Scale: 1:1200. HMS ‘Courageous’ was built as a ‘large light cruiser’ by Armstrong Whitworth, and was the brainchild of Admiral Lord ‘Jackie’ Fisher. Because of her light construction and other design faults, and the more-than-average time she spent in repair yards, she was given the nickname ‘Outrageous’. She saw action in the latter stages of the First World War and, in 1918 short take-off platforms for aircraft were mounted on both her 15-inch gun turrets.

With the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922, ‘Courageous’ was surplus tonnage as a capital ship, so it was decided to convert her to an aircraft carrier. The combination of a large hull and high speed, not to mention her lack of success as a cruiser, made her an ideal candidate for the transformation. The work was carried out at Devonport Dockyard from 1924 to 1928, and the 15-inch turrets that were removed were later installed on HMS ‘Vanguard’. When re-commissioned, ‘Courageous’ had two flight decks: the main one which had two catapults and a smaller ‘flying-off’ deck at the bow. She had two hangar decks, both 550 feet in length, which could accommodate up to 48 aircraft, a mixture of ‘Fairey Flycatchers’, ‘Ripons’ and ‘Fairey IIIF’ reconnaissance planes. Later ‘Fairey Swordfish’ and ‘Gloucester Gladiators’ were carried.

At the start of the Second World War, on 17 September 1939, ‘Courageous’ was on anti-submarine patrol off the coast of Ireland. After having been stalked for two hours by ‘U-29’, she turned into the wind to launch her aircraft bringing her huge profile right across the bow of the U-boat, which fired off three torpedoes. Two of the torpedoes struck the ship on her port side, and she capsized and sank in fifteen minutes with the loss of 518 of her crew, including her captain. The model shows her post-conversion but at such a small scale it is impossible to tell what planes are being carried on the flight deck.