WORLD OF WARSHIPS CVL HMS CENTAUR

Wallpaper Description:

Centaur was the first ship completed and the only one completed to the original design. She was ordered from Harland & Wolff on 12 July 1943 and laid down on 30 May 1944. Construction was halted for two years. The ship was completed on 1 September 1953 and commissioned on 17 September. An interim 5.5-degree angled deck was fitted at Portsmouth Dockyard from October 1953 to May 1954.
Centaur underwent a limited modernization from September 1956 to September 1958 during which the hydraulic catapults were replaced by BS-4 steam catapults; features required to operate modern strike aircraft, like a full angled flight deck, were not fitted due to yard capacity issues. Afterwards, she was limited to mainly Sea Vixen fighters and Fairey Gannet anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft.

Centaur operated as an aircraft carrier and a helicopter assault ship during the suppression of the Tanganyika Rifles in 1964. She decommissioned for the last time on 27 September 1965 and became an accommodation ship for the remainder of her life. Plans to convert the ship into a helicopter carrier were cancelled in 1966. The hulk was sold for scrapping on 11 August 1972.