TRAGIC MISHAP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 August 1939, Page 5

TRAGIC MISHAP

HUGE AIRCRAFT CARRIER LAUNCHES HERSELF

WOMAN KILLED AND 15 PERSONS INJURED. THOUSANDS HAVE MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. By Telegraph—P--s Association—Copyright. (Received This Day. 10.20 a.m.) LONDON, August 17. A woman was killed and 15 persons were injured, but hundreds of workmen and thousands of spectators had a miraculous escape, when the 23,000ton aircraft carrier Formidable launched herself at Belfast half an hour before the scheduled time for the christening by Lady Kingsley Wood, wife of the Air Minister. The ship began to move as Lady Wood, accompanied by her husband and officials, mounted the platform.

With great presence of mind, she grabbed the bottle of wine and smashed it across the bows as it was almost out of reach. Thousands were horrified at the noise of ripping metal and wood as the ship tore away from the cradle and began to career down the slips entirely unsupported. Workmen still employed under the ship dashed to safety as huge pieces of cradle were flung in all directions. Spectators massed close on each side of the slipway were in imminent danger of being crushed to death had the ship overturned, but by one chance in a million the Formidable remained on an even keel as it gathered speed and plunged into the water amid the dead silence of the petrified crowd. . Those on the official platform stood white and tense as the ship took the water. Dozens of women fainted and others were treated for slight injuries caused when a section of the crowd stampeded. No theory is yet available as to the cause of the mishap. Waiting tugs had to steam hurriedly from the path of the ship.

The woman killed was Mrs Cooke, wife of a shipyard worker who was injured.