HMS Ark Royal, Hermes and Illustrious, etc. Quiz

Answer: Birkenhead

HMS Ark Royal was completed in November 1938.

Answer: False

The first Ark Royal was built for Sir Walter Raleigh. The 690 ton, 38 gun ship was purchased by the Crown and became the flagship of the Lord High Admiral, Howard of Effingham. The ship saw action in July 1588 during the Spanish Armada and eight years later in Cadiz.

Answer: False

HMS Ark Royal was involved is actions in both the North and South Atlantic against, German battleships Bismarck, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.

Answer: H

On 26 May 1941, the Ark Royal and Force H left Gibraltar to intercept the Bismarck and Prince Eugen. Her torpedo planes hit the Bismarck, making the enemy battleship virtually unmaneuverable and allowing other British warships to close and sink her.

Answer: Sunk by the German submarine U-81

On 13 November 1941, returning from an aircraft ferrying operation to Malta, the Ark Royal was torpedoed by U-81 30 miles from Gibraltar. Although she was taken in tow, the flooding could not be controlled and the following day she sank, 14 hours after being hit. Only one rating was lost of her complement of nearly 1,600.

Answer: Sunk by Japanese carrier bomber attacks

The Hermes left the naval base of Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), escorted by the Australian destroyer Vampire, and while sailing south and 20 miles off Batticaloa on the east shore, the ships were attacked by carrier borne aircraft from a Japanese force of three battleships and five carriers which had entered the Bay of Bengal a week before and were now attacking the naval base. Around seventy bombers were sent to dispatch the Hermes which sank within ten minutes, followed by the Vampire shortly after. Of the complement on the Hermes , nineteen officers and 283 ratings died. On the Vampire, nine men lost their lives.

Answer: HMS Illustrious

The fourth HMS Illustrious was one of the most distinguished ships of the Second World War. On 11 November 1940, twenty Swordfish aircraft attacked the Italian Naval Base at Taranto. They inflicted severe damage on the Italian Fleet and helped to tip the balance of Mediterranean Sea power in favour of the Allies. She also later
supported the US landings at Okinawa.

Answer: Sunk by German submarine U-29

HMS Courageous accompanied by HMS Ark Royal and HMS Hermes, was sunk by German submarine U-29 (Kptlt. Otto Schuhart) while on anti-submarine duty 350 miles west of Land's End. A total of 576 men died in this tragedy, the first Royal Navy ship sunk in the war. Lost were 514 navy men, 26 Fleet Air Arm men and 36 RAF servicing crew.

The carrier sank in about fifteen minutes after being hit by two torpedoes from a salvo of three fired from the U-boat. Captain Makeig-Jones stayed on the bridge and saluted the flag as the ship turned over and sank. All such patrols by aircraft carriers were stopped from then on.

The entire crew of the U-29 was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd. class, when the boat made it safely back to Wilhelmshaven, the first time this decoration was awarded to members of the U-boat service.

The U-29 almost survived the war and was scuttled on May 4, 1945.

Answer: False

HMS Indomitable had an eventful career as a naval carrier, to say the least. On 12 August 1942, during Operation Pedestal, she suffered two direct hits and three near misses from bombs which disabled the ship and forced her out of action for six months.

After her return, she was hit by a U-boat on 16 July 1943. This blast ripped a hole in the hull, and caused severe flooding. She started heeling over to 12.5°, but was blessed with calm waters, so was saved. For the next 34 weeks she was out of action in the USA.

After this she joined British forces in the Pacific in July 1944. On 4 May 1945, she was hit by a Japanese kamikaze attack but went on to survive the rest of the war.

Answer: HMS Formidable

Most of the purpose built Royal Navy aircraft carriers had sufficiently strong, thick steel decks to withstand even direct hits by kamikaze planes. HMS Formidable was reduced to reserve at Rosyth in March 1947 finally she was scrapped at Inverkeithing from November 1956.