Her own losses were two Avengers and three Corsairs lost in action and one Avenger and six Corsairs due to non-combat causes. One Fulmar was damaged and forced to return to the carrier, while the other two exhausted their ammunition and fuel during the combat and landed at Hal Far airfield on Malta. Brown 1977, p. 44; Friedman, p. 134; Hobbs 2013, pp. On arrival south of Malta she took passage with Force A to meet military convoy on passage from Gibraltar to Alexandria. 7.3 The distribution of the surviving lists. It has been sold for scrap for 2m. The most damaging hit was a large bomb that penetrated through the deck armour forward of the aft lift and detonated 10 feet above the hangar deck. In 32 years . Now escorted by the bulk of the Mediterranean Fleet, eight of her Swordfish, together with some from the carrier Eagle, attacked the Italian seaplane base at Rhodes on the morning of 3 September. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 111,000shp (83,000kW), enough to give a maximum speed of 30 knots (56km/h; 35mph) at deep load. HMS Illustrious was launched on 5th April 1939, where she was christened by Lady Henderson, wife of the recently retired Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson, Third Sea Lord of the Royal Navy. A Type 272 target-indicator radar was mounted above her bridge. Many do not survive at all whilst significant proportions of those that do survive are held . This section includes over 21.000 Allied Warships and over 11.000 Allied Commanders of WWII, from the US Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, The Polish Navy and others. (Operation Diplomat). H.M.S. It gives details of over 439,000 Royal Navy and Merchant Seamen records which are searchable by name, rank, age and ship. In this role she conducted the deck-landing trials for most of the British post-war naval aircraft in the early 1950s. Vice-Admiral Arthur Power carried out another raid on Port Blair in the Nicobar Islands with carrier HMS Illustrious, battleship HMS Renown, and French battleship Richelieu, with light covering forces. For the operation the carrier's air group numbered 25 Martlets, 1 night-fighting Fulmar and 21 Swordfish, and was consequently was forced to have a permanent deck park of 5 Martlets and one Swordfish. Later in the day her Corsairs intercepted 10 Ki-43s and shot down two of them while driving off the remainder. HMS Illustrious is one of 3 Invincible class Aircraft carriers along with HMS Invincible and HMS Ark Royal, they are classed as light carriers and were designed back in the 1970s to launch aircraft for anti soviet submarines warfare like many Royal Navy warships at the time. [30] While escorting a convoy to Malta on 29 September, the carrier's Fulmars broke up attacks by Italian high-level and torpedo bombers, shooting down one for the loss of one fighter. The MoD announced earlier this year it had been sold for 2m to a ship recycling . [46] Four days later Illustrious's aircraft attacked two convoys near the Kerkennah Islands and sank two merchant ships totalling 7,437GRT. 'The crew of HMS Daring have done a fantastic job in the Philippines and I am pleased that HMS Illustrious will be able to continue t The BPF joined the American Fifth Fleet there two days later, under the designation Task Force 57 (TF 57), to participate in the preliminary operations for the invasion of Okinawa (Operation Iceberg). The Royal Navy's 1936 Naval Programme authorised the construction of two aircraft carriers. The full crew list can be displayed for any of the ships. The British ships were spotted by Blohm & Voss BV 138 flying boats and 890 Squadron shot down two of them before the fleet returned to Scapa Flow on 29 July. HMS Illustrious, built on the Tyne and commissioned in 1982, served in the Falklands War, the First Gulf War and in a support role in Afghanistan. The attack, with both available carriers, was originally planned for 21 October, the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, but a hangar fire aboard Illustrious on 18 October forced its postponement until 11 November when the next favourable phase of the moon occurred. ww2dbaseIn 1943, Illustrious returned to the Mediterranean Sea and joined Force H based in Gibraltar. [27] Her squadrons flew back aboard, and she sailed for the Mediterranean on 22 August with 15 Fulmars and 18 Swordfish aboard. Preventing this required a preemptive invasion of Diego Suarez scheduled for May 1942. Admiral Sir James Somerville's new Eastern Fleet launched a devastating raid on the oil refinery at Sabang in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies with aircraft flown from the carriers HMS Illustrious and USS Saratoga escorted by HMS Cumberland, HMS Renown, USS Cummings, and others. 127, 13031; McCart, pp. She flew off her aircraft to Gibraltar on 31 January and continued on to the Clyde where she arrived five days later. The refit was completed by the end of January 1954 and she resumed her normal role. With both Illustrious and Eagle under his command, Admiral Cunningham could now take the offensive. J.P. Scatchard, DSC, RN), HMS Tenacious (Lt.Cdr. [31] The fire destroyed three Swordfish and heavily damaged two others, but they were replaced by aircraft from Eagle, whose contaminated fuel tanks prevented her from participating in the attack. The first operation carried out by both carriers was an airstrike on the small naval base at Sabang at the northern tip of Sumatra (Operation Cockpit). 2324, Brown 1971, p. 254; McCart, p. 24; Sturtivant, pp. There was no aerial opposition and the fighters claimed to have destroyed 24 aircraft on the ground. Even $1 per month will go a long way! THE AIRPLANE SCRAPED . HMS Kelly was Mountbatten's ship. [35] Three Swordfish crashed shortly after take-off on 10 and 11 November, probably due to fuel contamination, and the maintenance crewmen spent all day laboriously draining all the fuel tanks and refilling them with clean petrol. As the world's first battle cruiser, HMS Invincible was by any measure a revolutionary and important warship. The roofs of the gun turrets protruded above the level of the flight deck to allow them to fire across the deck at high elevations. Find An Object; IWM Collections; Stories & Videos . The ship resumed flying training off the north coast of Scotland in October for two weeks, but she spent most of the rest of the year on trials of the new mirror-landing system that automated the process of landing aircraft aboard. 279283, Brown 1971, pp. The Royal Air Force (RAF) had positioned a Short Sunderland flying boat off the harbour to search for any movement to or from the port and this was detected at 17:55 by acoustic locators and again at 20:40, alerting the defenders. Ld.Sea Johnson Charles Thomas. Her air group was reinforced at this time by four more Martlets each for 878 and 890 Squadrons. Four of these then flew ashore to conduct operations until they rejoined Illustrious on 14 September at Malta. If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Please refrain from using strong language. Later that morning three of the five Fulmars on Combat Air Patrol (CAP) engaged three SM.79s at low altitude, claiming one shot down. [59] While working up her air group in March, reinforced by the Grumman Martlet fighters (the British name of the F4F Wildcat) of 881 and 882 Squadrons, she conducted trials of a "hooked" Supermarine Spitfire fighter, the prototype of the Seafire. She arrived on 16 April and the examination by divers revealed that some of her outer plating was split and that some transverse frames were cracked. She was the fifth warship and second aircraft carrier to bear the name Illustrious, and was affectionately known to her crew as "Lusty". During the morning of 10 January, her Swordfish attacked an Italian convoy without significant effect. Illustrious's air group consisted of 32 Corsairs and 21 Avengers by now and she contributed 12 of her Avengers and 16 Corsairs to the first attack, which destroyed most of the oil storage tanks and cut the refinery's output by half for three months. She began her postrefit trials on 24 June 1946 and flying trials the following month. A Z.501 searching for the fleet was shot down on 10 November by a Fulmar and another on the 11th. This left only 21 aircraft available for the attack. As the Barracudas were needed only for anti-submarine patrols, the former embarked only nine while the latter ship flew off all her Barracudas. Courageux was a heavy 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1753. [7], During her 1943 refits, the flight deck was modified to extend its usable length to 740 feet (225.6m), and "outriggers" were probably added at this time. The attackers were all shot down, but two shells fired by either Indomitable or the battleship King George V struck Illustrious, killing 12 and wounding 21 men. She was sent to Loch Ewe on 30 August for service as a local defence ship. "[55], Without aircraft aboard, she sailed to Alexandria on 23 January escorted by four destroyers, for temporary repairs that lasted until 10 March. The crew's behaviour drew a mixed response from . As built, HMS Unicorn displaced 16,770 tons under standard load and up to 20,600 tons under full load. British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, damaged by Stuka dive bombers on 10 Jan, completed temporary repairs and departed Malta for Alexandria, Egypt with destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Juno, HMS Janus, and HMS Greyhound in escort. HMS Belfast; What's on; Objects & History. [14] This increased her aircraft complement to 47 aircraft by use of a permanent deck park of 6 aircraft. The first wave of a dozen aircraft, all that the ship could launch at one time, flew off by 20:40 and the second wave of nine by 21:34. Captain John Hughes-Hallett relieved Edwards on 14 June. some really good leads ,two good sites I found were World Navalships Froums & the other was Sevicepals.com + I got a crew snap shot prior to them sailing to Crete,some one else maybe interested in this info.Keep me posted Folks if . [83], Formidable's arrival allowed Rawlings to order Illustrious to the advance base in San Pedro Bay, in the Philippines, for a more thorough inspection. [43] Two weeks later, 15 Swordfish attacked Italian positions on Leros,[44] losing one Swordfish. She exchanged them for Firebrands for the return voyage. In the meantime, she continued to conduct operations with the rest of the fleet. British Fleet Air Arm Swordfish aircraft of HMS Illustrious spotted French submarine Le Hros off Courrier Bay, Madagascar at 0500 hours and attacked with depth charges; Le Hros attempted to evade by diving, but ultimately would be forced to surface and would be scuttled by her own crew to prevent capture. The American bombers attacked the shipping in the harbour while the British aircraft attacked the shore installations. [63] Before dawn on 5 May, she launched 18 Swordfish together with 8 Martlets. [9] At some point after 1948, the ship's light AA armament was reduced to two twin and nineteen single 40mm guns and six Oerlikons. On 8 and 9 November the Supermarine 510 research aircraft made the first ever landings by a swept-wing aircraft aboard a carrier. Reconnaissance photos taken by the R.A.F. HMS Illustrious (Illustrious class aircraft carrier) 15.05.1943-(06. 860 Squadrons, Royal Netherlands Naval Aviation Service (RNNAS) for training, as well as 824 Squadron. Her air group now consisted of 36 Corsairs, 16 Avengers and two Supermarine Walrus flying boats for rescue work. Led by HMS Illustrious (aka "Lusty"), elements of the UK's Response Force Task Group (RFTG), left Portsmouth on Oct. 1, to take part to part to a series of exercises around the UK as well . [61], Illustrious's aircraft were tasked to attack French naval units and shipping and to defend the invasion fleet, while her half-sister Indomitable provided air support for the ground forces. In 1951, she helped to transport troops to quell rioting in Cyprus after the collapse of the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936. [37] Three additional Fulmars had been flown aboard from Ark Royal a few days earlier, when both carriers were near Malta; that brought its strength[36] up to 15 Fulmars, 24 Swordfish, and two to four Sea Gladiators. The cover up of Churchill's Operation Paul. HMS Illustrious, nicknamed Lusty, is the last of the Invincible class of aircraft carriers which included the Ark Royal and Invincible, introduced into the navy in the 1980s. All three were shot down for the loss of one Martlet. Illustrious is the last survivor of the Royal Navy's trio of celebrated aircraft carriers . As a result, Illustrious was dispatched to the Indian Ocean instead of returning to the Mediterranean. 854 Squadron was disembarked while at Sydney, but the carrier kept her two Corsair squadrons until after arriving in the UK on 27 June. [6] By 1944, she was severely overcrowded with a total crew of 1,997. [12], The Illustrious-class ships had a flight deck protected by 3 inches (76mm) of armour and the internal sides and ends of the hangars were 4.5 inches (114mm) thick. [67] At the beginning of August, the ship participated in Operation Stab, a decoy invasion of the Andaman Islands to distract the Japanese when the Americans were invading the island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. The bombardment was very effective, sinking two small freighters, and severely damaging the oil storage and port facilities. The design was unique in the sense that the flight deck was armored, unlike many of her contemporaries outside her class; however, the added protection also limited the total number of aircraft she was capable of carrying. [73], Illustrious departed Britain on 30 December and arrived in Trincomalee, Ceylon, on 28 January 1944. En route, the carriers of the 1st ACS attacked Palembang on 24 January and 29 January (Operation Meridian). Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History 19 December 1796 - HMS Courageux (1753/1761 - 74), Lt. John Burrows (Act. [14] These changes increased her aircraft capacity to 57[17] and caused her crew to grow to 1,831. The facilities there could provide only emergency repairs, enough to allow her to reach the bigger dockyard in Sydney. 104105, 108110, Brown 1971, p. 246; Brown, J. D., p. 48; Friedman, p. 147; Hobbs 2013, p. 90; McCart, pp. She was reunited with the four other carriers that served with the BPF for the first time since the war for the Coronation Fleet Review of Queen Elizabeth II on 15 June at Spithead. H.L.St.J. small french chateau house plans; comment appelle t on le chef de la synagogue; felony court sentencing mansfield ohio; accident on 95 south today virginia Nominal List of Ship's Company of HMS Illustrious 1944-45 This list was published in the Beacon Annual 1944-45. Courtesy Imperial War Museums. Her Corsairs claimed four enemy aircraft shot down as did one Avenger pilot who claimed victory over a Nakajima Ki-44 "Tojo" fighter. The following day, the Fireflies of No. A month later the ship began a four-month refit and hosted the first carrier landing of the de Havilland Sea Venom on 9 July 1951. She was commissioned on 20th June 1982 (3 month early during work-up trials, due to the Falklands crisis). In addition the two steel fire curtains in the hangar were replaced by asbestos ones. The Germans had laid mines in the canal earlier. When the 1,000-kilogram (2,200lb) bomb that it was carrying detonated in the water only 50 feet (15.2m) from the side of the ship, the resulting shock wave badly damaged two Corsairs parked on the deck and severely shook the ship. [6], The 753-foot (229.5m) armoured flight deck had a usable length of 620 feet (189.0m), due to prominent "round-downs"[Note 1] at each end designed to reduce the effects of air turbulence caused by the carrier's structure on aircraft taking-off and landing, and a maximum width of 95 feet (29.0m). The carrier's air group consisted of 21 Barracudas and 28 Corsairs for the operation; Illustrious launched 17 of the former escorted by 13 of the latter on the morning of 19 April. Three other Swordfish completed her destruction. Her fighter complement was augmented by 878 and 890 Squadrons, each with 10 Martlet Vs, and 894 Squadron with 10 Seafire IICs. This event was also the first landing of any turboprop aircraft aboard an aircraft carrier. The U-boat War in World War Two (Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945) and World War One (Kaiserliche Marine, 1914-1918) and the Allied efforts to counter the threat. For this operation, her fighters were reinforced by a detachment of three Fulmars from 805 Squadron. Before the Illustrious steamed for Malta she transferred six Seafires to the Unicorn to replace some of the latter's aircraft wrecked in deck-landing accidents. Is there a list of. After the tour's conclusion on 12 May, she sailed for Scottish waters for more deck-landing practice with the destroyer Rocket as her planeguard. Free shipping for many products! She was assigned to Force H for the operation which was tasked to protect the amphibious force from attack by the Italian Fleet and provide air cover for the carriers supporting the assault force. She sailed for Alexandria, Egypt for temporary repairs, and then sailed for the Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia, United States for permanent repairs. ILLUSTRIOUS-Class Fleet Aircraft Carrier ordered on 19th March 1937 from Harland and Wolff Ltd. at Belfast under the 1937 Programme. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. [4], Illustrious was 740 feet (225.6m) in length overall and 710 feet (216.4m) at the waterline. The carrier participated in the early stages of the Battle of Okinawa until mechanical defects arising from accumulated battle damage became so severe she was ordered home early for repairs in May 1945. [29], Upon his arrival in the Mediterranean, Lyster proposed a carrier airstrike on the Italian fleet at its base in Taranto, as the Royal Navy had been planning since the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935, and Admiral Andrew Cunningham, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, approved the idea by 22 September 1940. The multiple hits at the aft end of the carrier knocked out her steering gear, although it was soon repaired. On 3 November she began loading the 39th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division in response to the riots in Cyprus that broke out when Egypt abrogated the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936. She was occasionally used to ferry troops and aircraft to and from foreign deployments as well as participating in exercises. The ship was laid down on 10th November that year and launched on 26th March 1940 as the 3rd RN Warship to carry the name. One Corsair was shot down by Japanese flak although the pilot was rescued after ditching. She was captured by. The oil storage tanks were destroyed and the port facilities badly damaged by the Barracudas. While at anchor in Portland Harbour on 17 October, one of her boats foundered 50 yards (46m) short of the ship in heavy weather; 29 men lost their lives. It dived out of the clouds on the port bow and from the time it emerged from the clouds until the time it hit the water was only 11 seconds. Bad weather degraded the accuracy of the Barracudas and little damage was inflicted aside from a few aircraft destroyed on the ground and a few small craft sunk in the harbour. 15 Naval Fighter Wing with the Vought Corsairs of 1830 and 1833 Squadrons were still training ashore and flew aboard before the work up was finished on 27 December. [1] On 10 September the carrier covered the amphibious landing that opened Operation Streamline Jane, the occupation of the remainder of Madagascar, and the landing at Tamatave eight days later, but no significant resistance was encountered and her aircraft were not needed. [32], Now augmented by reinforcements from the UK, the Mediterranean Fleet detached Illustrious, four cruisers, and four destroyers to a point 170 miles (270km) south-east of Taranto. The two airstrikes had changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean by rendering the Conte di Cavour unavailable for the rest of the war, and badly damaging the Littorio and the Duilio. [7] By 1945, accumulated wear-and-tear as well as undiagnosed shock damage to Illustrious's machinery caused severe vibrations in her centre propeller shaft at high speeds. De Trafford, Stretford, on 3 December 1983. [74], The Saratoga was ordered to depart for home for a refit by 19 May and Somerville wanted to mount one more attack as she was leaving the Indian Ocean. 3233, Brown 1971, pp. Radio. ww2dbaseIn 1944, Illustrious returned to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean for strikes against Japanese garrisons in the Southwest Pacific region. Two years later, she made 29.2 knots from 111,450shp (83,110kW). [80], She arrived on 10 February and repairs began when she entered the Captain Cook Dock in the Garden Island Dockyard the next day, well before it was officially opened by the Duke of Gloucester, the Governor-General of Australia on 24 March. The ship then sailed for Durban, South Africa, to have the extent of her underwater damage assessed in the drydock there. While conducting her post-refit trials, she also conducted flying trials for Martlet Vs and Barracudas. [85], On 1 February, she joined the other ships of the Home Fleet as they rendezvoused with the battleship Vanguard, which was serving as the royal yacht to escort King George VI as he set out for the first royal tour of South Africa. A single hydraulic aircraft catapult was fitted on the forward part of the flight deck. The first flight of 6 Swordfish, carrying torpedoes, unsuccessfully attacked the aviso D'Entrecasteaux, but sank the armed merchant cruiser MSBougainville. This included the battleships Littorio, Vittorio Veneto, Giulio Cesare, Caio Duilio, Andrea Doria, and Conte di Cavour, the first two of those being brand new, along with several cruisers and destroyers. Captain C. T. Jellicoe relieved Carlill on 27 August and the ship ferried 10 Fireflies of 814 Squadron to Malta beginning on 1 October. Second of the Invincible class aircraft carriers, she was in the latter stages of construction at Swan Hunters on the Tyne during Falkland's war of 1982. By the end of 1901, she was fitted or due . The necessity to attack from the south, across the full width of Java, meant that the target was outside the Barracuda's range and 810 and 847 Squadrons were replaced by the 18 Grumman Avengers of 832 and 845 Squadrons for the mission. Her length was 640 feet with a beam of over 90 feet and a draught reaching 23 feet. After returning home in early 1943, the ship was given a lengthy refit and briefly assigned to the Home Fleet. 1977, p. 134 ; Hobbs 2013, pp please consider supporting us on.. Last survivor of the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 her fighter complement was augmented by 878 and 890 Squadrons a! 4 ], Illustrious was 740 feet ( 225.6m ) in length overall 710! Military convoy on passage from Gibraltar to Alexandria her aircraft complement to 47 aircraft by use of a permanent park. 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