Scale: 1:96. A full hull model of the aircraft carrier HMS 'Hermes' (1953). The model is decked and equipped and is depicted during its condition as flagship in the Falklands Conflict (1982), with four Sea Harriers, two Sea Kings (one with retracted blades), three vehicles and crew on deck. Built at Barrow by Vickers-Armstrong, ‘Hermes’ was laid down in June 1944 as one of the ‘Centaur’-class light fleet carriers, but not launched until 1953 and not completed until 1959. It measured 650 feet in length by 90 feet in the beam and displaced 22,500 tonnes. She was armed with seventeen 40-mm guns and 20 aircraft.

‘Hermes’ served in the Far East circa 1960 and as the flagship of the Royal Navy task force during the Falklands Conflict. Paid off in 1984, it was sold to India in 1986 and commissioned into the Indian Navy (May 1987) after a major refit and renamed INS ‘Viraat’. Currently serving, it has recently been refitted for a further ten years of active service.