HMS Ark Royal

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Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Ark Royal:

• HMS Ark Royal was built as Ark Raleigh in 1587, to the order of Sir Walter Raleigh. She was bought that year by Queen Elizabeth's navy and was renamed Ark Royal. She was the flagship of the English fleet during the Spanish Armada campaign of 1588. In 1608, under the new monarch James I, she was rebuilt and renamed Anne Royal. She was broken up in 1636.
• HMS Ark Royal was a merchant ship converted on the building stocks to be a seaplane carrier and was Britain's second aircraft carrier. HMS Ark Royal was arguably the first modern aircraft carrier. She was launched in 1914, and served in the Dardanelles Campaign and throughout World War I. She was renamed HMS Pegasus in 1934, to free the name Ark Royal for a new ship, and was broken up in 1950.
• HMS Ark Royal (91) was the first British purpose built aircraft carrier launched in 1938. She saw action in World War II, participating in the search to find and sink the Bismarck. She was sunk by the German U-boat U-81 in 1941, in the west Mediterranean Sea.
• HMS Ark Royal (R09) was an Audacious-class fleet aircraft carrier. She was launched in 1950 and was broken up in 1980. She was originally to have been named HMS Irresistible.
• HMS Ark Royal (R07) is an Invincible-class aircraft carrier, launched in 1981 and currently in service. She was originally to have been named HMS Indomitable.

[edit] Battle honours

• Spanish Armada 1588
• Cádiz 1596
• Dardanelles 1915
• Norway 1940
• Spartivento 1940
• Mediterranean 1940–1941
• Bismarck 1941
• Malta Convoys 1941
• Iraq 2003