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Eagle 1923

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Eagle (ex-Almirante Cochrane)	94	858	Armstrong, Elswick	20.2.1913	8.6.1918	4.1920 (officially) 9/1923 (really) 26.2.1924 (finally)	sunk 11.8.1942

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	22960
Displacement full, t	26800
Length, m	203.5
Breadth, m	32.0
Draught, m	8.10 deep load
No of shafts	4
Machinery	4 sets Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, 32 Yarrow boilers
Power, h. p.	50000
Max speed, kts	22.5
Fuel, t	2990 oil
Endurance, nm(kts)	4000(18)
Armour, mm	belt: 114 - 25, bulkheads: 102, deck: 38 - 25, gun shields: 76
Armament	9 x 1 - 152/50 BL Mk XVII, 4 x 1 - 102/45 QF Mk V, 25 aircraft (Nightjar, Plover, Flycatcher fighters, Panther, Walrus, Bison, Blackburn recon planes, Dart torpedo bombers)
Complement	950

Air group

Year	Fighters	diving bombers	torpedo bombers	recon planes
1935	9 Osprey	---	---	12 Fairey III
9.1939	---	---	18 Swordfish	---
6.1940	3 Sea Gladiator	---	18 Swordfish	---
12.1940	3 Sea Gladiator	2 Skua	18 Swordfish	---
2.1941	3 Sea Gladiator, 2 Fulmar	---	18 Swordfish	---
5.1941	---	---	18 Swordfish	---
10.1941	2 Sea Hurricane	---	18 Swordfish	---
1.1942	16 Sea Hurricane	---	18 Swordfish	---
6.1942	16 Sea Hurricane	---	---	---

Standard scale images

Graphics

Aircraft facilities

 (fd - 5,822 m², ha - ~ 2,438 m² / 10,483 m³): Flight deck: 198.7x29.3 m; hangar: 121.9x20.0m; 2 lifts (6.4 t), 1 crane for seaplanes

Project history

This ship was ordered for Chilean Navy as battleship Admiral Cochrane. She was requisitioned by Admiralty at the First World War beginning, in the end of 1917 the decision to complete her as an aircraft carrier was accepted. Eagle was planned to commission in 1919, however building was delayed till February, 1924 because of considerable changes in the design (conversion of boilers to oil firing, fitting of anti-torpedo bulges, changing of armament: number of 152mm guns had decreased from 12 to 9, lengthening of the island for better aerodynamic properties). First time there was the "longitudinal" system of arresting gear, removed in 1926.

Protection

 There were bulges intended for torpedo protection. Main deck had 25mm slopes, connected with lower edge of main belt.

Modernizations

Till 1920 fuel storage was 3200t of coal and 1750t of oil, main guns consisted of 12 x 1 - 152/45mm BL Mk.XII. There were no bulges, and maximal breadth was 28.7m.

1926: aircraft fuel stowage increased to 67200l.

1927: + 1 x 1 - 102/45 QF Mk V, 14 x 1 - 7.7/87

1929: + 2 x 1 - 40/39 2pdr QF Mk II

1932: - 1 x 1 - 102/45, 2 x 1 - 40/39, 14 x 1 - 7.7/92; + 1 x 8 - 40/39 2pdr QF Mk VIII, 2 x 4 - 12.7/62

1937: + 1 x 8 - 40/39 2pdr QF Mk VIII

1942: Aircraft fuel stowage increased to 80600l; - 2 x 4 - 12.7/62; + 12 x 1 - 20/70 Oerlikon Mk II/IV, 2x type 282, type 285, type 290 radars.

Naval service

An accident has happened onboard the ship in Indian ocean 14.3.1940: 250pdr (114kg) bomb has blown up in a hangar for the unknown reason. Full repair was not possible because of urgent transfer to Mediterranean Sea, therefore the ship suffered from often breakages. She was attacked 11.8.1942 in 65nm E off Majorca by German submarine U73 and, having received hits of four torpedoes, sunk in 4 minutes, 263 people were lost.

Many thanks to Wolfgang Stöhr for additional information on this page.