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HMS Hermes (1923) CV (9th) |
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This the ninth ship to carry the name HMS Hermes was the first aircraft carrier to be designed as
such from the outset in the UK.
She was laid down in Jan-1918 but not completed until 1923. She spent most of her life until the mid-1930's in the China station. Returned to the UK 1937 as a floating new intake school based at Plymouth. She was due to be paid off in 1939 but this was put off as war clouds gathered. At the outbreak of war Hermes was re-manned and served with the Channel Fleet to escort the British Expeditionary Force to France. She then went to Dakar to operate with the French Navy against submarines and surface raiders. So by December 1939 she was in the South Atlantic hunting commerce raiders. February 1941 saw her in the Indian Ocean operating against Italian Somaliland. Then the South Indian Ocean hunting for the commerce raider Admiral Scheer. Trade and convoy protection duties continued in the Indian Ocean for the rest of 1941. On Easter Day 1942 Japanese carrier borne aircraft struck Colombo in Ceylon. Hermes was the only carrier anywhere nearby and she was sighted by a Japanese reconnaissance plane. Shortly after being sighted she was attacked by Japanese aircraft and sunk. Won the Battle Honours: Atlantic 1940.
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This page last edited -
24 June, 2012.
Copyright © Ian M King, except where otherwise indicated. |
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