HMS Pioneer (R76)
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HMS ''Pioneer'' was a built for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. She was modified whilst under construction into an aircraft maintenance carrier. The ship arrived in Australia in mid-1945 to support operations by the British Pacific Fleet against Japanese forces. She supported the British attacks on the Japanese Home Islands from mid-June until the end of the war in August from a base in the Admiralty Islands. The ship and her facilities were used to help repair
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
's infrastructure in late 1945 and she returned to the UK in early 1946. ''Pioneer'' was immediately placed in reserve upon her arrival and she was sold in 1954 for
scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...
.


Design, description and construction

The ''Colossus''-class
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
s were intended to meet a shortage of naval flight decks. Their design was based on that of the s, but modified to permit rapid construction in commercial yards. ''Pioneer'' was not completed to her original design; the success of the maintenance aircraft carrier prompted modification of the ship, whilst under construction, to an aircraft maintenance ship without aircraft catapults.Friedman, pp. 237, 239 ''Pioneer'' had an
overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads in ...
of , a beam of , and a draught of at
deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
. She displaced at
standard load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
. Each of the ship's two sets of
Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
geared
steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s drove one propeller shaft. Steam was supplied by four Admiralty three-drum
water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...
s operating at a pressure of . The turbines were designed for a total of and gave ''Pioneer'' a speed of .Lenton, p. 107 The ship carried of
fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
which gave her a range of at .Hobbs, p. 73 In order to maximize space for workshops and stores, the ship's
arresting gear An arresting gear, or arrestor gear, is a mechanical system used to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands. Arresting gear on aircraft carriers is an essential component of naval aviation, and it is most commonly used on CATOBAR and STOBA ...
and catapult were not fitted; two large deckhouses were added to port of the island and on the rear of the flight deck. The ship had a single
hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
, high. Aircraft were transported between the hangars and the flight deck by two aircraft lifts; each measured .Friedman, p. 367 Two large cranes were mounted on the flight deck to move aircraft and stores to and from the flight deck. The ship carried two small self-propelled
lighters A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or ...
to allow unflyable aircraft to be transferred between ships or to shore facilities. Bulk petrol storage consisted of . The ship's crew totaled 854, plus 222 in her aircraft repair department. The ship was equipped with six quadruple mounts for the QF 2-pounder Mk VIII gun ("pom-pom"). These gun mounts could depress to −10° and elevate to a maximum of +80°. The Mk VIII 2-pounder gun fired a shell to a distance of at a rate of fire of approximately 96–98 rounds per minute per barrel. She was also fitted with 19 Bofors 40 mm guns in single mounts. The Bofors had a rate of fire of about 120 rounds per minute and a maximum range of . All of the guns were mounted on the flight deck, not in sponsons on the side of the hull like her half-sisters that were completed as aircraft carriers. Each "pom-pom" mount was provided with a separate
fire-control director A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a hu ...
fitted with a Type 262 gunnery radar. ''Pioneer'' was ordered on 7 August 1942 under the name ''Ethalion'',Lenton, p. 108 but was renamed ''Mars'' later in 1942.Colledge, p. 217 She was laid down at Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness on 2 December and was launched on 20 May 1944 The ship was renamed ''Pioneer'' in July 1944 after the decision had been made to convert her to an aircraft maintenance ship. and was completed on 8 February 1945.


Service

After working up, ''Pioneer'' sailed for Australia on 30 March 1945. She arrived in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
on 13 May and was transferred to Manus Island, in the Admiralty Islands, on 21 June to prepare for operations off Japan. She was still there when Japan surrendered on 15 August and had repaired 24 aircraft since her arrival. ''Pioneer'' arrived in Hong Kong in late September to help with the rebuilding of the colony's infrastructure. Her sailors restored power, telephone service and repaired trains and buses. She made one trip back to Manus, but was back in Hong Kong in late November. The ship sailed for Sydney the following month and departed for the UK on 17 February 1946. Upon her arrival, she was placed in reserve. ''Pioneer'' was sold to Thos. W. Ward for scrap in September 1954 and broken up in Inverkeithing.Hobbs, pp. 68–69, 73


See also

* List of aircraft maintenance carriers of the Royal Navy


Notes


References

* * * * *


External links


Maritimequest HMS Pioneer photo gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pioneer (R76) Colossus-class aircraft carriers Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1944 ships World War II aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom Cold War aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom