HMS Unicorn firing beyond her support-ship role

HMS Unicorn's Korean War gunfire is a deliberately incongruous example of a ship fighting outside its intended role. Aircraft carriers were not supposed to seek shore-bombardment work, and a fleet aviation support ship was even less obviously suited to it. Unicorn nevertheless had guns, available targets, and an operational opportunity to fire. Wartime requirements can blur the boundary between a ship's formal category and the tasks it actually performs.