Portal:Military history of Australia/Units/October 18

HMAS Albatross with one of her aircraft overhead

HMAS Albatross (I) was a seaplane tender and Australia's first aircraft carrier. Albatross was laid down by the Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company at Cockatoo Island, Sydney in New South Wales in April 1926, launched on 23 February 1928 by Lady Stonehaven, wife of the Governor General of Australia, completed on 21 December 1928 and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy on 23 January 1929. HMAS Albatross paid off to reserve on 26 April 1933 after four years of uneventful service, was accepted by the Admiralty as part payment for the cruiser HMAS Hobart and sailed for England on 11 July 1938.