On this day 10 September 1925

HMS Furious was a modified Courageous-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. The ship was very lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns. 

Even as she was being built, Furious was modified with a large hangar capable of housing ten aircraft on her forecastle that replaced the forward turret. A 160-foot (49 m) flight deck was built along its roof. Aircraft were flown off this deck. Floatplanes like the Short Type 184 used a four-wheel trolley that ran down a track along the centre of the flight deck for take-off. Aircraft were lifted by crane from the hangar to the flight deck. Although the aft turret was fitted and the gun tested, it was not long before Furious returned to her builders for further modifications.

In November 1917, the rear turret was replaced by a 300-foot (91 m) deck for landing aircraft over another hangar. Her funnel and superstructure remained intact, with a narrow strip of decking around them to connect the fore and aft flight decks. Turbulence from the funnel and superstructure was severe enough that only two landings were made; the pilot being killed in the third attempt on 7 August 1917.

Furious was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck between June 1921 and September 1925. She was re-commissioned 10 September 1925.

Battle Honours
Narvik 1940; Norway 1940-44; Crete 1941; Malta Convoys 1942; North Africa 1942-43