HMS Eagle.17.06.55

HMS Eagle was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, in service 1951–1972. With her sister ship Ark Royal, she was one of the two largest Royal Navy aircraft carriers built.

She was laid down on 24 October 1942 at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast as one of four ships of the Audacious class. These were laid down during World War II as part of the British naval buildup during that conflict. Two were cancelled at the end of hostilities, and the remaining two were suspended. Originally designated Audacious, she was renamed as Eagle (the fifteenth Royal Navy ship to receive this name), taking the name of the cancelled third ship of the class on 21 January 1946. She was finally launched by Princess Elizabeth on 19 March 1946.

Although Eagle was commissioned in October 1951 without an angled flight deck, one was added three years later. In 1952 she took part in the first large NATO naval exercise, Exercise Mainbrace.

United Kingdom
Name: HMS Eagle
Builder: Harland and Wolff
Yard number: 1220[1]
Laid down: 24 October 1942
Launched: 19 March 1946
Completed: 31 October 1951[1]
Commissioned: 5 October 1951
Decommissioned: 26 January 1972
Homeport: HMNB Devonport
Identification: Pennant: R05
Nickname(s): The Big E
Fate: Scrapped 1978