Service
Perseus arrived in Portsmouth on 24 October 1945, after the end of World War II, to begin working up and sailed on 17 November for Australia. She arrived in Sydney on 21 December, just in time to take charge of winding up the "Air Train" that had supported the British Pacific Fleet (BPF). The ship departed Melbourne on 26 March 1946, carrying a load of aircraft to return to the United Kingdom (UK), and arrived at Rosyth on 17 May where she was placed in reserve.
In 1950, Perseus was fitted with an experimental steam catapult. The catapult was placed on top of the carrier's existing flight deck and the deckhouse to port of the island was removed to accommodate it. Some 1,560 launches were made by the catapult, beginning with over 1,000 wheeled dead-loads, of gradually increasing weight, and moving on to with unmanned aircraft with their wings truncated to reduce their ability to glide. The final tests were made by manned aircraft of every type flown by the Fleet Air Arm. After this, the ship arrived in Philadelphia on 14 January 1952 to demonstrate the catapult to the United States Navy. Between them, some 127 launches of manned aircraft were made by the British and the Americans. Perseus arrived back at Portsmouth on 21 March and had the catapult removed. All of her remaining maintenance equipment was removed and she was converted for use as a ferry carrier.
On 10 December, the ship carried the Westland Whirlwinds of 848 Squadron to Singapore, arriving on 8 January 1953. She arrived back at Portsmouth on 11 February and then embarked part of the 100 Grumman Avengers transferred to the Royal Navy under the terms of the Mutual Defense Assistance Act in Norfolk, Virginia on 16 March. She arrived back in Norfolk to load the remaining aircraft on 29 April. Perseus was fitted with temporary grandstand seating (known as "bleachers" in the US) in June for Very Important Persons and the press during Elizabeth II's Coronation Fleet Review in Spithead. Later in the year she made a trip transporting troops and equipment to the Far East.
On 20 January 1954, 706 Squadron, a second-line unit, flew aboard to conduct trials of the anti-submarine version of the Whirlwind helicopter. They were successful enough that the squadron was redesignated as 845 Squadron afterwards and Perseus ferried them to Malta in April. The ship continued on to deliver relief supplies to Singapore intended for Korea and was reduced to reserve again upon her return on 12 July. The Admiralty intended to convert her to a submarine depot ship and she was towed to Belfast to begin work in 1955. The cutbacks from the 1957 Defence White Paper caused the conversion to be cancelled and the ship was towed to Gare Loch to await a decision on the ship's disposition. Perseus sold for scrap in May 1958 and towed to Port Glasgow to begin demolition.
Read more about this topic: HMS Perseus (R51)
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“Our chief want in life, is, someone who shall make us do what we can. This is the service of a friend. With him we are easily great.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“O good old man, how well in thee appears
The constant service of the antique world,
When service sweat for duty, not for meed!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The true courage of civilized nations is readiness for sacrifice in the service of the state, so that the individual counts as only one amongst many. The important thing here is not personal mettle but aligning oneself with the universal.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)