HMS Courageous, built by Armstrong, Elswick, laid down March 1915., completed January 1917. Courageous Class Large Light Cruiser amoured as a light cruiser but with battle cruiser calibre guns. The secondary armament was atriple 4 inch mount that had a supposed high rate of fire but when in action did not achieve its specification as it was complex to operate. First major warship to have geared turbines and the first large British warship with small tube boilers. Along with HMS Glorious and their half sister HMS Furious, the ships are probably the most controversial and criticised ships to serve in any navy. Conceived by Admiral Fisher to support his plan for an attack on the German coast in the Baltic they had a shallow draft and high speed for this role. The class used turrets, originally ordered for cancelled battleships of the 1914 programme, necessary to get around a ban by the British cabinet on the construction of new capital ships. Evenetually HMS Courageous was converted to an aircraft carrier in the 1920's. Crew 787.