Lady Henderson, who will be remembered in Shanghai as daughter of the late Mrs. Roderick Campbell, wife of Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson, performed the launching of the Illustrious, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, at Barrow-in-Furness this week. The Illustrious has a displacement of 23,000 tons and is expected to be at least as fast as the Ark Royal, lately completed, which did 31% knots on her trials. She has hangars on two decks, capable of carrying 70 aeroplanes, and these are divided from each other by steel fire-proof curtains operated by electricity, so that in case of fire a compartment can instantly be shut off from the rest of the ship.
The Illustrious is the first of six similar aircraft carriers, of which four others are actually being built, and the last one will be laid down this year. Her length is 740 ft. and her beam about 80 ft. The launching of this monster was accomplished with the utmost ease and precision. Within a minute of Lady Henderson's pressing the release button, the Illustrious was in the water and in the hands of the tugs awaiting her.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.