HMS Centaur was the first of the four light fleet carriers of the Royal Navy. She was the only ship of her class to be completed with the original design configuration of a straight axial flight deck, rather than the newly invented angled flight decks of her three later sister ships. She was laid down in 1944 in Belfast, with the contract being awarded to Harland and Wolff, but not launched until 22 April 1947 due to delays relating to the end of the war. She was commissioned on 1 September 1953, almost nine years from when she was laid down in 1944.
Centaur saw service throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. Due to budgetary issues Centaur was not converted to a commando carrier like two of her sister ships. Centaur was withdrawn from service in August 1965 and sold for scrapping in 1972.
Completion
Centaur was completed with an axial flight deck, marked by a broken white line running down the middle of the entire length of the flight deck. She began her contractor's sea trials in March 1953McCart, p15 and commissioned on 17 September 1953. Her aviation facilities as completed included 2 x BH5 hydraulic catapults at the bow, six arrestor wires, two capacity aircraft lifts, measuring forward and aft. Her single hangar measured , and she had stowage for of AVCAT and Avgas aviation fuel.A.C.Walton
Following the completion of her sea and machinery trials in October 1953 she was taken in hand at Portsmouth Dockyard, to be fitted with an interim 5.5-degree angled deck, which was already being added to her as yet uncompleted sister ships, and . This required cutting down the port sheerstrake, re-siting the walkways and removing three twin Bofors guns and their directors.McCart, p16Friedman, p267 Upon completion of this work in April 1954 she was finally able to join the fleet as the first angled-deck carrier in the Royal Navy and undertook her initial flying trials in the English Channel from May to July 1954.
Operational history
First commission
Centaurs initial air group of 25 aircraft, as embarked in July 1954, consisted of nine Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6 of 806 Squadron, nine Hawker Sea Fury FB11 of 810 Squadron, six Grumman Avenger AS anti-submarine aircraft of 820 Squadron and one Westland Dragonfly HR5 of the ship's flight.A.C.Walton Centaur was initially intended to join the Mediterranean Fleet for a period of four months, before heading east of Suez to relieve as the duty carrier in the Far East. As events transpired however, she was to remain in the Mediterranean until June 1955. Her activities during this period included exercises in company with her sister ship Albion and NATO allies, embarking British troops during the withdrawal from Trieste in October 1954, escorting the royal yacht during a Royal Tour and numerous visits to friendly ports.McCart, p26 Whilst at Malta in February 1955 the Sea Furys of 810 Squadron were disembarked and the squadron later flew back to the UK to be disbanded; they were replaced by nine Sea Hawks of 803 Squadron which were transferred from Albion in March 1955. The Avenger AS4s of 820 Squadron were similarly replaced by six Avenger AS5s of 814 Squadron.Sturtivant, p216
From June 1955 until January 1956 Centaur was based in home waters and undertook a range of visits and exercises with other carriers of the fleet. After two months spent in Portsmouth from November 1955 she left for the Far East on 10 January 1956, in company with Albion. Further changes to her air-group saw the Avengers of 814 Squadron replaced by the re-formed 820 Squadron, with six Fairey Gannet AS4s.Askins, p122 After passing through the Suez Canal she visited Aden in February to undertake flying exercises with RAF Venoms based at RAF Khormaksar. This was followed by a visit to India, where the two carriers provided flying demonstrations for the Indian government, who were at that time interested in acquiring an aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy. This eventually resulted in the purchase, the following year, of the incomplete , completed in 1961 to an updated design as .Janes 1958-59 p84 Further exercises were carried out in the Indian Ocean, before heading east to visit Hong Kong and Singapore. She crossed the line for the first time on 26 April en route back from Singapore to Devonport via Suez and Malta, arriving on 15 May 1956.McCart, p49
Modernisation
In the mid-1950s Government Defence Policy was to maintain a fleet of four active aircraft carriers to meet both NATO and Imperial commitments. In practice this meant a total fleet of five to six ships, allowing for refits, modernisation and training.Friedman p305 The rapid advances in naval aviation technology during this period, such as the angled deck, steam catapults and mirror landing sight, coupled with the planned introduction of the new, heavier second-generation jet fighters such as the Supermarine Scimitar and De Havilland Sea Vixen, rendered the existing carrier fleet obsolescent.Hobbs BAC, p239Friedman, p311 Only (completed in 1955), the rebuilt , and under-construction , due to join the fleet in 1958 and 1959 respectively, had the capability to operate the new aircraft. Thus it was decided to rebuild from 1959 to 1964 to the same standard as Victorious and Hermes, followed by a similar upgrade to Ark Royal. This left a potential period of five years between 1959 and 1964 when a maximum of three carriers would be available. The Admiralty therefore searched for an interim solution to bridge this feared gap.Friedman, p312
The design limitations of the three Centaur-class carriers completed in 1953-4 meant that a rebuild to the standard adopted for the other carriers would be difficult, if not impossible. A particular problem was the lack of hangar deck strength, which when the ships were ordered in 1943, was specified to handle aircraft.Friedman p 257 A fully loaded Sea Vixen FAW1 could weigh up to and the Scimitar up to .Thetford, p113, p345 This would mean that in operation these aircraft would have to be armed and fuelled on the flight deck. Nonetheless, no other hulls were available, and given the potential "gap", a quick solution was needed. It was therefore decided that one Centaur-class would be given a limited modernisation, to give her the minimum capability to operate these aircraft. Centaur herself was selected for this purpose in May 1956.Friedman p312
Between June 1956 and August 1958 Centaur underwent her partial modernisation at Devonport Dockyard. This involved the installation of two BS4 steam catapults forward, the removal of the Bofors guns on the flight deck, improved air operations facilities and the addition of a Type 963 blind-landing radome at the rear of the island.Friedman p312McCart, p51Hobbs, BAC, p241 Some work was also done on a further slight extension on the port side, to enable a six-degree angled flight deck to be used.A.C.Walton Her arrestor cables were not upgraded at this stage, however. This was rectified in her 1960–1961 refit, when five arrestor wires were fitted.A.C.WaltonHobbs, BAC, p241
Second commission
Centaur recommissioned at Devonport on 3 September 1958, under the command of Captain Horace Law.McCart, p51 Following the completion of post-refit ship trials in the Channel and South-West Approaches in November, she embarked her air group in preparation for her flying trials, which included visits from both Sea Vixens and Scimitars as well as two Gannet AEW3s. In January 1959 she embarked her full air-group, consisting of fourteen Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6s of 801 Squadron, eight Sea Venom FAW22s of 891 Squadron, eight Westland Whirlwind HS7s of 845 Squadron and four Douglas Skyraider AEW1s of D Flight 849 Squadron.A.C. WaltonMcCart, p54
From January to March she operated with the Mediterranean Fleet based in Malta, before proceeding to the North Atlantic to take part in Exercise Dawn Breeze IV, in company with Eagle and the recently rebuilt and re-commissioned Victorious. During March the Whirlwind helicopters of 845 Squadron were landed due to technical problems with their engines and she re-embarked Dragonflies to carry out search and rescue duties.McCart, p55Sturtivant, p314 Six Gannet AS4s of 810 NAS were also embarked from June 1959, to provide anti-submarine capability.Sturtivant, p200.
In April 1959 Centaur was used during the making of the film Sink the Bismarck! to depict flight operations from both Royal Navy aircraft carriers Victorious and ; (her post-war pennant number R06 is clear in both scenes). Three surviving Fairey Swordfish biplanes were restored and flown from her decks, and scenes were also shot on the bridge of the carrier and in the aircrew briefing room. One of the Swordfish was piloted by the test pilot Peter Twiss.McCart, p55
After her brief spell in the limelight, Centaur spent a few weeks in home waters, carrying out flying operations, and paid visits to Copenhagen, Denmark and Brest, France, before departing for the Mediterranean via Lisbon and Gibraltar. Whilst at Gibraltar, further changes to her air-group were made as the Skyraiders of 849D Squadron were disembarked, whilst the Gannets of 810 Squadron rejoined the ship.Sturtivant, p340McCart, p56 Following a transit through the Suez Canal in late June she operated in the Indian Ocean with visits to Kuwait, Aden and Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where she was visited by the prime minister, Solomon Bandaranaike, shortly before his assassination in September 1959.McCart, p58 After a month-long maintenance period in Singapore, she operated in Pacific waters for the next three and a half months, including joint exercises with off the Philippines and a visit to Australia, before returning to Singapore. Further operations in the Indian Ocean, including a visit to East Africa, followed before she left to return home, being replaced as the east of Suez carrier by Albion. She arrived back at Devonport on 26 April, having steamed and carried out 7,805 catapult launches, for the loss of one Sea Hawk, two Sea Venoms and a Dragonfly helicopter of the ship's flight.McCart, p63
Third commission
Centaur was refitted at Portsmouth from September 1960 until March 1961, during which the upgraded arrestor wires were fittedA.C.Walton and additional air-conditioning units installed. Following sea-trials off Portland in March, she embarked her new air group during April, consisting of between six and eight Scimitar F1 of 807 Squadron, between six and nine Sea Vixen FAW1 of 893 Squadron, four Fairey Gannet AEW3 of 849 Squadron, A Flight, and eight Whirlwind HAS7 of 824 Squadron.A.C.WaltonMcCart, p68
During April she sailed for the Mediterranean to continue flying exercises with her new air-group and met Hermes for the first time at Gibraltar. Although she was originally scheduled to cross the North Atlantic for a visit to the US and Canada, events in the Middle East were to lead to a rapid change of plans.McCart p64
In June 1961 President Abd al-Karim Qasim of Iraq announced that Kuwait would be annexed by Iraq; the Emir of Kuwait requested assistance from the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. The UK activated Operation Vantage and immediately sent Victorious and accompanying vessels. landed a company of 42 Commando, Royal Marines at Kuwait airport. Centaur arrived from Malta in July to relieve Victorious on patrol in the Gulf. Iraq recognised Kuwaiti sovereignty in 1963, after Kassim had been killed in a coup.