Later in the war, the ship had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence.

After her conversion, Furious was used extensively for trials of naval aircraft, and later as a training ship once large, modern fleet carriers such as Ark Royal entered service in the 1930s.

During the early months of the Second World War, the carrier spent her time hunting for German raiders in the North Atlantic and escorting convoys.

This changed dramatically during the Norwegian Campaign in early 1940, when her aircraft provided air support to British troops ashore in addition to attacking German shipping.

After the withdrawal of British troops in May, Furious made several anti-shipping strikes in Norway with little result before beginning a steady routine of ferrying aircraft for the Royal Air Force.

She made several more ferry trips in mid-1942 before her aircraft attacked airfields in Vichy French Algeria as part of the opening stages of Operation Torch in November 1942.

During the First World War, Admiral Fisher was prevented from ordering an improved version of the preceding Renown-class battlecruisers by a wartime restriction that banned construction of ships larger than light cruisers.

The four Brown-Curtis turbines were powered by eighteen Yarrow small-tube boilers that were designed to produce a total of 90,000 shaft horsepower (67,000 kW).

[7] 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.

Admiral David Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, ordered most of his light cruisers and destroyers to sea to locate the enemy ships.

Courageous and Glorious were sent to reinforce the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron patrolling the central part of the North Sea later that day.

[16] Two German Brummer-class light cruisers managed to slip through the gaps in the British patrols and destroyed the Scandinavia convoy during the morning of 17 October, but no word was received of the engagement until that afternoon.

[22] Various designs for the flight deck were tested in a wind tunnel by the National Physical Laboratory which showed that the distinctive elliptical shape and rounded edges used minimised turbulence.

This solution proved to be very unsatisfactory as it consumed valuable space, made parts of the lower hangar unbearable and interfered with landing operations to a greater or lesser degree.

No arresting gear was fitted and two 600-imperial-gallon (2,700 L; 720 US gal) ready-use petrol tanks were provided for aircraft and the ship's boats on the upper deck.

[30] Furious retained ten of her original eleven breech-loading 5.5-inch (140 mm) guns, five on each side, for self-defence from enemy warships.

[32] During Furious's September 1930 – February 1932 refit, her anti-aircraft outfit was reinforced by the addition of two eight-barrel QF 2-pounder Mark V pom-pom mounts where the forward 4-inch guns on the flying-off deck had been removed earlier.

[39] Upon completion, she ran a full-power trial on 16 February 1932 where her maximum speed was 28.8 knots (53.3 km/h; 33.1 mph) from a total of 89,745 shaft horsepower (66,923 kW).

During the Munich Crisis in September 1938, the ship embarked 801, 821 and 822 Squadrons and joined the fleet at Scapa Flow, before resuming her training duties after the peaceful conclusion of the affair.

818 Squadron, making the first attack, damaged several captured Norwegian ships, but lost two aircraft to flak, although the crews were rescued by the British cruiser Penelope and the destroyer Punjabi.

[54] En route, her Swordfish attacked Junkers Ju 52 transports that had landed on frozen Lake Hartvikvatnet approximately 10 miles (16.1 km) northeast of Narvik.

[56] After quick repairs, which included the removal of several rows of turbine blades,[57] Furious returned to Norway on 18 May carrying the Gladiators of a reformed Royal Air Force 263 Squadron; they were flown off on 21 April once their base at Bardufoss was ready.

On 1 July she escorted a convoy of Canadian troops bound for Iceland from Halifax and ferried over almost 50 aircraft with spare parts and munitions.

No air strike could be flown against the German cruiser because the Swordfish were embarked in Argus with bombs that they could not carry and their torpedoes were aboard Furious.

[63] Furious now had a new destination for her ferry trips and she transported 24 Hurricanes to Gibraltar on 25 April where they were transferred to Ark Royal to be flown off for Malta.

Furious loaded 48 more Hurricane IIs and arrived back in Gibraltar on 1 June where some of the fighters were transferred to Ark Royal.

Ark Royal sailed for the departure point the following day, but could only fly off 14 Hurricanes because some of the Bristol Blenheim bombers used to guide the fighters to Malta failed to make their rendezvous.

[74] Seafires of 807 Squadron from Furious covered the landings at Oran, engaging a flight of D.520s, shooting down three and destroying about twenty aircraft on the ground.

In July, the fleet demonstrated off the coast of Norway in strength to distract attention from the Allied invasion of Sicily; Furious's role was to allow a German reconnaissance aircraft to spot the British ships and make a report, then shoot it down.

The Barracudas, heavily loaded with bombs of up to 1,600-pound (730 kg), launched using a wooden ramp that was temporarily placed at the end of the flight deck, an early example of what was to be later named the ski-jump.