Her fighter complement was augmented by 878 and 890 Squadrons, each with 10 Martlet Vs, and 894 Squadron with 10 Seafire IICs. On the afternoon of 6 April, four kamikaze aircraft evaded detection and interception by the CAP, and one, a Yokosuka D4Y3 "Judy" dive bomber, attacked Illustrious in a steep dive. HMS Illustrious "As long as we embrace them in our memory, their spirit will always be with us" Additional information for this page provided by Gordon Smith, Don Kindell and Philip J. Heydon, I.S.M. Illustrious set sail on 23 November and reached Famagusta on 29 November. While returning from another convoy escort mission, the Swordfish of Illustrious and Eagle attacked the Italian airfield on the island of Leros on the evening of 13/14 October. Title: List of survivors on Royal Navy ships from 1941 to 1943 Author: Ministry of Defence Created Date: 5/5/2017 10:03:01 AM Two British aircraft were lost. She was sent to Loch Ewe on 30 August for service as a local defence ship. [32], Repairs were completed before the end of the month, and she escorted a convoy to Greece, during which her Fulmars shot down one shadowing CANT Z.506B floatplane. 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. 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. Although her air group was small (only 15 fighters and 18 bomber aircraft), Illustrious was one of the first warships to be fitted with air-warning radars which gave her a big advantage in fleet defence, as she could detect and track hostile aircraft and give her aircraft time to gain altitude. 2. She spent most of the next several months training although she participated in several sorties with the Eastern Fleet searching for Japanese warships in the Bay of Bengal and near the coast of Sumatra. [46] Four days later Illustrious's aircraft attacked two convoys near the Kerkennah Islands and sank two merchant ships totalling 7,437GRT. The ship was recommissioned in early September. 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. On 22 November she was assigned to the newly formed British Pacific Fleet (BPF), commanded by Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser. Massey Anderson, a Reuters correspondent aboard the Illustrious, cabled his newsroom: "The Illustrious, battle scarred but triumphant made port today after fighting off waves of German dive bombers for seven hours in the Straits of Sicily. Her beam was 95feet 9inches (29.2m) at the waterline and she had a draught of 28feet 10inches (8.8m) at deep load. [53][54] The naval historian J. D. Brown noted that "There is no doubt that the armoured deck saved her from destruction; no other carrier took anything like this level of punishment and survived. [72], She then returned to Britain on 18 October for a quick refit at Birkenhead that included further improvements to the flight deck and the reinforcement of her light anti-aircraft armament. 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. A german dive bomber junkers ju 87 attack hms illustrious 87 aircraft carrier s hd stock footage Background and description Armament electronics and protection Wartime modifications Post war modifications Construction and service Battle of Taranto Subsequent operations in the Mediterranean In the Indian Ocean European waters Her own losses were two Avengers and three Corsairs lost in action and one Avenger and six Corsairs due to non-combat causes. She relieved Triumph as the trials carrier in August and conducted trials on Firefly FR.4s, Firebrand TF.4s, de Havilland Sea Mosquitoes and de Havilland Sea Vampires over the next several months. The initial damage assessment was that little harm had been done, although vibrations had worsened, but this was incorrect as the damage to the hull structure and plating proved to be extensive. In September, it decided that the Illustrious would become the trials and training carrier for the Home Fleet and her repairs were changed into a lengthy refit that lasted until June 1946. Her Corsairs claimed four enemy aircraft shot down as did one Avenger pilot who claimed victory over a Nakajima Ki-44 "Tojo" fighter. The Illustrious-class carriers were of a new school of thinking, providing battlecruiser class armor to purpose-built carriers. In 1945, after a period of rest and re-supply in Fremantle, Australia, she sailed north and joined Allied Task Force 57 to cover the Okinawa operation. [81] By this time the vibration problems with her centre propeller shaft, which had never been properly repaired after she was bombed at Malta, were so bad that the propeller was removed and the shaft locked in place, reducing her maximum speed to 24 knots. The remaining pair engaged a pair of torpedo-carrying SM.79s, damaging one badly enough that it crashed upon landing. Please refrain from using strong language. Ld.Sea Johnson Charles Thomas. 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. "Round downs" were places at the ends of the flight deck that were faired into the hull; they were generally not usable by aircraft or equipment because they were not level. In addition, one Corsair was forced to ditch; the pilot was rescued by a destroyer. With both Illustrious and Eagle under his command, Admiral Cunningham could now take the offensive. After summer leave for her crew, she resumed deck-landing trials in September and October,[86] including the initial trials of the prototype Supermarine Attacker jet-powered fighter in the latter month. With HMS Invincible laid down during July of 1973, HMS Illustrious followed when ordered during May of 1976. As built, HMS Unicorn displaced 16,770 tons under standard load and up to 20,600 tons under full load. [16] After her return to the UK later that year, her Type 79Z radar was replaced by a Type 281 system and a Type 285 gunnery radar was mounted on one of the main fire-control directors. The attacks killed 126 officers and men and wounded 91. 810 Squadron and its Barracudas were transferred off the ship the next day and were later replaced by the Avengers of 854 Squadron. It was around in the late 70's to early 80's. Her ship nickname was Lusty. Italian destroyer Borea was sunk by torpedoes and destroyer Aquilone was damaged by a mine. A Chance-Vought Corsair JT208 buckles a wing on . Copyright 2004-2023 Lava Development, LLC., all rights reserved, Aircraft Carrier Illustrious Photo Gallery, See all 20 photographs of Aircraft Carrier Illustrious, Vickers-Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness, Britain, 6 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 3 Parsons geared turbines, 3 shafts, 8x2 QF 4.5in naval guns, 6x8 QF 2 pounder naval guns. H.L.St.J. Nine Swordfish and five Fulmars were destroyed during the attack. [76], Her sister ships, the Indomitable and the Victorious arrived at the end of June although only the latter's pilots were combat-ready. In Sep 1943, her aircraft covered Allied troops in the Sicily invasion. The attack was very successful at heavy cost; between the two air operations, her squadrons lost five Corsairs to enemy flak or fighters and one due to a mechanical problem on take-off as well as three Avengers to enemy action. Illustrious was a British battleship of the Majestic class, launched in 1894 and sold for scrap in 1920. APRIL 1945, ON . [28], After refuelling in Gibraltar, Illustrious and the battleship Valiant were escorted into the Mediterranean by Force H as part of Operation Hats, during which her Fulmars shot down five Italian bombers and her AA guns shot down two more. Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? In total darkness Fasson and Grazier entered the sinking submarine to capture instruments and documentation fully aware of the dangers. Two months later the carrier was crippled by German dive bombers and was repaired in the United States. During the return voyage to Alexandria, the Italian submarineCorallo made an unsuccessful attack on the British ships. The Japanese aircraft diving on the ILLUSTRIOUS. News stories in brief from around the World. After post-war modifications to convert her into a trials carrier, her complement was reduced to 1,090 officers and enlisted men. Her first assignment brought her to the Mediterranean Sea where her main mission was to launch aircraft which covered Malta convoys. The King and Queen inspected Illustrious and her crew, as did Prime Minister Clement Attlee and his wife. HMS Cumberland carried out offensive sweep in Indian Ocean with HM Battleships Queen Elizabeth, Valiant, HM Battlecruiser Renown, HM Aircraft Carrier Illustrious, HM Cruisers London, Gambia and Ceylon screened by fleet destroyers. [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. Cunliffe, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral C. Moody, CB, RN), HMS Unicorn (Capt. Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson, Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy, was determined not to simply modify the previous unarmoured Ark Royal design. ww2dbaseIllustrious was the lead ship in her class of aircraft carriers. [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. showed three battleships with their decks awash and surrounded by pools of oil. The high-angle director atop the island was replaced with an American SM-1 fighter-direction radar, a Type 293M target-indication system was added, and the Type 281M was replaced with a prototype Type 960 early-warning radar. On 11 Jan 1941, she was attacked by German dive bombers while escorting a convoy, suffering 8 bomb hits. 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. 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