Design and Description
The ship had an overall length of 332 feet 4 inches (101.3 m), a beam of 43 feet (13.1 m), and a draught of 15 feet 9 inches (4.8 m) at deep load. She displaced 3,315 long tons (3,368 t). Her two direct-drive steam turbines, each driving a propeller shaft, were designed to produce at total of 9,500 shaft horsepower (7,100 kW) and a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). On sea trials in December 1914, Pegasus made 9,722 shp (7,250 kW) and reached 20.8 knots (38.5 km/h; 23.9 mph). The ship was converted from coal to fuel oil at the suggestion of her builders. She carried 350 long tons (360 t) of oil which meant that she could steam for 1,220 nautical miles (2,260 km; 1,400 mi) at her maximum speed. Her crew numbered 258, including 100 aviation personnel.
Pegasus's main armament consisted of four 40-calibre, 3-inch (76 mm) 12-pounder 12 cwt guns. Two of these were mounted on the forecastle as low-angle guns, but the other two were mounted aft as anti-aircraft guns. They fired 12.9-pound (5.9 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,235 ft/s (681 m/s); this gave a maximum range of 11,750 yd (10,740 m) against surface targets and an anti-aircraft range of 19,000 feet (5,791 m). They had a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute.
HMS Pegasus was fitted with a flying-off deck forward, intended for aircraft with wheeled undercarriages, and a prominent hangar aft. Two electric cranes were fitted aft and a twin-boom derricks forward to handle her aircraft. The smaller forward hangar was built under the ship's bridge and the aircraft were raised to the flight deck overhead by one of the first lifts in the Royal Navy. The forward hangar could fit five single-seat fighters and the rear hangar had a capacity of four floatplanes. The ship could lower them into the water while steaming at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) and recover the floatplanes at 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph). When Pegasus commissioned in 1917 she was assigned four Short Type 184 torpedo bombers and four Beardmore W.B.III fighters. In late 1918 she carried four Sopwith Camel 2F.1, one Type 184 and three Fairey Campania reconnaissance aircraft. In 1919 she began to operate various models of the Fairey III.
Pegasus carried 1,300 imperial gallons (5,900 l; 1,600 US gal) of petrol for her aircraft. Her magazines had the capacity for eight 18-inch (457 mm) torpedos, 72 100-pound (45 kg), 108 65-pound (29 kg), and 68, later 84, 16-pound (7 kg) bombs.
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