were off-loaded. After her return to the United Kingdom, the ship was briefly refitted and she ferried 701 Squadron back to the United Kingdom in late October.
  On 11 November, Argus sailed again from Liverpool with a deck-load of a dozen Hurricanes and two Skuas for delivery to Malta (Operation White). She rendezvoused with Force H four days later and launched the aircraft on the morning of 17 November. Eight of the Hurricanes ran out of fuel en route due to headwinds and one Skua was forced to crash land on Sicily after it had been damaged by Italian flak. In mid-December, the ship embarked six Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers of 821X Squadron for delivery to Gibraltar and another pair of Swordfish from 825 Squadron for self-defence. The carrier rendezvoused with Furious and Convoy WS-5A before the combined force was discovered by the German cruiser Admiral Hipper on 25 December, but little damage was inflicted by Hipper before she was driven off by the escorts. No air strike could be flown against the German cruiser because the Swordfish were embarked in Argus with bombs that they could not carry and the torpedoes were aboard Furious. After Furious's Skuas had flown off to search for Hipper, space was cleared to allow Argus' Swordfish to load the torpedoes, but the Skuas could not locate Hipper because of the poor visibility. Argus delivered 821X Squadron to Gibraltar and was back in the United Kingdom by 14 January 1941.
  In March, the carrier loaded a dozen Hurricane IIs and three Skuas and delivered them to Gibraltar on 29 March, where they were loaded onto Ark Royal and flown off to Malta a few days later. She returned to the United Kingdom on 11 April and loaded six replacement Swordfish as well as six Swordfish of 812 Squadron for self-defence. After a brief refit, Argus sailed on 14 April for Gibraltar to transfer the replacements to Ark Royal. She arrived on 24 April and began a two-week refit after the aircraft were transferred. The ship was back in the United Kingdom, loading another batch of Hurricanes bound for Gibraltar. Three Fulmars of 800X Squadron were also embarked to protect the ship against the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors that patrolled the Bay of Biscay and the Eastern Atlantic. The carrier arrived on 31 May and disembarked all her aircraft, including 800X Squadron. On her return to the United Kingdom she began a refit.
  In late August to early September, Argus transported 24 Hurricanes of No. 151 Wing RAF to Murmansk, Russia. She then ferried a dozen Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers of 828 Squadron to Gibraltar on 30 September for eventual delivery to Malta. She was to ferry the fighters of 804 Squadron on her return trip to England, but this was cancelled. Eventually, the ship loaded some damaged ai
caption: Five Sea Hurricanes and a single Seafire lined up in the hangar, c. 1942–44
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