HMS Eagle was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, in service 1951–1972. Until the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers in the 21st century, she was one of the two largest Royal Navy aircraft carriers ever built.

HMS EAGLE R05

HMS Eagle at flying stations in the Mediterranean, January 1970

Whirlwinds fly off Eagle in the late 1950s, before her rebuild

At Portsmouth’s South Railway Jetty after the 1964 rebuild, with remodelled island

Eagle laid up following decommissioning

She was laid down on 24 October 1942 at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast as one of four ships of the Audacious class. These were laid down during World War II as part of the British naval buildup during that conflict. Two were cancelled at the end of hostilities, and the remaining two were suspended. Originally designated Audacious, she was renamed as Eagle (the fifteenth Royal Navy ship to receive this name), taking the name of the cancelled third ship of the class on 21 January 1946. She was finally launched by Princess Elizabeth on 19 March 1946.[5]

Although Eagle was commissioned in October 1951 without an angled flight deck, one was added three years later. In 1952 she took part in the first large NATO naval exercise, Exercise Mainbrace.
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