Scale: not calculated. An interesting, if somewhat utilitarian, model that shows the ‘Victorious’ following her major eight-year refit completed in 1958. It was on loan for many years from the Ministry of Defence, before being finally acquired in the 1990s. It has every indication of being a ‘work-in-progress’ model, an aid to the designers and naval architects that transformed this colossal beast of a ship from a pre-war period piece to the first British carrier with a fully angled flight deck, which dramatically overhangs the port side of the model. The flight deck itself is a single sheet of synthetic laminate, like Formica, in dark grey and the flight markings have been delineated in orange and white lines. The deck overhangs the stern, and a two-tier walkway is suspended below it, delicately made in metal. Unfortunately the model has traditionally been mounted on a badly scratched wooden board that does nothing for it at all.

HMS ‘Victorious’ was built by Vickers Armstrong, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Laid down 4 May 1937, she was launched on 14 September 1939. She was 781-feet in length, 35,500 tons fully laden and had a complement of around 2200.

In 1935 the Admiralty took a radical step by deciding that the next generation of aircraft carriers would be afforded the same protection as the big-gun warships. Previous carriers had been armoured, but only the lower or main deck over the machinery and magazines and in a waterline belt. The ‘Illustrious-class’ fleet aircraft carriers were to have their hangars protected against 500lb bombs and 6-inch shells. It was to be a wise decision as both ‘Victorious’ and ‘Formidable’ were struck by Kamikazes in 1945, but both were fully operational again within a very short time.

‘Victorious’ joined the Home Fleet on commissioning in May 1941 and, just nine days later, her pilots encountered and attacked the German battleship ‘Bismarck’. On 23 May her aircrews, despite their inexperience, succeeded in delivering a torpedo into the ‘Bismarck’s’ midship section, which punctured a fuel tank, but the damage was insufficient to stop the ship, which then managed to shake off the pursuing cruisers. But it was the beginning of the end for the legendary German warship and, following another aerial and naval bombardment she sank on the morning of the 27th. ‘Victorious's’ ‘Fairey Albacore’ aircraft were subsequently involved in an attack on the German battleship ‘Tirpitz’ in March 1942 in Norwegian waters, but the ship survived. Later, in November 1942, she took part in the North African landings. She was refitted at Norfolk Navy Yard, USA, during the winter of 1942-43, after which she was loaned to the US Pacific Fleet. Despite its massive naval arsenal, the United States of America still found itself short of carriers in the Pacific. HMS ‘Victorious’ sailed to Pearl Harbor to join USS ‘Saratoga's’ Battle Group. She arrived to take up duties under Task Force 14 on 17 May 1943, and was renamed USS ‘Robin’, and embarked US aircraft and aircrew. Resuming her former name, ‘Victorious’ returned to the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow towards the end of 1943 and, on 3 April 1944, she took part in a second, this time successful, air strike against the ‘Tirpitz’. Following another refit she joined first the British Eastern Fleet and then the formidable British Pacific Fleet, which included no les than six fleet carriers. ‘Victorious’s’ impressive and tireless war service came to an end when she was decommissioned in January 1947, though she was recommissioned nine months later as a training carrier. Then, from October 1950 to January 1958, she underwent major reconstruction, the entire ship being rebuilt from hangar deck upwards with an angled flight deck and a large increase in hangar height. She served in the Home and Far East service until she was damaged by fire during a 1967 refit. It was decided that she should be decommissioned early and was sold for scrapping in 1969. She finally arrived at Faslane, in July 1970, to be broken up.