FURIOUS HMS (47) aircraft carrier 1917Built as a battlecr.

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a battlecruiser under yard No 896 by Armstrong Whitworth, High Walker, Wallsend for the Royal Navy.
1914 Ordered.
08 June 1915 laid down.
15 August 1916 launched as HMS FURIOUS. She was the 6th Royal Navy ship that carried this name.
Displacement 18.385 standard, 22.890 full load, dim. 239.6 x 26.9 x 6.4m. (draught).
Powered by four sets Brown Curtis geared turbines, manufactured by Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co, 90.000 shp., four shafts, speed 32 knots.
Bunker capacity 3393 tons oil.
Armament 2 – 18 inch, 8 – 5.5 inch, 2 – 3 inch, 4 – 3pdr., 6 – 21 inch torpedo tubes.
Before completing it was decided to remove the forward turret by a hangar and a flying deck.
Crew 880.
26 June 1917 commissioned.
02 July 1917 left the River Tyne.

02 August 1917 while performing trials, Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning (1892-1917) was the first pilot to land an aircraft on a moving ship, when he landed with his Sopwith Pup on the HMS FURIOUS in Scapa Flow.
Five days later was he killed during his second landing attempt that day, when his plane during a updraft was thrown overboard, knocked him unconscious and drowning him in the cockpit.
The stamp shows him landing on the deck.

From July till October 1917 a unit of the Grand Fleet.
September 1917 a decision was made to add a landing-on-deck aft, the modification took place by the yard of Armstrong, the aft turret was removed.
March 1918 the work was completed.
Displacement 22.450 tons. Dim. 239.6 x 27.4m.
Armament 10 – 5.5inch, 5 – 3inchAA, 14 – 21 inch torpedo tubes.
Could carry 12 – 20 aircraft.

All this modifications were unsatisfactory during trials.
1919 Decommissioned.
1921 An other refit took place by HM Dockyards in Rosyth and Devonport, she got full length flight deck, while her bridge and funnels were removed.
After conversion in service in the Home Fleet and Mediterranean

The Isle of Man stamp shows Fairley Flycatchers in the colours of 401 Flight from he Courageous Class aircraft carrier, HMS FURIOUS, over the Irish Sea in 1932. These aircraft were the main carrier-borne fighters available to the Fleet Air Arm from 1924-1932 and they served with the Home, Mediterranean and China Fleets.

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During World War II in the Home Fleet in the Arctic and Atlantic, ferried aircraft to Malta and West Africa.
Her war history you can find on: http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono ... urious.htm

After VJ Day was she paid off.
Placed on the disposal list.23 January 1948 sold to BISCO for demolition.
15 March 1948 arrived under tow at the Arnott Young yard at Dalmuir for scrapping, later that year she was taken to Troon for her final destruction.

Gibraltar 1991 22p sg653, scott589 (crest only)
Isle of Man 2009 72p sg?, scott?
British Indian Ocean Territory 2009 £1.72 sg?, scott?
Monserrat 2009 $1.10 sg?, scott?

Source: Ships of the World by Lincoln Paine. Warships for Export, Armstrong Warships 1867-1927.
Some web-sites.

[aukepalmhof]

The 72p value shows Fairey Flycatchers in the colours of 401 Flight from the Courageous Class aircraft carrier, HMS Furious, over the Irish Sea in 1932. These aircraft were the main carrier-borne fighters available to the Fleet Air Arm from 1924-1932 and they served with the Home, Mediterranean and China Fleets.