The History of the Five Ark Royals

A Heritage Evening lecture by Rear Admiral David Snelson CB, HMS Ark Royal's Commanding Officer from May 2001 to July 2002.

The first Ark Royal was the flagship of the English fleet which defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. The second began life as a merchantman before being converted for the RN as a seaplane carrier in 1914, serving in the Gallipoli campaign. Reamed HMS Pegasus in 1930, the ship continued in the training and trials roles until 1944. The third Ark Royal, an aircraft carrier launched in 1937, took part in operations off Norway; in the hunts for the Graf Spee and Bismarck and with Malta convoys. Torpedoed, the ship sank in the Mediterranean in 1941. Albeit laid down in 1943, the next Ark Royal was not launched until 1950, being commissioned in 1955. The RN's last 'conventional' carrier, the ship was the subject of the BBC-TV series, 'Sailor', in 1976 and was decommissioned in 1979.