HMS Ocean (R68)

The fifth ship of the Royal Navy, which bore the traditional name HMS Ocean, was a Light aircraft carriers of the Colossus class.

The 13,600 tons of displacing ship was laid in November 1942 at the shipyard in Glasgow Alexander Stephen and Sons on Kiel.

Commissioned into the Royal Navy took place on 30 June 1945.

In December 1945, landed on the Ocean with a De Havilland Sea Vampire first time a jet fighter on an aircraft carrier; Pilot was Eric Melrose Brown.

The Ocean was deployed during the Korean War twice in use on the Korean coast. Also in the Suez crisis, the Ocean was an active part of the British intervention forces. Here, the ship served as a basis for the first large-scale helicopter-borne commando attack in history.

After the Suez operation, the ship was taken quite quickly from active service in 1958 and assigned to the reserve. In 1962, the Ocean was scrapped at Faslane.

Specifications

  • Displacement: 13,600 tons
  • Length: 212 m
  • Width: 24,40 m
  • Draft: 7.20 m
  • Crew: 1,300 man
  • Drive power: 40,000 shaft horsepower
  • Speed: 25 knots
  • Range: 12,000 nautical miles at 14 knots
  • Armament: 30 × 40 - mm Bofors guns, 48 aircraft
1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier Eric Brown (pilot) de Havilland Vampire HMNB Clyde
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