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HMS Ark Royal (91)
Encyclopedia
HMS Ark Royal (pennant number
91) was an aircraft carrier
of the Royal Navy
that served during the Second World War
.
Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty
, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd.
at Birkenhead, England
, and completed in November 1938. Her design differed from previous aircraft carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck
were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. She served during a period that first saw the extensive use of naval air power; a number of carrier tactics were developed and refined aboard Ark Royal.
Ark Royal served in some of the most active naval theatres of the Second World War. She was involved in the first aerial and U-boat kills of the war, operations off Norway, the search for the German battleship , and the Malta Convoys
. Ark Royal survived several near misses and gained a reputation as a 'lucky ship'. The Germans incorrectly reported her as sunk on multiple occasions.
She was torpedoed on 13 November 1941 by the German submarine and sank the following day. Her sinking was the subject of several inquiries; investigators were keen to know how the carrier was lost, in spite of efforts to save the ship and tow her to the naval base at Gibraltar
. They found that several design flaws contributed to the loss, which were rectified in new British carriers.
Her wreck was discovered by a BBC
crew in December 2002, approximately 30 nmi (34.5 mi; 55.6 km) from Gibraltar.
prepared a 10-year building programme which included an aircraft carrier and 300 aircraft for the Fleet Air Arm
. The economic downturn following the First World War caused it to be postponed. In 1930, the Director of Naval Construction, Sir Arthur Johns, began to update the plans for the carrier by incorporating recently developed technology. His aim was to increase the number of aircraft carried by shortening the landing and take-off distances of aircraft by using arrestor gear
and compressed steam catapults
respectively, which would make more deck space available for storage and aircraft preparation. Along with the inclusion of two hangar decks, this allowed Ark Royal to carry up to 72 aircraft, although the development of larger and heavier aircraft during the carrier's construction meant that the actual number carried was between 50 and 60. The hangar decks were placed inside the hull, thus benefiting from the protection of the 4.5 in (11.4 cm) belt armour. Three lifts moved aircraft between the hangars and the flight deck.
Another feature was the length and height of the flight deck. At 800 feet (243.8 m), the flight deck was 118 ft (36 m) longer than the keel; the latter dictated by the length of Royal Navy dry-docks in Gibraltar
and Malta
. Because hangar decks were within the hull, the flight deck rose to 66 ft (20.1 m) above the waterline.
The Washington
and London Naval Treaties
—which restricted warship tonnage for a number of the Great Powers—were to expire at the end of 1936. With a potential naval arms race developing between Britain, Japan and Italy, the British government sought a second treaty
, which included limiting the maximum displacement of an aircraft carrier to 22000 LT (22,353.1 t). Ark Royal would have to fit this anticipated limit; to conserve weight, armour plating was limited to the belt, engine rooms, and magazines
, while welding
instead of rivet
ing 65% of the hull saved 500 LT (508 t). Installation of an armoured flight deck was not possible, as the weight would have placed Ark Royal above the proposed limit, while reducing her endurance and stability. The ship was designed with a three layer side protection system based upon a void-liquid-void scheme very similar to that used on the King George V-class battleships, and was designed to protect against torpedoes with up to a 750 pounds (340.2 kg) warhead.
The ship was fitted with six boilers, which powered three Parsons geared turbines. The turbines were connected via three driveshafts to three bronze propellers 16 ft (4.9 m) in diameter, to produce a maximum theoretical speed of 30 kn (36.5 mph; 58.8 km/h). Speed was important, as with catapults and arrestor gear, Ark Royal would have to turn into the wind to launch and recover aircraft. To avoid endangering other ships with the frequent course changes associated with flight operations, Ark Royal would have to break away from accompanying ships, and catch up on completion. Additionally, as the carrier was not armed for ship-to-ship combat, speed was her main protection against enemy warships.
, which calculated the cost of the hull at £1,496,250 (£ as of ), and the main machinery at approximately £500,000.(£ as of ), The overall cost was estimated to be over £3 million, making Ark Royal the most expensive ship ordered by the Royal Navy. Construction began on Job No. 1012 when Ark Royals keel was laid down on 16 September 1935.
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Ark Royal spent nearly two years in the builder's yard before being launched on 13 April 1937 by Lady Maud Hoare, wife of Sir Samuel Hoare, then First Lord of the Admiralty
. The bottle of champagne thrown against Ark Royals bows did not smash until the fourth attempt. The carrier spent a year fitting out, was handed over to her first commander, Captain Arthur Power, on 16 November 1938, and was commissioned on 16 December. Although intended for the Far East
, events in Europe during the carrier's construction, including the Italian invasion of Abyssinia
in 1935 and the Spanish Civil War
in 1936, caused the Admiralty to mark her for deployment with the Home and Mediterranean Fleets. After her crew joined at the end of 1938, Ark Royal underwent sea trial
s to prepare for service, during which the carrier proved capable of sailing above her theoretical speed, reaching over 31 kn (37.8 mph; 60.8 km/h).
in mind, as aircraft were expected to be the main threat; ships and submarines could be outrun or dealt with by escorts. Her main armament was sixteen quick-firing 4.5 in (114.3 mm) dual purpose gun
s in eight double turrets, four on each side of the hull, controlled by four Directors using the High Angle Control System. The original design placed the turrets low on the hull, but was later altered to locate them just below the flight deck, which increased each turret's field of fire. Six 8-barrelled 2-pounder (40 mm (1.57 in)) "pom-pom" gun
s were located on the flight deck, in front of and behind the superstructure island, while eight 4-barrelled 0.5 in (12.7 mm) machine gun
s were installed on small projecting platforms to the front and rear of the flight deck.
Sixteen Fleet Air Arm
squadrons were posted aboard Ark Royal during her career; an average of five squadrons at any time. On entering service, most of Ark Royals squadrons were equipped with either Blackburn Skua
s—used as fighters and dive bombers—or Fairey Swordfish
, for reconnaissance and torpedo bombing. From April 1940, squadrons equipped with Skuas were upgraded to Fairey Fulmar
s; like their predecessors, these were used as fighters and bombers. On occasion, the carrier operated Blackburn Roc
fighter-bombers (from April 1939-October 1940) and Fairey Albacore
torpedo bombers (during October 1941); these were replacement aircraft used to boost squadron numbers. In June 1940, Ark Royal was host to 701 Naval Air Squadron
, a training squadron which operated Supermarine Walrus
reconnaissance amphibians
.
The outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939 had been presaged by Germany's U-boat
fleet taking up positions off the British coast, where they could intercept British shipping. Within hours of the war starting, the passenger ship was torpedoed by , the first of over 65000 LT (66,043.3 t) of shipping sunk by U-boats during the first week of the war. Ark Royal was deployed with the Home Fleet in the North Western Approaches
as part of a "hunter-killer" group, consisting of a flotilla of destroyers and other anti-submarine vessels grouped around an aircraft carrier; either , or Ark Royal. Carrier-borne aircraft could increase the area searched for U-boats, but made the carriers tempting targets.
On 14 September, Ark Royal received a distress call from , which was 200 nmi (230.2 mi; 370.4 km) away under pursuit from the surfaced U-30. Ark Royal launched aircraft to aid the merchant ship, but was spotted by , which launched two torpedoes. Lookouts spotted the torpedo tracks and Ark Royal turned towards the attack, reducing her cross-section and causing the torpedoes to miss and explode harmlessly astern. Three F-class destroyers
escorting the carrier began to depth charge
U-39, and forced her to the surface. The German crew abandoned ship before U-39 sank—the first U-boat lost during the war. Ark Royals aircraft reached Fanad Head, which was in the hands of a German boarding party. The Skuas unsuccessfully attacked U-30: two crashed when caught by the blast of their own bombs. The U-boat escaped after rescuing the boarding party and the pilots of the downed aircraft (both observers had drowned), and torpedoing the Fanad Head.
Ark Royal returned to base in Loch Ewe
, where she and her crew were inspected by Winston Churchill
. The sinking of U-39 was hailed as important to morale. However, the failed attack on Ark Royal, and the successful attack on Courageous on 17 September, convinced the Admiralty it was too dangerous to risk aircraft carriers in this way, and carrier-centred hunter-killer groups were abandoned.
. While returning to port with Spearfish and the battleships and on 26 September, the ships were located by three Luftwaffe
Dornier Do 18
seaplane
s. Ark Royal launched three Blackburn Skua
s to disperse them; one Dornier was shot down in the first British aerial kill of the war.
The air commander aboard Ark Royal—aware that the surviving Dorniers would report the location of the British ships—ordered the aircraft to be secured and the anti-aircraft weapons readied. Four Junkers Ju 88
bomber
s soon appeared: three were driven away by anti-aircraft fire, but the fourth launched a 1000 kg (2,204.6 lb) bomb at the carrier. Ark Royal turned hard to starboard, heeling over and avoiding the bomb, which landed in the ocean 30 m (98.4 ft) off her starboard bow and sent a spout of water over the ship. The German pilots did not see if the carrier had been hit, and a reconnaissance flight later located the two battleships, but not Ark Royal. Based on this information, the Germans incorrectly claimed that Ark Royal had sunk. To prove the German propaganda false before it had a negative effect on Britain's allies, Winston Churchill
personally reassured United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the carrier was undamaged and invited the U.S. naval attaché to view Ark Royal in dock. The British naval attaché in Rome was instructed to assure Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini
that the ship was still in service. This proved to be a considerable embarrassment for Goebbels
and Nazi propaganda
.
to operate off the African coast in the hunt for the German commerce raider . The carrier was assigned to Force K
, and sailed with the battlecruiser to the South Atlantic. On 9 October, aircraft from Ark Royal spotted the German tanker Altmark
, which supplied Graf Spee. The tanker was disguised as the U.S. vessel Delmar, which fooled the British into passing her by. On 5 November, Ark Royal captured the German merchant , which was attempting to reach Germany. The ship was later taken into British service as a cargo ship and renamed Empire Ability. Several neutral merchant ships were also spotted by the carrier's aircraft, twice causing crews to believe they were under attack and abandon ship. A note explaining the situation was dropped in a bag to a Norwegian vessel's crew, and they re-boarded; an attempt to repeat this exercise with a Belgian crew failed when the bag was dropped down the ship's funnel.
By this time, Graf Spee had put into Montevideo
to repair damage received during the battle of the River Plate
. Two Royal Navy cruisers followed the raider, and patrolled the harbour entrance while reporting Graf Spees position to the fleet. Ark Royal and Renown were dispatched to join the British ships outside the harbour, but as they were 36 hours away, the British naval attaché came up with a plan to make the Germans believe that the two capital ships had already arrived. An order for fuel for Ark Royal was placed at Buenos Aires
, 140 mi (225.3 km) west of Montevideo. This was leaked to the press, passed on to the German embassy in Montevideo, and given to Graf Spees captain, Hans Langsdorff
. This contributed to Langsdorff's decision to scuttle his ship.
back to Devonport Dockyard
, where they arrived in February. Following this, Ark Royal proceeded to Portsmouth
to take on supplies and personnel, before sailing to Scapa Flow
. On arrival, she transferred her Blackburn Skuas to Naval Air Station Hatston
to strengthen the anchorage's defences. Ark Royal was then assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet for exercises, departing Scapa Flow on 31 March 1940 and heading for Alexandria
with the aircraft carrier . The carriers arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean on 8 April, but the exercises were cancelled a day later. The ships sailed to Gibraltar
to await orders.
German forces had invaded Norway as part of Operation Weserübung
on 7 April, and had secured sections of the coast. Attempts by the Royal Navy to operate in support of British troops were unsuccessful; air attacks had overwhelmed the ships, sinking and nearly sinking . Realising that the British ships required air cover, but aware that the Norwegian coast was outside the range of British land-based aircraft, the Admiralty recalled Ark Royal and Glorious from the Mediterranean on 16 April.
bombers operating from Norway. The carrier was undamaged, and resumed position on 29 April.
By this point, the British high command had realised that they could not hold the Germans in southern Norway. The evacuation of Allied troops from Molde
and Åndalsnes
began, with Ark Royal providing air cover from 30 April. On 1 May, the Germans tried to sink the carrier, with numerous air attacks through the day. Ark Royals fighters and a heavy anti-aircraft barrage drove off the enemy, and although several bombs were dropped at the carrier, none impacted. The evacuation was completed on 3 May, and the carrier was recalled to Scapa Flow to refuel and rearm before returning to Norway. While in port, Captain Arthur Power left the ship for a promotion to the Admiralty, and was replaced by Captain Cedric Holland
. On return to Norway, Ark Royal was told to provide air cover for operations around Narvik
, including the landing of French troops on 13 May. She was joined on 18 May by the carriers Glorious and Furious.
Despite these efforts, it was clear by the end of May that French forces were on the verge of collapse and Norway was a sideshow compared to the German advance to the English Channel. Operation Alphabet
was instigated to move Allied troops from Narvik to Britain. Ark Royal and Glorious—screened by the destroyers , , , , and —sailed from Scapa Flow on 1 June to cover the evacuation, which commenced the next day. Ark Royal carried out air patrols and bombing raids from 3-6 June, before redeploying to Narvik on 7 June. Disaster struck the next day, when Glorious, escorted by Acasta and Ardent, were detached to return to Britain. The three ships were attacked and sunk by the German battleships and . A search by Ark Royals aircraft failed to locate the German ships, which had returned to Trondheim
.
The last evacuation convoy left Narvik on 9 June. Before the British ships could withdraw, a raid on Trondheim located Scharnhorst. An attack by Ark Royals Skuas took place at midnight on 13 June. The attack was a disaster: the escort destroyers and collided while Ark Royal was launching aircraft in fog and returned to England for repairs, eight of the fifteen attacking Skuas were shot down, while Scharnhorst escaped damage. Ark Royal returned to Scapa Flow the following day, and was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet.
on 23 June 1940. Here she joined Force H
, under Sir James Somerville. After the capitulation of France
there was concern that a French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir
might fall under Axis control and tip the balance of power in the Mediterranean, affecting the whole war. Ark Royals captain, Cedric Holland, had been the British naval attaché in Paris, and was sent to negotiate the surrender or scuttling of the French fleet. Force H was deployed outside the harbour, and when the French admirals refused to agree to the offered terms, opened fire on the French ships. During the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, Ark Royals aircraft provided targeting information for the British ships. The French battleship escaped, despite attacks by Swordfish from Ark Royal. Two days after the attack, aircraft from Ark Royal incapacitated the French battleship , which had been beached in the initial attack.
Having reduced the possibility of a French challenge in the Mediterranean, Force H prepared for attacks on Italian targets, and sailed from Gibraltar on 8 July. The force was attacked by Italian bombers within eight hours of departing, and although Force H escaped damage, Somerville cancelled the raids and ordered the fleet to Gibraltar. During July, the British colony of Malta
came under attack from the Italian air force, with Force H ordered to deliver Hawker Hurricane
s to reinforce the island's air defences. Force H was deployed from 31 July-4 August, with the carrier used to deliver the aircraft, while Ark Royal provided air cover for the fleet. On 2 August, Ark Royal launched a successful air attack against the Italian air base at Cagliari
.
Force H remained at Gibraltar until 30 September, when it escorted reinforcements for Admiral Andrew Cunningham's
fleet to Alexandria
. En-route, diversionary attacks were planned on Italian air bases at Elmas
and Cagliari to direct attention from both the reinforcement operation and a supply convoy sailing to Malta. The attacks were successfully carried out on 1 October, and the fleet reached Alexandria without significant attention from the Italian air force. From Alexandria, Ark Royal was detached and sent to West Africa to support British attempts to encourage Vichy French colonies to switch alleigance to the Free French. During negotiations, several Free French aircraft flew from Ark Royal, but their aircrews were arrested at Dakar
. Negotiations failed, and bombers from Ark Royal were directed against military installations during the unsuccessful British attempt to take Dakar by force
. Following this, Ark Royal returned to Britain for refit, docking in Liverpool
on 8 October after being escorted by , and . The refit—which lasted until 3 November—included repairs to her machinery and the installation of a new flight deck barrier.
Following refit, Ark Royal—accompanied by , , and —sailed for Gibraltar, arriving on 6 November. They were deployed with the rest of Force H to escort convoys from Gibraltar to Alexandria and Malta, performing several runs before being assigned to Operation Collar, one of 35 convoys to support Malta
between 1940 and 1942, on 25 November. An Italian fleet—led by the battleships and —was dispatched to intercept the convoy. The Italian fleet was detected by a reconnaissance aircraft from Ark Royal and the carrier launched Swordfish torpedo bombers while the capital ships of Force H turned to meet the enemy. During the engagement, the Battle of Cape Spartivento
, the Italian destroyer was damaged, although it is uncertain if torpedoes from the bombers or British gunfire were responsible. The British mistook Lanciere for a cruiser, while the Italian commanders received incorrect reports that the cruiser had been hit. British attacks failed to damage any other Italian ships or sink the disabled destroyer, and a retaliatory attack by the Italian air force saw Ark Royal as the subject of multiple bombing runs, none of which hit. The battle had no clear result, although the British convoy reached its destination unscathed.
On 14 December 1940, Ark Royal and Force H were redeployed from Gibraltar to the Atlantic to search the Azores
for commerce raiders. Ark Royal returned to the Mediterranean on 20 December, and escorted the battleship and merchant ships from Malta until 27 December. Force H then became involved in Operation Excess
, a plan to move convoys through the Mediterranean to support the Western Desert Force
, which was trying to push Italian land forces from Egypt into Libya. Over the next month, British control of the Mediterranean theatre was weakened, particularly by the entry of the Luftwaffe
and the near-loss of the aircraft carrier . The Mediterranean Fleet was under pressure from Axis forces in the Eastern Mediterranean, while the British port at Gibraltar was likely to be lost if the Spanish chose to ally with the Germans instead of remaining out of the war
. To relieve the Mediterranean Fleet, while demonstrating British strength to the Spanish, the Admiralty and Admiral Cunningham planned to use Ark Royals Swordfish bombers in raids against Italian targets, supported by bombardment from heavy fleet units. The first bombing, on 2 January against the Tirso Dam in Sardinia
, was unsuccessful, but Ark Royals Swordfish bombers were more successful on 6 January, when they bombed the port city of Genoa
. The carrier's aircraft also covered the battlecruiser Renown and battleship Malaya while they shelled the port. On 9 January, Ark Royal launched aircraft to bomb an oil refinery at La Spezia
, and to lay mines in the harbour. Both operations were successful.
Erich Raeder
. They were to disrupt Allied shipping and draw capital ships from other areas. On 8 March, Force H and Ark Royal were ordered to the Canary Islands
to search for the battleships, and to cover convoys crossing from the United States. Ark Royal used her aircraft to search for captured ships returning to Germany under the control of prize crew
s. Three ships were located on 19 March: two scuttled themselves, while the third—SS Polykarp—was recaptured.
On the evening of 21 March 1941 a Fairey Fulmar
from Ark Royal stumbled across Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at sea. Because of a radio malfunction, the crew had to return to Ark Royal to report, by which time the German ships had escaped under fog. The next day, Ark Royal re-established air patrols in the hope of re-locating the raiders. During the day, a catapult malfunction destroyed a Fairey Swordfish
; flinging the fuselage into the sea ahead of the carrier. Unable to stop, Ark Royal ran over the Swordfish and was overhead when the aircraft's depth charges detonated. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau reached Brest
without British harassment, while Ark Royal returned to Gibraltar for repairs, arriving on 24 March.
Ark Royal spent April alternating between covering convoys and delivering aircraft to Malta and forays into the Atlantic to hunt commerce raiders. By May 1941, Erwin Rommel's
Afrika Korps
were driving through North Africa towards the Suez Canal
, pushing the Western Desert Force
before them. With British forces close to collapse and strategic locations threatened, the British High Command risked sending a reinforcement convoy across the Mediterranean to Alexandria. The convoy consisted of five large transport ships, escorted by Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Renown, the battleship , the cruisers , , , and , and screened by destroyers of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla. Prior to Ark Royals departure, Captain Holland left to recuperate from stress and poor health, and was replaced by Captain Loben Maund. The convoy left Gibraltar on 6 May, and was detected by Italian aircraft. The convoy—limited to 14 kn (17 mph; 27.4 km/h) and escorted by so many capital ships—was such a tempting target that Italian and German aircraft were mobilised.
The British convoy came under air attack on 8 May, first by the Italian air force, then German Luftwaffe
. Over the day, 12 of Ark Royals Fairey Fulmars (the maximum number available) drove off over 50 aircraft, with the assistance of targeting information from Sheffields radar and anti-aircraft fire from the escorts. During the initial waves, one Fulmar was lost, killing Flight Lieutenant Rupert Tillard and Lieutenant Mark Somerville, Admiral Somerville's nephew; another was destroyed with the aircrew recovered, while several others were damaged. Consequently, only seven were able to face the main Luftwaffe force of 34 aircraft, while an attack just before dark was driven off by two aircraft and heavy fire from the ships. The convoy survived without serious damage: the only casualties were to mines, with the Empire Song sunk and New Zealand Star damaged but able to reach port.
Ark Royal underwent another aerial attack on 12 May, during her return to Gibraltar. Later that month, she and fellow aircraft carrier Furious delivered Hawker Hurricane
s to support Malta.
by breaking into the Atlantic to raid shipping. After sinking the battlecruiser Hood and damaging the battleship during the Battle of the Denmark Strait
, Bismarck shook off her pursuers and headed for the French Atlantic coast. Ark Royal, Renown, and Sheffield—accompanied by , , , , , and —were dispatched to the Atlantic on 23 May to search for the battleship. On 26 May, a Swordfish from Ark Royal located Bismarck and began to shadow her, while the Home Fleet was mobilised to pursue.
At the time of detection, the British ships were 130 nmi (149.6 mi; 240.8 km) away and would not catch Bismarck before she reached Saint-Nazaire
. Fifteen Swordfish bombers were armed with torpedoes and sent to delay the ship. Sheffield, also shadowing Bismarck, was between Ark Royal and Bismarck. The aircraft mistook the British cruiser for their target and fired torpedoes. The torpedoes were fitted with unreliable magnetic detonators, which caused most to explode on contact with the water, while Sheffield evaded the rest. After realising his mistake, one of the pilots signalled 'Sorry for the kipper' to Sheffield.
On return to the carrier, the Swordfish were re-armed with contact-detonator warheads, and launched at 19:15 for a second attack; locating and attacking Bismarck just before sunset. Three torpedoes hit the battleship: two impacted forward of the engine rooms, while the third struck the port steering room and jammed her rudder in a 15° port turn. Bismarck was forced to sail in circles until a combination of alternating propeller speeds was found which would keep her on a reasonably steady course which, in the prevailing force 8 wind
and sea state
, forced her to sail towards the British warships with almost no manoeuvring capability. The German battleship suffered heavy attack during the night of 26–27 May, and sank at 10:39 hours on 27 May.
Ark Royal and the ships of Force H returned to Gibraltar on 29 May 1941. Despite the boost in Allied morale from the sinking of the battleship Bismarck, the war in the Mediterranean
was going against the Allies. Greece
and Crete
had fallen to the Axis Powers, and the Afrika Korps
was preparing to launch a final push into Egypt
. Malta remained an important stronghold in the Mediterranean, but was coming under increased pressure from Italian and German air attacks, and could no longer be supplied from the east since the fall of Crete
.
Ark Royal was pressed into service, delivering aircraft to Malta during several supply runs throughout June and July, and escorting the convoys of Operation Substance
in July and Operation Halberd
in September. Despite some losses, the convoys succeeded in keeping Malta supplied and fighting. The continued Allied presence in Malta was a considerable problem for Rommel in Africa, who was losing as much as ⅓ of his supplies from Italy to submarines and bombers based there. Adolf Hitler
decided to send a flotilla of U-boat
s into the Mediterranean to attack Allied shipping, against the advice of Großadmiral Raeder.
's , which had received a report that Force H was returning to Gibraltar. On 13 November, at 15:40, the sonar operator aboard the destroyer detected an unidentified sound, but assumed it was the propellers of a nearby destroyer. One minute later, Ark Royal was struck amidships by a torpedo, between the fuel bunkers and bomb store, and directly below the bridge island. The explosion caused Ark Royal to shake, hurled loaded torpedo-bombers into the air, and killed Able Seaman Mitchell. A 130 by 30 ft (39.6 by 9.1 m) hole was created on the starboard side and bottom by a torpedo which was judged to have run deep, striking the bilge keel, and detonating inboard of the side protection system. The hit caused flooding of the starboard boiler room, main switchboard
, oil tanks, and over 106 ft (32.3 m) of the ship's starboard bilge. The starboard power train was knocked out, causing the rear half of the ship to lose power, while communications were severed shipwide.
Immediately after the torpedo strike, Captain Maund attempted to order the engines to full stop, but had to send a runner to the engine room when it was discovered communications were down. The hole in the hull was enlarged by the ship's motion, and by the time Ark Royal stopped she had taken on water and begun to list to starboard, reaching 18° from centre within 20 minutes. Considering the list of the carrier, as well as the fates of other carriers, including Courageous and Glorious, which had sunk rapidly with heavy loss of life, Maund gave the order to abandon ship. The crew were assembled on the flight deck to determine who would remain onboard to save the ship while Legion came alongside to take off the rest; as a result, comprehensive damage control measures
were not initiated until 49 minutes after the attack. The flooding spread unchecked, exacerbated by covers and hatches left open during evacuation of lower decks.
Water spread to the centreline boiler room, which started to flood from below, and power was lost shipwide when the boiler uptakes became choked; Ark Royal had no backup diesel generators. About half an hour after the explosion, the carrier appeared to stabilise. Admiral Somerville, determined to save Ark Royal, ordered damage control parties back to the carrier before taking the battleship Malaya to Gibraltar to organise salvage efforts. The damage control parties were able to re-light a boiler, restoring power to the bilge pumps. The destroyer came alongside to provide power and additional pumps, while Swordfish aircraft from Gibraltar arrived to supplement anti-submarine patrols. The tug Thames
arrived from Gibraltar at 20:00 and attached a tow line to Ark Royal, but flooding caused the angle of list to increase rapidly. Water had reached the boiler room fan flat, an uninterrupted compartment running the width of the ship, which forced the shutdown of the restored boiler.
The list reached 20° between 02:05 and 02:30, and when 'abandon ship' was declared again at 04:00, had reached 27°. Ark Royals complement had been evacuated to Legion by 04:30; with the exception of Mitchell, there were no fatalities. The 1,487 officers and crew were transported to Gibraltar. The list reached 45° before Ark Royal capsized and sank at 06:19 on 14 November. Witnesses reported the carrier rolling to 90°, where she remained for three minutes before inverting. Ark Royal then broke in two, the aft sinking within a couple of minutes, followed by the bow.
led for negligence in February 1942. He was found guilty on two counts of negligence: one of failing to ensure that properly constituted damage control parties had remained on board after the general evacuation, and one of failing to ensure the ship was in a sufficient state of readiness to deal with possible damage. The board tempered their judgement with an acknowledgement that a high standard was being expected of Maund, and that he was primarily concerned with the welfare of his crew.
The Bucknill Committee, which had been set up to investigate the loss of major warships, also produced a report. This report said that the lack of backup power sources was a major design failure, which contributed to the loss: Ark Royal depended on electricity for much of her operation, and once the boilers and steam dynamos were knocked out, the loss of power made damage control difficult. The committee recommended the design of the bulkheads and boiler intakes be improved to decrease the risk of widespread flooding in boiler rooms and machine spaces, while the uninterrupted boiler room flat was criticised. The design flaws were rectified in the Illustrious-
and Implacable-class carriers
, under construction at the time.
The Board of Inquiry closed its report with the observation that Ark Royal had sunk 22 nmi (25.3 mi; 40.7 km) east of Europa Point
, the southernmost tip of Gibraltar. This was accepted as the wreck location for 60 years.
related to major battles of the Royal Navy. Ark Royal lay in two sections: 20 m (65.6 ft) of the bow had separated from the rest of the ship. A large debris field, which included the remains of the funnel and bridge island, parts of the ship that came loose as the carrier sank, and aircraft from the hangars, was located between the two hull sections. Analysis revealed that the port side of the ship hit the seabed first.
The wreck was found further east than was stated after the sinking. Initially, researchers thought the wreck had been caught in currents
through the Strait of Gibraltar
into the Mediterranean as she sank, causing the ship to drift eastwards underwater before settling. The presence of other debris in proximity to the wreck, including a Swordfish bomber that was tipped off the flight deck before the ship rolled, proved this false, as the debris would have been spread over a much wider area. The currents did affect her progress towards Gibraltar, despite being under tow for several hours. Study of the wreck also showed that attempting to restart the engines to provide power increased the stresses placed on the hull, adding to the flooding. Once power was lost, it was impossible to prevent the carrier from sinking—her fate was more the result of design flaws than of the actions of her captain.
Pennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
91) was an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
that served during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd.
Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
at Birkenhead, England
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, and completed in November 1938. Her design differed from previous aircraft carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck
Flight deck
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the...
were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. She served during a period that first saw the extensive use of naval air power; a number of carrier tactics were developed and refined aboard Ark Royal.
Ark Royal served in some of the most active naval theatres of the Second World War. She was involved in the first aerial and U-boat kills of the war, operations off Norway, the search for the German battleship , and the Malta Convoys
Malta Convoys
The Malta Convoys were a series of Allied supply convoys that sustained the besieged island of Malta during the Mediterranean Theatre of the Second World War...
. Ark Royal survived several near misses and gained a reputation as a 'lucky ship'. The Germans incorrectly reported her as sunk on multiple occasions.
She was torpedoed on 13 November 1941 by the German submarine and sank the following day. Her sinking was the subject of several inquiries; investigators were keen to know how the carrier was lost, in spite of efforts to save the ship and tow her to the naval base at Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
. They found that several design flaws contributed to the loss, which were rectified in new British carriers.
Her wreck was discovered by a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
crew in December 2002, approximately 30 nmi (34.5 mi; 55.6 km) from Gibraltar.
Design
In 1923, the AdmiraltyAdmiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
prepared a 10-year building programme which included an aircraft carrier and 300 aircraft for the Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
. The economic downturn following the First World War caused it to be postponed. In 1930, the Director of Naval Construction, Sir Arthur Johns, began to update the plans for the carrier by incorporating recently developed technology. His aim was to increase the number of aircraft carried by shortening the landing and take-off distances of aircraft by using arrestor gear
Arresting gear
Arresting gear, or arrestor gear, is the name used for mechanical systems designed to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands. Arresting gear on aircraft carriers is an essential component of naval aviation, and it is most commonly used on CATOBAR and STOBAR aircraft carriers. Similar systems...
and compressed steam catapults
Aircraft catapult
An aircraft catapult is a device used to launch aircraft from ships—in particular aircraft carriers—as a form of assisted take off. It consists of a track built into the flight deck, below which is a large piston or shuttle that is attached through the track to the nose gear of the aircraft, or in...
respectively, which would make more deck space available for storage and aircraft preparation. Along with the inclusion of two hangar decks, this allowed Ark Royal to carry up to 72 aircraft, although the development of larger and heavier aircraft during the carrier's construction meant that the actual number carried was between 50 and 60. The hangar decks were placed inside the hull, thus benefiting from the protection of the 4.5 in (11.4 cm) belt armour. Three lifts moved aircraft between the hangars and the flight deck.
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
and Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. Because hangar decks were within the hull, the flight deck rose to 66 ft (20.1 m) above the waterline.
The Washington
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
and London Naval Treaties
London Naval Treaty
The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated submarine warfare and limited naval shipbuilding. Ratifications were exchanged in London on October 27, 1930, and the treaty went...
—which restricted warship tonnage for a number of the Great Powers—were to expire at the end of 1936. With a potential naval arms race developing between Britain, Japan and Italy, the British government sought a second treaty
Second London Naval Treaty
The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in London, the United Kingdom, on 9 December 1935. It resulted in the Second London Naval Treaty which was signed on 25 March 1936.- Description :...
, which included limiting the maximum displacement of an aircraft carrier to 22000 LT (22,353.1 t). Ark Royal would have to fit this anticipated limit; to conserve weight, armour plating was limited to the belt, engine rooms, and magazines
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
, while welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
instead of rivet
Rivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...
ing 65% of the hull saved 500 LT (508 t). Installation of an armoured flight deck was not possible, as the weight would have placed Ark Royal above the proposed limit, while reducing her endurance and stability. The ship was designed with a three layer side protection system based upon a void-liquid-void scheme very similar to that used on the King George V-class battleships, and was designed to protect against torpedoes with up to a 750 pounds (340.2 kg) warhead.
The ship was fitted with six boilers, which powered three Parsons geared turbines. The turbines were connected via three driveshafts to three bronze propellers 16 ft (4.9 m) in diameter, to produce a maximum theoretical speed of 30 kn (36.5 mph; 58.8 km/h). Speed was important, as with catapults and arrestor gear, Ark Royal would have to turn into the wind to launch and recover aircraft. To avoid endangering other ships with the frequent course changes associated with flight operations, Ark Royal would have to break away from accompanying ships, and catch up on completion. Additionally, as the carrier was not armed for ship-to-ship combat, speed was her main protection against enemy warships.
Construction
The deteriorating international situation by 1933, typified by Germany's rearmament and the expansion of Japan and Italy, convinced the British to announce funds for the carrier's construction in the 1934 budget proposals. The plans finalised by November 1934, and were tendered in February 1935 to Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd.Cammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
, which calculated the cost of the hull at £1,496,250 (£ as of ), and the main machinery at approximately £500,000.(£ as of ), The overall cost was estimated to be over £3 million, making Ark Royal the most expensive ship ordered by the Royal Navy. Construction began on Job No. 1012 when Ark Royals keel was laid down on 16 September 1935.
Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of the Board of Admiralty, which exercised command over the Royal Navy.Officially known as the Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland &c. The Lords...
. The bottle of champagne thrown against Ark Royals bows did not smash until the fourth attempt. The carrier spent a year fitting out, was handed over to her first commander, Captain Arthur Power, on 16 November 1938, and was commissioned on 16 December. Although intended for the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
, events in Europe during the carrier's construction, including the Italian invasion of Abyssinia
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The Second Italo–Abyssinian War was a colonial war that started in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire...
in 1935 and the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in 1936, caused the Admiralty to mark her for deployment with the Home and Mediterranean Fleets. After her crew joined at the end of 1938, Ark Royal underwent sea trial
Sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft . It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and can last from a few hours to many days.Sea trials are conducted to measure a vessel’s...
s to prepare for service, during which the carrier proved capable of sailing above her theoretical speed, reaching over 31 kn (37.8 mph; 60.8 km/h).
Armament and aircraft
Ark Royals armament was designed with anti-aircraft warfareAnti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
in mind, as aircraft were expected to be the main threat; ships and submarines could be outrun or dealt with by escorts. Her main armament was sixteen quick-firing 4.5 in (114.3 mm) dual purpose gun
Dual purpose gun
A dual purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets.-Description:Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and cruisers ; a secondary battery for use against enemy...
s in eight double turrets, four on each side of the hull, controlled by four Directors using the High Angle Control System. The original design placed the turrets low on the hull, but was later altered to locate them just below the flight deck, which increased each turret's field of fire. Six 8-barrelled 2-pounder (40 mm (1.57 in)) "pom-pom" gun
QF 2 pounder naval gun
The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...
s were located on the flight deck, in front of and behind the superstructure island, while eight 4-barrelled 0.5 in (12.7 mm) machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s were installed on small projecting platforms to the front and rear of the flight deck.
Sixteen Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
squadrons were posted aboard Ark Royal during her career; an average of five squadrons at any time. On entering service, most of Ark Royals squadrons were equipped with either Blackburn Skua
Blackburn Skua
The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft operated by the British Fleet Air Arm which combined the functions of a dive bomber and fighter. It was designed in the mid-1930s, and saw service in the early part of the Second World War...
s—used as fighters and dive bombers—or Fairey Swordfish
Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War...
, for reconnaissance and torpedo bombing. From April 1940, squadrons equipped with Skuas were upgraded to Fairey Fulmar
Fairey Fulmar
The Fairey Fulmar was a British carrier-borne fighter aircraft that served with the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. A total of 600 were built by Fairey Aviation at its Stockport factory between January 1940 and December 1942...
s; like their predecessors, these were used as fighters and bombers. On occasion, the carrier operated Blackburn Roc
Blackburn Roc
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Brew, Alec. The Turret Fighters: Defiant and Roc. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, UK: Crowood Press, 2002. ISBN 1-86126-497-6....
fighter-bombers (from April 1939-October 1940) and Fairey Albacore
Fairey Albacore
The Fairey Albacore was a British single-engine carrier-borne biplane torpedo bomber built by Fairey Aviation between 1939 and 1943 for the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and used during the Second World War. It had a three-man crew and was designed for spotting and reconnaissance as well as delivering...
torpedo bombers (during October 1941); these were replacement aircraft used to boost squadron numbers. In June 1940, Ark Royal was host to 701 Naval Air Squadron
701 Naval Air Squadron
701 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron that saw service during the Second World War.The 700 numbers were appended to training and ancillary squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. The grouping 700 to 749 had originally included catapult flights. These later became catapult...
, a training squadron which operated Supermarine Walrus
Supermarine Walrus
The Supermarine Walrus was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and operated by the Fleet Air Arm . It also served with the Royal Air Force , Royal Australian Air Force , Royal Canadian Air Force , Royal New Zealand Navy and Royal New...
reconnaissance amphibians
Amphibious aircraft
An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft that can take off and land on either land or water. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes that are equipped with retractable wheels, at the expense of extra weight and complexity, plus diminished range and fuel economy compared to planes...
.
| Squadron | Aircraft operated | Embarked (from - to) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 800 | Blackburn Skua Mk. II | January 1939 - April 1941 | Transferred to |
| 810 810 Naval Air Squadron 810 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 with the amalgamation of the 12 Blackburn Dart aircraft from 463 and 44 Flight Flights Royal Air Force to the Fleet Air Arm... |
Fairey Swordfish Mk. I | January 1939 - March 1941 May - September 1941 |
Aboard from March - May 1941 |
| 820 820 Naval Air Squadron 820 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed in April 1933 with the transferral of the Fairey III aircraft from 405 Flight Royal Air Force to the Fleet Air Arm... |
Fairey Swordfish Mk. I | January 1939 - June 1941 | - |
| 821 821 Naval Air Squadron 821 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 with the transferral and amalgamation of the Fairey III aircraft from 446 and half of 455 Flight Flights Royal Air Force to the newly formed Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force... |
Fairey Swordfish Mk. I | January 1939 - April 1940 | Removed from operational service following losses against Scharnhorst |
| 803 803 Naval Air Squadron 803 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron.-Interwar:803 NAS was formed on 3 April 1933 by promoting No 409 Flight to the status of a squadron, with nine Ospreys... |
Blackburn Skua Mk. II Blackburn Roc Mk. I |
April 1939 - October 1940 | - |
| 818 818 Naval Air Squadron 818 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed in August 1939. It served on a number of the Navy's aircraft carriers during the Second World War, serving in most of the theatres of the war, before decommissioning at the end of the war.-Norway and the... |
Fairey Swordfish Mk. I | August - October 1939 June - July 1940 |
Operated from and land bases between October 1939 and June 1940 |
| 801 801 Naval Air Squadron 801 Naval Air Squadron was a Fleet Air Arm squadron of the Royal Navy formed in 1933 which fought in World War II, the Korean War and the Falklands War.- Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force:... |
Blackburn Skua Mk. II | April - May 1940 | Transferred to Furious |
| 807 807 Naval Air Squadron 807 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy.-Second World War:807 Squadron was formed at Worthy Down in September 1940, equipped with Fairey Fulmar Is. Three were embarked on HMS Pegasus, where they remained until February 1941, when the entire squadron embarked on for... |
Fairey Fulmar Mk. II | April 1940 - November 1941 | Embarked at sinking |
| 701 701 Naval Air Squadron 701 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron that saw service during the Second World War.The 700 numbers were appended to training and ancillary squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. The grouping 700 to 749 had originally included catapult flights. These later became catapult... |
Supermarine Walrus Mk. I | June 1940 | Training squadron |
| 808 808 Naval Air Squadron 808 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed in July 1940. It served on a number of the Navy's aircraft carriers during the Second World War, serving in most of the theatres of the war, before decommissioning at the end of the war... |
Fairey Fulmar Mk. II | September 1940 - November 1941 | Embarked at sinking |
| 821X | Fairey Swordfish Mk. I | December 1940 - January 1941 | Flight Flight (military unit) A flight is a military unit in an air force, naval air service, or army air corps. It usually comprises three to six aircraft, with their aircrews and ground staff; or, in the case of a non-flying ground flight, no aircraft and a roughly equivalent number of support personnel. In most usages,... assembled from 821 Squadron 821 Naval Air Squadron 821 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 with the transferral and amalgamation of the Fairey III aircraft from 446 and half of 455 Flight Flights Royal Air Force to the newly formed Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force... survivors, later absorbed into 815 Squadron 815 Naval Air Squadron 815 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, part of the Royal Navy. The squadron is currently based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, United Kingdom and it is the Navy's front line Lynx Naval Air Squadron. It currently comprises more than 30 Lynx helicopters of various types... |
| 800Y | Fairey Fulmar Mk. I | June 1941 | Flight Flight (military unit) A flight is a military unit in an air force, naval air service, or army air corps. It usually comprises three to six aircraft, with their aircrews and ground staff; or, in the case of a non-flying ground flight, no aircraft and a roughly equivalent number of support personnel. In most usages,... from 800 Squadron |
| 825 825 Naval Air Squadron 825 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier-based squadron formed on 8 October 1934 from the aircraft and personnel of 824 Naval Air Squadron... |
Fairey Swordfish Mk. I | June - November 1941 | Embarked at sinking |
| 816 | Fairey Swordfish Mk. I | July - November 1941 | Embarked at sinking |
| 812 812 Naval Air Squadron 812 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, which was active between 1933 and 1956, and saw service in World War II and the Korean War.-First formation:... |
Fairey Swordfish Mk. I | September - November 1941 | Embarked at sinking |
| 828 828 Naval Air Squadron 828 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed in September 1940 as a torpedo spotter reconnaissance squadron... |
Fairey Swordfish Mk. I Fairey Albacore Mk. I |
October 1941 | Redeployed to Malta |
With the hunter-killer groups
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
fleet taking up positions off the British coast, where they could intercept British shipping. Within hours of the war starting, the passenger ship was torpedoed by , the first of over 65000 LT (66,043.3 t) of shipping sunk by U-boats during the first week of the war. Ark Royal was deployed with the Home Fleet in the North Western Approaches
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...
as part of a "hunter-killer" group, consisting of a flotilla of destroyers and other anti-submarine vessels grouped around an aircraft carrier; either , or Ark Royal. Carrier-borne aircraft could increase the area searched for U-boats, but made the carriers tempting targets.
On 14 September, Ark Royal received a distress call from , which was 200 nmi (230.2 mi; 370.4 km) away under pursuit from the surfaced U-30. Ark Royal launched aircraft to aid the merchant ship, but was spotted by , which launched two torpedoes. Lookouts spotted the torpedo tracks and Ark Royal turned towards the attack, reducing her cross-section and causing the torpedoes to miss and explode harmlessly astern. Three F-class destroyers
E and F class destroyer
The E and F class was a class of 18 destroyers of the Royal Navy that served during the Second World War. Three ships were later transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy, one to the Royal Hellenic Navy and one to the Dominican Navy. Launched in 1934, they served in the Second World War. Nine were lost...
escorting the carrier began to depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
U-39, and forced her to the surface. The German crew abandoned ship before U-39 sank—the first U-boat lost during the war. Ark Royals aircraft reached Fanad Head, which was in the hands of a German boarding party. The Skuas unsuccessfully attacked U-30: two crashed when caught by the blast of their own bombs. The U-boat escaped after rescuing the boarding party and the pilots of the downed aircraft (both observers had drowned), and torpedoing the Fanad Head.
Ark Royal returned to base in Loch Ewe
Loch Ewe
Loch Ewe is a sea loch in the region of in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most notable of which, situated on the north-eastern shore, is the Aultbea settlement...
, where she and her crew were inspected by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. The sinking of U-39 was hailed as important to morale. However, the failed attack on Ark Royal, and the successful attack on Courageous on 17 September, convinced the Admiralty it was too dangerous to risk aircraft carriers in this way, and carrier-centred hunter-killer groups were abandoned.
Another near miss
On 25 September, Ark Royal helped rescue the submarine , which had been damaged by German warships off Horn Reefs, in the KattegatKattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
. While returning to port with Spearfish and the battleships and on 26 September, the ships were located by three Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Dornier Do 18
Dornier Do 18
The Dornier Do 18 was a development of the Do 16 flying boat. It was developed for the Luftwaffe, but Lufthansa got 5 aircraft and used these for tests between the Azores and the North American continent in 1936 and on their mail route over the South Atlantic from 1937 to 1939.27–29 March 1938 a...
seaplane
Seaplane
A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...
s. Ark Royal launched three Blackburn Skua
Blackburn Skua
The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft operated by the British Fleet Air Arm which combined the functions of a dive bomber and fighter. It was designed in the mid-1930s, and saw service in the early part of the Second World War...
s to disperse them; one Dornier was shot down in the first British aerial kill of the war.
The air commander aboard Ark Royal—aware that the surviving Dorniers would report the location of the British ships—ordered the aircraft to be secured and the anti-aircraft weapons readied. Four Junkers Ju 88
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. Designed by Hugo Junkers' company through the services of two American aviation engineers in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
s soon appeared: three were driven away by anti-aircraft fire, but the fourth launched a 1000 kg (2,204.6 lb) bomb at the carrier. Ark Royal turned hard to starboard, heeling over and avoiding the bomb, which landed in the ocean 30 m (98.4 ft) off her starboard bow and sent a spout of water over the ship. The German pilots did not see if the carrier had been hit, and a reconnaissance flight later located the two battleships, but not Ark Royal. Based on this information, the Germans incorrectly claimed that Ark Royal had sunk. To prove the German propaganda false before it had a negative effect on Britain's allies, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
personally reassured United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the carrier was undamaged and invited the U.S. naval attaché to view Ark Royal in dock. The British naval attaché in Rome was instructed to assure Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
that the ship was still in service. This proved to be a considerable embarrassment for Goebbels
Goebbels
Goebbels, alternatively Göbbels, is a common surname in the western areas of Germany. It is probably derived from the Old Low German word gibbler, meaning brewer...
and Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
.
Hunting the Graf Spee
In October 1939, Ark Royal was redeployed to FreetownFreetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
to operate off the African coast in the hunt for the German commerce raider . The carrier was assigned to Force K
Force K
Force K was the designation for three British Royal Navy task forces during World War II. The first Force K operated from West Africa in 1939. The second and third Force Ks operated from Malta in 1941-1943.-First Force K:...
, and sailed with the battlecruiser to the South Atlantic. On 9 October, aircraft from Ark Royal spotted the German tanker Altmark
German tanker Altmark
Altmark was a German oil tanker and supply vessel, one of five of a class built between 1937 and 1939. She is best known for her support of the German commerce raider, the "pocket battleship" and her subsequent involvement in the "Altmark Incident"....
, which supplied Graf Spee. The tanker was disguised as the U.S. vessel Delmar, which fooled the British into passing her by. On 5 November, Ark Royal captured the German merchant , which was attempting to reach Germany. The ship was later taken into British service as a cargo ship and renamed Empire Ability. Several neutral merchant ships were also spotted by the carrier's aircraft, twice causing crews to believe they were under attack and abandon ship. A note explaining the situation was dropped in a bag to a Norwegian vessel's crew, and they re-boarded; an attempt to repeat this exercise with a Belgian crew failed when the bag was dropped down the ship's funnel.
By this time, Graf Spee had put into Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
to repair damage received during the battle of the River Plate
Battle of the River Plate
The Battle of the River Plate was the first naval battle in the Second World War. The German pocket battleship had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September 1939...
. Two Royal Navy cruisers followed the raider, and patrolled the harbour entrance while reporting Graf Spees position to the fleet. Ark Royal and Renown were dispatched to join the British ships outside the harbour, but as they were 36 hours away, the British naval attaché came up with a plan to make the Germans believe that the two capital ships had already arrived. An order for fuel for Ark Royal was placed at Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, 140 mi (225.3 km) west of Montevideo. This was leaked to the press, passed on to the German embassy in Montevideo, and given to Graf Spees captain, Hans Langsdorff
Hans Langsdorff
Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff was a German naval officer, most famous for his command of the Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee during the Battle of the River Plate. He held the rank of Kapitän zur See....
. This contributed to Langsdorff's decision to scuttle his ship.
Return to the fleet
With Graf Spee sunk, Ark Royal remained in the Atlantic for a short time before escorting the damaged heavy cruiserHeavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
back to Devonport Dockyard
HMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
, where they arrived in February. Following this, Ark Royal proceeded to Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
to take on supplies and personnel, before sailing to Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
. On arrival, she transferred her Blackburn Skuas to Naval Air Station Hatston
RNAS Hatston
RNAS Hatston, also called HMS Sparrowhawk, was a Royal Naval Air Station.It was situated one mile to the north west of Kirkwall on the island of Mainland, Orkney...
to strengthen the anchorage's defences. Ark Royal was then assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet for exercises, departing Scapa Flow on 31 March 1940 and heading for Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
with the aircraft carrier . The carriers arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean on 8 April, but the exercises were cancelled a day later. The ships sailed to Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
to await orders.
German forces had invaded Norway as part of Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung was the code name for Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign...
on 7 April, and had secured sections of the coast. Attempts by the Royal Navy to operate in support of British troops were unsuccessful; air attacks had overwhelmed the ships, sinking and nearly sinking . Realising that the British ships required air cover, but aware that the Norwegian coast was outside the range of British land-based aircraft, the Admiralty recalled Ark Royal and Glorious from the Mediterranean on 16 April.
Norwegian campaign
Ark Royal and Glorious arrived at Scapa Flow on 23 April 1940 and were immediately redeployed as part of Operation DX. Sailing to Norway with the cruisers and and screened by the destroyers , , , , and , this was the first time the Royal Navy had deployed carriers with the primary purpose of providing fighter protection for other warships. The ships took up position on 25 April off the coast; Ark Royal positioned 120 nautical miles (222.2 km) offshore to reduce the chance of air attacks. The carrier's aircraft conducted anti-submarine patrols, provided fighter support for other ships, and carried out strikes against shipping and shore targets. Ark Royal returned to Scapa Flow on 27 April to refuel and replace lost and damaged aircraft, before heading back on the same day with the battleship as escort. During the return, Ark Royal came under air attack from German Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium...
bombers operating from Norway. The carrier was undamaged, and resumed position on 29 April.
Molde
is a city and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Romsdal region. The municipality is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord...
and Åndalsnes
Åndalsnes
is a town in the municipality of Rauma in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Åndalsnes is the administrative center of Rauma. The town has a population of 2,207...
began, with Ark Royal providing air cover from 30 April. On 1 May, the Germans tried to sink the carrier, with numerous air attacks through the day. Ark Royals fighters and a heavy anti-aircraft barrage drove off the enemy, and although several bombs were dropped at the carrier, none impacted. The evacuation was completed on 3 May, and the carrier was recalled to Scapa Flow to refuel and rearm before returning to Norway. While in port, Captain Arthur Power left the ship for a promotion to the Admiralty, and was replaced by Captain Cedric Holland
Cedric Holland
Cedric Swinton Holland CB was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the First and Second World Wars, rising to the rank of vice-admiral....
. On return to Norway, Ark Royal was told to provide air cover for operations around Narvik
Narvik
is the third largest city and municipality in Nordland county, Norway by population. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...
, including the landing of French troops on 13 May. She was joined on 18 May by the carriers Glorious and Furious.
Despite these efforts, it was clear by the end of May that French forces were on the verge of collapse and Norway was a sideshow compared to the German advance to the English Channel. Operation Alphabet
Operation Alphabet
Operation Alphabet was an evacuation, authorized on May 24, 1940, of Allied troops from the harbour of Narvik in northern Norway marking the success of Nazi Germany's Operation Weserübung of April 9 and the end of the Allied campaign in Norway during World War II...
was instigated to move Allied troops from Narvik to Britain. Ark Royal and Glorious—screened by the destroyers , , , , and —sailed from Scapa Flow on 1 June to cover the evacuation, which commenced the next day. Ark Royal carried out air patrols and bombing raids from 3-6 June, before redeploying to Narvik on 7 June. Disaster struck the next day, when Glorious, escorted by Acasta and Ardent, were detached to return to Britain. The three ships were attacked and sunk by the German battleships and . A search by Ark Royals aircraft failed to locate the German ships, which had returned to Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
.
The last evacuation convoy left Narvik on 9 June. Before the British ships could withdraw, a raid on Trondheim located Scharnhorst. An attack by Ark Royals Skuas took place at midnight on 13 June. The attack was a disaster: the escort destroyers and collided while Ark Royal was launching aircraft in fog and returned to England for repairs, eight of the fifteen attacking Skuas were shot down, while Scharnhorst escaped damage. Ark Royal returned to Scapa Flow the following day, and was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet.
Mediterranean deployment
Ark Royal left Scapa Flow with the battlecruiser and three destroyers, arriving at GibraltarGibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
on 23 June 1940. Here she joined Force H
Force H
Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940 to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean that had been removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany....
, under Sir James Somerville. After the capitulation of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
there was concern that a French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir
Mers-el-Kébir
Mers-el-Kébir is a port town in northwestern Algeria, located by the Mediterranean Sea near Oran, in the Oran Province.-History:Originally a Roman port, Mers-el-Kébir became an Almohad naval arsenal in the 12th century, fell under the rulers of Tlemcen in the 15th century, and eventually became a...
might fall under Axis control and tip the balance of power in the Mediterranean, affecting the whole war. Ark Royals captain, Cedric Holland, had been the British naval attaché in Paris, and was sent to negotiate the surrender or scuttling of the French fleet. Force H was deployed outside the harbour, and when the French admirals refused to agree to the offered terms, opened fire on the French ships. During the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, Ark Royals aircraft provided targeting information for the British ships. The French battleship escaped, despite attacks by Swordfish from Ark Royal. Two days after the attack, aircraft from Ark Royal incapacitated the French battleship , which had been beached in the initial attack.
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
came under attack from the Italian air force, with Force H ordered to deliver Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
s to reinforce the island's air defences. Force H was deployed from 31 July-4 August, with the carrier used to deliver the aircraft, while Ark Royal provided air cover for the fleet. On 2 August, Ark Royal launched a successful air attack against the Italian air base at Cagliari
Cagliari
Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...
.
Force H remained at Gibraltar until 30 September, when it escorted reinforcements for Admiral Andrew Cunningham's
Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope
Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope KT, GCB, OM, DSO and two Bars , was a British admiral of the Second World War. Cunningham was widely known by his nickname, "ABC"....
fleet to Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
. En-route, diversionary attacks were planned on Italian air bases at Elmas
Elmas
Elmas is a comune in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region of Sardinia, located about 8 km northwest of Cagliari....
and Cagliari to direct attention from both the reinforcement operation and a supply convoy sailing to Malta. The attacks were successfully carried out on 1 October, and the fleet reached Alexandria without significant attention from the Italian air force. From Alexandria, Ark Royal was detached and sent to West Africa to support British attempts to encourage Vichy French colonies to switch alleigance to the Free French. During negotiations, several Free French aircraft flew from Ark Royal, but their aircrews were arrested at Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
. Negotiations failed, and bombers from Ark Royal were directed against military installations during the unsuccessful British attempt to take Dakar by force
Battle of Dakar
The Battle of Dakar, also known as Operation Menace, was an unsuccessful attempt in September 1940 by the Allies to capture the strategic port of Dakar in French West Africa , which was under Vichy French control, and to install the Free French under General Charles de Gaulle there.-Background:At...
. Following this, Ark Royal returned to Britain for refit, docking in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
on 8 October after being escorted by , and . The refit—which lasted until 3 November—included repairs to her machinery and the installation of a new flight deck barrier.
Malta Convoys
The Malta Convoys were a series of Allied supply convoys that sustained the besieged island of Malta during the Mediterranean Theatre of the Second World War...
between 1940 and 1942, on 25 November. An Italian fleet—led by the battleships and —was dispatched to intercept the convoy. The Italian fleet was detected by a reconnaissance aircraft from Ark Royal and the carrier launched Swordfish torpedo bombers while the capital ships of Force H turned to meet the enemy. During the engagement, the Battle of Cape Spartivento
Battle of Cape Spartivento
The Battle of Cape Spartivento, known as the Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War...
, the Italian destroyer was damaged, although it is uncertain if torpedoes from the bombers or British gunfire were responsible. The British mistook Lanciere for a cruiser, while the Italian commanders received incorrect reports that the cruiser had been hit. British attacks failed to damage any other Italian ships or sink the disabled destroyer, and a retaliatory attack by the Italian air force saw Ark Royal as the subject of multiple bombing runs, none of which hit. The battle had no clear result, although the British convoy reached its destination unscathed.
On 14 December 1940, Ark Royal and Force H were redeployed from Gibraltar to the Atlantic to search the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
for commerce raiders. Ark Royal returned to the Mediterranean on 20 December, and escorted the battleship and merchant ships from Malta until 27 December. Force H then became involved in Operation Excess
Operation Excess
Operation Excess was a series of supply convoys to Malta, Alexandria and Greece in January 1941.On 6 January, convoy Excess left Gibraltar for Malta and Greece, covered by the Gibraltar based Force H. Simultaneously, the Mediterranean Fleet from Alexandria covered more supply ships from...
, a plan to move convoys through the Mediterranean to support the Western Desert Force
Western Desert Force
The Western Desert Force, during World War II, was a British Commonwealth army formation stationed in Egypt.On 17 June 1940, the headquarters of the British 6th Infantry Division was designated as the Western Desert Force. The unit consisted of the 7th Armoured Division and the Indian 4th Infantry...
, which was trying to push Italian land forces from Egypt into Libya. Over the next month, British control of the Mediterranean theatre was weakened, particularly by the entry of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
and the near-loss of the aircraft carrier . The Mediterranean Fleet was under pressure from Axis forces in the Eastern Mediterranean, while the British port at Gibraltar was likely to be lost if the Spanish chose to ally with the Germans instead of remaining out of the war
Non-belligerent
A non-belligerent is a person, a state, or other organization that does not fight in a given conflict. The term is often used to describe a country that does not take part militarily in a war...
. To relieve the Mediterranean Fleet, while demonstrating British strength to the Spanish, the Admiralty and Admiral Cunningham planned to use Ark Royals Swordfish bombers in raids against Italian targets, supported by bombardment from heavy fleet units. The first bombing, on 2 January against the Tirso Dam in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, was unsuccessful, but Ark Royals Swordfish bombers were more successful on 6 January, when they bombed the port city of Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. The carrier's aircraft also covered the battlecruiser Renown and battleship Malaya while they shelled the port. On 9 January, Ark Royal launched aircraft to bomb an oil refinery at La Spezia
La Spezia
La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
, and to lay mines in the harbour. Both operations were successful.
Searching for Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
In early February 1941, the battleships and headed into the Atlantic on the orders of GroßadmiralGrand Admiral
Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, generally being the highest such rank present in any particular country. Its most notable use was in Germany — the German word is Großadmiral.-France:...
Erich Raeder
Erich Raeder
Erich Johann Albert Raeder was a naval leader in Germany before and during World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank—that of Großadmiral — in 1939, becoming the first person to hold that rank since Alfred von Tirpitz...
. They were to disrupt Allied shipping and draw capital ships from other areas. On 8 March, Force H and Ark Royal were ordered to the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
to search for the battleships, and to cover convoys crossing from the United States. Ark Royal used her aircraft to search for captured ships returning to Germany under the control of prize crew
Prize crew
Prize crew is a term used to indicate a number of crew members of a ship chosen to take over the operations of a captured ship.In the early days of sailing and up into the American Civil War, capturing enemy ships was quite common...
s. Three ships were located on 19 March: two scuttled themselves, while the third—SS Polykarp—was recaptured.
On the evening of 21 March 1941 a Fairey Fulmar
Fairey Fulmar
The Fairey Fulmar was a British carrier-borne fighter aircraft that served with the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. A total of 600 were built by Fairey Aviation at its Stockport factory between January 1940 and December 1942...
from Ark Royal stumbled across Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at sea. Because of a radio malfunction, the crew had to return to Ark Royal to report, by which time the German ships had escaped under fog. The next day, Ark Royal re-established air patrols in the hope of re-locating the raiders. During the day, a catapult malfunction destroyed a Fairey Swordfish
Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War...
; flinging the fuselage into the sea ahead of the carrier. Unable to stop, Ark Royal ran over the Swordfish and was overhead when the aircraft's depth charges detonated. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau reached Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
without British harassment, while Ark Royal returned to Gibraltar for repairs, arriving on 24 March.
Malta convoys and Operation Tiger
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
were driving through North Africa towards the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
, pushing the Western Desert Force
Western Desert Force
The Western Desert Force, during World War II, was a British Commonwealth army formation stationed in Egypt.On 17 June 1940, the headquarters of the British 6th Infantry Division was designated as the Western Desert Force. The unit consisted of the 7th Armoured Division and the Indian 4th Infantry...
before them. With British forces close to collapse and strategic locations threatened, the British High Command risked sending a reinforcement convoy across the Mediterranean to Alexandria. The convoy consisted of five large transport ships, escorted by Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Renown, the battleship , the cruisers , , , and , and screened by destroyers of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla. Prior to Ark Royals departure, Captain Holland left to recuperate from stress and poor health, and was replaced by Captain Loben Maund. The convoy left Gibraltar on 6 May, and was detected by Italian aircraft. The convoy—limited to 14 kn (17 mph; 27.4 km/h) and escorted by so many capital ships—was such a tempting target that Italian and German aircraft were mobilised.
The British convoy came under air attack on 8 May, first by the Italian air force, then German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
. Over the day, 12 of Ark Royals Fairey Fulmars (the maximum number available) drove off over 50 aircraft, with the assistance of targeting information from Sheffields radar and anti-aircraft fire from the escorts. During the initial waves, one Fulmar was lost, killing Flight Lieutenant Rupert Tillard and Lieutenant Mark Somerville, Admiral Somerville's nephew; another was destroyed with the aircrew recovered, while several others were damaged. Consequently, only seven were able to face the main Luftwaffe force of 34 aircraft, while an attack just before dark was driven off by two aircraft and heavy fire from the ships. The convoy survived without serious damage: the only casualties were to mines, with the Empire Song sunk and New Zealand Star damaged but able to reach port.
Ark Royal underwent another aerial attack on 12 May, during her return to Gibraltar. Later that month, she and fellow aircraft carrier Furious delivered Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
s to support Malta.
Hunting the Bismarck
On 18 May 1941, the German battleship and heavy cruiser began Operation RheinübungOperation Rheinübung
Operation Rheinübung was the sortie into the Atlantic by the new German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II...
by breaking into the Atlantic to raid shipping. After sinking the battlecruiser Hood and damaging the battleship during the Battle of the Denmark Strait
Battle of the Denmark Strait
The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a Second World War naval battle between ships of the Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine, fought on 24 May 1941...
, Bismarck shook off her pursuers and headed for the French Atlantic coast. Ark Royal, Renown, and Sheffield—accompanied by , , , , , and —were dispatched to the Atlantic on 23 May to search for the battleship. On 26 May, a Swordfish from Ark Royal located Bismarck and began to shadow her, while the Home Fleet was mobilised to pursue.
Saint-Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire , is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.The town has a major harbour, on the right bank of the Loire River estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. The town is at the south of the second-largest swamp in France, called "la Brière"...
. Fifteen Swordfish bombers were armed with torpedoes and sent to delay the ship. Sheffield, also shadowing Bismarck, was between Ark Royal and Bismarck. The aircraft mistook the British cruiser for their target and fired torpedoes. The torpedoes were fitted with unreliable magnetic detonators, which caused most to explode on contact with the water, while Sheffield evaded the rest. After realising his mistake, one of the pilots signalled 'Sorry for the kipper' to Sheffield.
On return to the carrier, the Swordfish were re-armed with contact-detonator warheads, and launched at 19:15 for a second attack; locating and attacking Bismarck just before sunset. Three torpedoes hit the battleship: two impacted forward of the engine rooms, while the third struck the port steering room and jammed her rudder in a 15° port turn. Bismarck was forced to sail in circles until a combination of alternating propeller speeds was found which would keep her on a reasonably steady course which, in the prevailing force 8 wind
Beaufort scale
The Beaufort Scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort Wind Force Scale.-History:...
and sea state
Sea state
In oceanography, a sea state is the general condition of the free surface on a large body of water—with respect to wind waves and swell—at a certain location and moment. A sea state is characterized by statistics, including the wave height, period, and power spectrum. The sea state varies with...
, forced her to sail towards the British warships with almost no manoeuvring capability. The German battleship suffered heavy attack during the night of 26–27 May, and sank at 10:39 hours on 27 May.
Escorting the Malta convoys
Mediterranean Theatre of World War II
The African, Mediterranean and Middle East theatres encompassed the naval, land, and air campaigns fought between the Allied and Axis forces in the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and Africa...
was going against the Allies. Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
had fallen to the Axis Powers, and the Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
was preparing to launch a final push into Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Malta remained an important stronghold in the Mediterranean, but was coming under increased pressure from Italian and German air attacks, and could no longer be supplied from the east since the fall of Crete
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...
.
Ark Royal was pressed into service, delivering aircraft to Malta during several supply runs throughout June and July, and escorting the convoys of Operation Substance
Operation Substance
Operation Substance was a British naval operation in July 1941 during the Second World War to escort a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta.The convoy was escorted by six destroyers and covered by aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, the battlecruiser HMS Renown and the battleship HMS Nelson along with...
in July and Operation Halberd
Operation Halberd
-Summary:During World War II, Operation Halberd was a British naval operation in September 1941 to escort a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta....
in September. Despite some losses, the convoys succeeded in keeping Malta supplied and fighting. The continued Allied presence in Malta was a considerable problem for Rommel in Africa, who was losing as much as ⅓ of his supplies from Italy to submarines and bombers based there. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
decided to send a flotilla of U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s into the Mediterranean to attack Allied shipping, against the advice of Großadmiral Raeder.
Final voyage and sinking
On 10 November 1941, Ark Royal ferried more aircraft to Malta before returning to Gibraltar. Admiral Somerville had been warned of U-boats off the Spanish coast, and reminded Force H to be vigilant. Also at sea was Friedrich GuggenbergerFriedrich Guggenberger
Friedrich Guggenberger was a German U-boat commander of the Second World War, and was highly successful during this period. From November 1940 until his capture in July 1943, he sank 17 ships for a total of and damaged another for . He was also responsible for sinking the British aircraft carrier...
's , which had received a report that Force H was returning to Gibraltar. On 13 November, at 15:40, the sonar operator aboard the destroyer detected an unidentified sound, but assumed it was the propellers of a nearby destroyer. One minute later, Ark Royal was struck amidships by a torpedo, between the fuel bunkers and bomb store, and directly below the bridge island. The explosion caused Ark Royal to shake, hurled loaded torpedo-bombers into the air, and killed Able Seaman Mitchell. A 130 by 30 ft (39.6 by 9.1 m) hole was created on the starboard side and bottom by a torpedo which was judged to have run deep, striking the bilge keel, and detonating inboard of the side protection system. The hit caused flooding of the starboard boiler room, main switchboard
Telephone switchboard
A switchboard was a device used to connect a group of telephones manually to one another or to an outside connection, within and between telephone exchanges or private branch exchanges . The user was typically known as an operator...
, oil tanks, and over 106 ft (32.3 m) of the ship's starboard bilge. The starboard power train was knocked out, causing the rear half of the ship to lose power, while communications were severed shipwide.
Damage control
Damage control is a term used in the Merchant Marine, maritime industry and navies for the emergency control of situations that may hazard the sinking of a ship...
were not initiated until 49 minutes after the attack. The flooding spread unchecked, exacerbated by covers and hatches left open during evacuation of lower decks.
Water spread to the centreline boiler room, which started to flood from below, and power was lost shipwide when the boiler uptakes became choked; Ark Royal had no backup diesel generators. About half an hour after the explosion, the carrier appeared to stabilise. Admiral Somerville, determined to save Ark Royal, ordered damage control parties back to the carrier before taking the battleship Malaya to Gibraltar to organise salvage efforts. The damage control parties were able to re-light a boiler, restoring power to the bilge pumps. The destroyer came alongside to provide power and additional pumps, while Swordfish aircraft from Gibraltar arrived to supplement anti-submarine patrols. The tug Thames
Thames (tug)
Thames was a Rescue tugboat that saw service with the Royal Navy during the Second World War.Named for the River Thames in England, she was launched in 1938. With the outbreak of the Second World War, she was acquired by the Royal Navy in June 1940. She was based at the strategically vital naval...
arrived from Gibraltar at 20:00 and attached a tow line to Ark Royal, but flooding caused the angle of list to increase rapidly. Water had reached the boiler room fan flat, an uninterrupted compartment running the width of the ship, which forced the shutdown of the restored boiler.
Investigation
Following the sinking, a Board of Inquiry was established to investigate the loss. Based on its findings, Maund was court-martialCourt-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
led for negligence in February 1942. He was found guilty on two counts of negligence: one of failing to ensure that properly constituted damage control parties had remained on board after the general evacuation, and one of failing to ensure the ship was in a sufficient state of readiness to deal with possible damage. The board tempered their judgement with an acknowledgement that a high standard was being expected of Maund, and that he was primarily concerned with the welfare of his crew.
The Bucknill Committee, which had been set up to investigate the loss of major warships, also produced a report. This report said that the lack of backup power sources was a major design failure, which contributed to the loss: Ark Royal depended on electricity for much of her operation, and once the boilers and steam dynamos were knocked out, the loss of power made damage control difficult. The committee recommended the design of the bulkheads and boiler intakes be improved to decrease the risk of widespread flooding in boiler rooms and machine spaces, while the uninterrupted boiler room flat was criticised. The design flaws were rectified in the Illustrious-
Illustrious class aircraft carrier
The Illustrious class was a class of aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that were some of the most important British warships in World War II...
and Implacable-class carriers
Implacable class aircraft carrier
The Implacable class was a class of aircraft carrier employed by the Royal Navy in the second half of Second World War. The class design was derived from the .- Design :...
, under construction at the time.
The Board of Inquiry closed its report with the observation that Ark Royal had sunk 22 nmi (25.3 mi; 40.7 km) east of Europa Point
Europa Point
Europa Point, also called Great Europa Point, is the southernmost point of Gibraltar. At the end of Rock of Gibraltar, the area is flat and occupied by such features as a playing field and a few buildings...
, the southernmost tip of Gibraltar. This was accepted as the wreck location for 60 years.
Rediscovery
The exact location of the wreck remained unknown until mid-December 2002, when it was discovered by a BBC film crew 30 nmi (34.5 mi; 55.6 km) from Gibraltar. The crew had been working on a documentary on maritime archaeologyMaritime archaeology
Maritime archaeology is a discipline within archaeology as a whole that specifically studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of associated physical remains, be they vessels, shore side facilities, port-related structures, cargoes, human remains and submerged...
related to major battles of the Royal Navy. Ark Royal lay in two sections: 20 m (65.6 ft) of the bow had separated from the rest of the ship. A large debris field, which included the remains of the funnel and bridge island, parts of the ship that came loose as the carrier sank, and aircraft from the hangars, was located between the two hull sections. Analysis revealed that the port side of the ship hit the seabed first.
The wreck was found further east than was stated after the sinking. Initially, researchers thought the wreck had been caught in currents
Ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun...
through the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
into the Mediterranean as she sank, causing the ship to drift eastwards underwater before settling. The presence of other debris in proximity to the wreck, including a Swordfish bomber that was tipped off the flight deck before the ship rolled, proved this false, as the debris would have been spread over a much wider area. The currents did affect her progress towards Gibraltar, despite being under tow for several hours. Study of the wreck also showed that attempting to restart the engines to provide power increased the stresses placed on the hull, adding to the flooding. Once power was lost, it was impossible to prevent the carrier from sinking—her fate was more the result of design flaws than of the actions of her captain.