HMS Triumph

The Royal Navy heavy repair ship HMS Triumph (A108) in the Atlantic in January 1972.

Construction and commission

Triumph was laid down during World War II on 27 January 1943 at Hawthorn Leslie and Company on the Tyne. Her construction was relatively rapid and she was launched on 2 October 1944 only a few months from the end of the war. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 6 May 1946.^[2]

Korean War service

In 1950, Triumph was on a cruise to Japan as part of the Far East Fleet. She was nearing Hong Kongwhen news reached Triumph and her accompanying ships of war breaking out in the Korean peninsula, forcing Triumph into a state of alert, including fully armed aircraft on deck. Triumph, escorted by the veteran destroyer HMS Cossack (R57), who would also act as an escort to Triumph's sister-shipTheseus, was refuelled and reprovisioned at the Royal Australian Naval base at Kure, Japan. The C class destroyer HMS Consort and the cruiser Jamaica, who would both have prominent roles during the Korean War, as well as the Australian River-class frigate HMAS Shoalhaven, and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Wave Conqueror, joined Triumph as she left the base.

The following day, she and her escorts, headed for Okinawa, refuelling at the American base there. Then they proceeded to western Korean waters, where other Royal Navy warships were converging. At this time, she was the sole RN carrier in the Far East. She was thus destined to have a vital role in the early months of the Korean War. After joining the US Fleet, 827 Naval Air Squadron, part ofTriumph's air group, commenced operations with a number of vintage Seafires, a naval variant of the iconic Spitfire, and which saw much action during the closing years of the Second World War. She also flew Fireflies during the initial operations of the Korean War, which were of a similar age.

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Triumph (R16) underway off Subic Bay, Philippines, during exercises, 8 March 1950. Planes on her deck include Supermarine Seafires, forward, and Fairey Fireflys aft.

HMS Triumph, Singapore April 1967

Triumph was then converted, between 1956 and 1965, into a Heavy Repair Ship, emerging from the work with the pendant number A108. Triumph was based in Singapore after her conversion, being involved in a major exercise in 1968 in the Far East, with numerous capital ships from the United Kingdom and other nations taking part, as well as dozens of destroyers and frigates. Triumph was used as a heavy repair and transport ship for troops. In 1975 Triumph was placed in reserve^[7] at Chatham Dockyard where she was used as a backdrop for the annual Navy Days, and in 1981 she was struck and subsequently scrapped in Spain.