HMS Warrior (R31)

HMS Warrior was a Colossus-class light aircraft carrier which served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1946 to 1948 (as HMCS Warrior), the Royal Navy from 1948 to 1958, and the Argentine Navy from 1959 to 1969 as ARA Independencia.

History

Built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, she was originally to be called HMS Brave; the Royal Navy had originally intended to rush her into service for operations in the Indian Ocean during the Second World War, thus she was built without heaters for some onboard equipment since heat was unnecessary in tropical operations.

Royal Canadian Navy service

Acquisition
As the focus of future operations at sea during the Second World War shifted to the Pacific theatre, planning began in May 1944 that the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) would require a larger fleet both in numbers and in size of ships. In the effort to get bigger, the RCN returned the escort carriers currently on loan, Puncher and Nabob in exchange for the loan of two light fleet carriers. The acquisition of two ships, Warrior and Magnificent, was completed in January 1945 with the option to purchase them outright at a later date. Negotiations were completed in May, however the war ended before the ships were completed.

HMS Warrior

At least five ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Warrior:

HMS Warrior (1905)

HMS Warrior was a Warrior-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was stationed in the Mediterranean when the First World War began and participated in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau. Warrior was transferred to the Grand Fleet in December 1914 and remained there for the rest of her career. She was heavily damaged during the Battle of Jutland in 1916, after which she withdrew and was later abandoned and sank in a rising sea.

Description

Warrior displaced 13,550 long tons (13,770 t) as built and 14,500 long tons (14,700 t) fully loaded. The ship had an overall length of 505 feet 4 inches (154.0 m), a beam of 73 feet 6 inches (22.4 m) and a draught of 27 feet 6 inches (8.4 m). She was powered by four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, driving two shafts, which developed a total of 23,650 indicated horsepower (17,640 kW) and gave a maximum speed of 23.3 knots (43.2 km/h; 26.8 mph). The engines were powered by 19 Yarrow water-tube boilers and six cylindrical boilers. The ship carried a maximum of 2,050 long tons (2,080 t) of coal and an additional 600 long tons (610 t) of fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for 7,960 nautical miles (14,740 km; 9,160 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

HMS Warrior (1917)

HMS Warrior was a steam yacht, twice commissioned by the Royal Navy, which participated in both World Wars, as well as in the Spanish Civil War. She was bombed and sunk in 1940.

Warrior

The 1,266-ton yacht, originally named Warrior, was built for Frederick William Vanderbilt in 1904 in Troon, Scotland by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company; she was designed by G.L. Watson. Powered by a twin triple-expansion T3-cylinder 15-knot 2-screw engine, later altered by A. & J. Inglis to a twin 4-cylinder triple expansion engine, she was 284 feet long, with a beam of 32 feet and a draught of 17 feet. She was also luxuriously furnished in eighteenth-century French style, and her accommodation included 6 guest staterooms.

In 1914, Warrior ran aground near the mouth of the Magdalena River in Colombia: her passengers, including Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt, the Duke and Duchess of Manchester, and Lord Falconer, were rescued and Warrior was eventually refloated. She was purchased in 1916 from the estate of Alfred G. Vanderbilt (after he briefly owned her under the name Wayfarer) by Alexander Smith Cochran, who reverted to the name Warrior.