HMS Courageous started out as a Courageous class battlecruiser, completed in late 1916 and spent World War I patrolling the North Sea. She participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered a year later.

Courageous was paid off after the end of the war, but was rebuilt as an aircraft carrier during the late 1920's. She could carry 30% more aircraft than her half-sister HMS Furious which had approximately the same tonnage.. After recommissioning she spent  her career operating in the Meditrerranean Fleet and in Home waters.

 She briefly became a training carrier, but reverted to her normal role a few months before the start of WWII. Courageous was torpedoed and sunk by U-29 on 18^th September 1939, going down with more than 500 of her crew.