Albatross
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Decommissioned | 12 Aug 1954 |
| Displacement | 6,350 tons standard |
| Length | 443 feet |
| Beam | 61 feet |
| Draft | 17 feet |
| Speed | 21 knots |
| Crew | 450 |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseThe Royal Navy transferred this originally Australian seaplane carrier with nine-aircraft capacity to British in 1938 due to the impending conflict with Germany. She operated as escort to trade ships for a part of her career off West Africa and in the Indian Ocean, and also as a miscellaneous axillary ship later on in her career (repair ship, general escort, hulk). She was scrapped in Hong Kong in 1954.
ww2dbaseSource: Fleet Air Arm Archive
Last Major Revision: Jan 2005
Photographs
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Albatross Operational Timeline
| 12 Aug 1954 | Albatross was decommissioned from service. |
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Visitor Submitted Comments
14 Jan 2020 11:24:39 AM
My Great Uncle Able Seaman Lesley Gordon Frost was sadly one of the 66 men who lost their lives during the torpedo attack, as described above. It is incredibly moving to read a first hand account of this. As a family we would often speak of our uncle and have visited the Portsmouth memorial site where his name is listed.
6 May 2020 04:23:23 AM
After extensive research I was able to establish my dear Great Uncle, William E. (Edgar) Davies was sadly one of the lost 66 men on Albatross. Little was known to the family of the incident that killed part of the crew and the personal account referenced already is indeed moving and sadly harder to comprehend if he was not taken directly from the torpedo hit. If anyone perhaps has any other info, would be much appreciated. His sister of 96 years is still going strong today. RIP William and forever in our thoughts.
5 Jan 2023 04:14:27 PM
Researching our family, I now know my uncle lost his life on the Albatross. Thank you for posting these messages. He was the youngest of 4 brothers Hugh Fowler age 19 from Liverpool. We Went to Plymouth just to see her name on the plaque there. If anyone can let us know more details, it would be most appreciated. Thank you. The Fowler Family. x
All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB.
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James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, 23 Feb 1945
30 Jul 2016 10:51:55 AM
Sitting beside my Uncle's hospital bed today awaiting his transfer to a nursing home, I was deeply moved by his account of the morning the Albatross was torpedoed. He was 18 years old and missed being killed as he was on duty at the switchboard. As bunks were shared it was his fellow seaman who was off-duty and asleep who was killed, when it could so easily have been him. The harrowing tale of closing the hatches on live crew members in order to save the ship haunt him to this day when he is 90 years old. The event cast a shadow over his life which has been lived reclusively since the event.