HMS Indomitable (R92)

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Indomitable
HMS Indomitable (92) underway 1943.jpg
Ship data
flag United KingdomUnited Kingdom (Naval War Flag) United Kingdom
Ship type Aircraft carrier
class Illustrious class
Shipyard Vickers-Armstrong , Barrow
Build number 735
Order July 6, 1937
Keel laying November 10, 1937
Launch March 26, 1940
Commissioning October 10, 1941
Whereabouts 1955 sold for scrap mining
Ship dimensions and crew
length
229.8 m ( Lüa )
205.1 m ( Lpp )
width 29.2 (WL) / 35.4 (FD) m
Draft Max. 8.8 m
displacement 23,000 standard
 
crew 1392, later 2100 men
Machine system
machine 6 × Admiralty 3-drum steam boiler
3 × Parsons - geared turbine
Machine
performance
111,000
Top
speed
30.5 kn (56 km / h)
propeller 3
Armament
Armor
  • Body sides 114 mm
  • Hangar sides 38 mm
  • Flight deck 76 mm
Sensors

radar

HMS Indomitable (R92) was ordered as the fourth Illustrious class ship in 1937 . In October 1941, the aircraft carrier was completed according to a construction plan that has since changed. By adding another deck, this carrier could accommodate more aircraft than the sister ships. The porter was awarded the Battle Honors Diego Suarez 1942 , Malta Convoys 1942 , Sicily 1943 , Palembang 1944 and Okinawa 1945 during World War II .

Indomitable was badly damaged by dive bombers of the German Air Force on August 12, 1942 and an Italian torpedo bomber on July 16, 1943 in the Mediterranean, and each failed for several months. At the end of August 1945 she belonged to the British naval association that took Hong Kong back under British sovereignty.

Construction and start of operation

The aircraft carriers of the Illustrious class were intended for possible use in the Mediterranean against Italy and in the North Sea against Germany and, with their armor on the flight deck and hangar, should withstand gunfire from 15 cm shells and 250 kg bombs from land planes to be able to use their armament, the aircraft. In contrast to its three predecessors, the Indomitable was redesigned during its construction to be able to carry 48 aircraft instead of only 36. Instead of one hall, the carrier got two halls that were built one above the other. In order to compensate for the additional weight of an additional deck with the second hall, the side armor of the halls was reduced. The lower hall was half the size of the upper hall. The rest of the additional deck was needed for workshops and the accommodation of the additional personnel of a stronger aircraft group. She remained such a single ship.

The Indomitable was ordered on July 6, 1937 at Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow . This shipyard had already received the order for the Illustrious , the type ship of the class. The keel of the fourth ship of the class was laid on November 10, 1937, just seven months after the type ship. Launching and christening by Clementine Churchill , the wife of the Minister of the Navy , took place on March 26, 1940 and the commissioning on October 10, 1941.

To train the crew and their aircraft group (nine Fulmar , nine Sea Hurricane , 24 Albacore ), the Indomitable moved to the Caribbean , where it was slightly damaged on November 3, 1941 by hitting a coral reef off Jamaica . The carrier intended for use with the Eastern Fleet was therefore not ready in time to reinforce the fleet formation newly formed there because of the danger of war with Japan, which wanted to attack the Japanese landing forces without adequate air security, including Prince of Wales and Repulse on December 10th Lost by Japanese aircraft in 1941.
After marching through the South Atlantic and around the Cape of Good Hope , the Indomitable was picked up on January 9, 1942 by the Australian destroyers Nestor , Napier and Nizam off Aden , who mostly secured the porter until April.

The carrier gave his aircraft group largely on land in Aden, as he was to transport aircraft. He ran with the destroyers to Port Sudan , where he took on board 50 RAF hurricane fighters that were supposed to reinforce Singapore's air defense . Via British bases in the Indian Ocean, the association ran to a position southwest of Sumatra, from which 48 Hurricanes started for Batavia on January 27th . The combat contribution of these machines remained small, as the majority were devastated in the Japanese attacks on the Dutch East Indies . After supplying the Eastern Fleet of the Royal Navy on Ceylon , the unit ran again into the Red Sea to take another aircraft load on board, which was then transported to Bombay because of the dramatically deteriorating situation of the Allied forces in Southeast Asia .

Use in the Eastern Fleet

In anticipation of a Japanese carrier attack, the new fleet chief Somerville took a position south of Ceylon and divided the fleet into two groups. The fast group consisted of the aircraft carriers Indomitable and the Formidable , which arrived in March 1942 , the battleship Warspite , the cruisers Enterprise and Emerald , and the destroyers Foxhound , Hotspur , Napier , Nestor , Paladin and Panther . She refueled at Addu Atoll when the British recognized the Japanese attack. The group's attempt to find the retreating attackers failed, although the porters probably approached within 200 nm and both parties carried out regular reconnaissance flights at this distance. See also attack in the Indian Ocean

In May 1942, Indomitable was involved in the landing on the island of Madagascar, which belongs to Vichy France ( Operation Ironclad ), together with the Illustrious, which was also newly arrived after repair . This meant that three of the four modern carriers of the Royal Navy were in the Indian Ocean. On May 8, Indomitable was attacked by the French submarine Monge , but the submarine was sunk by the accompanying destroyers Active and Panther .

After completing the first landing phase, the carrier remained with the Eastern Fleet and improved the training of the crew and secured convoys and allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. After a brief overhaul in South Africa, the ship was ordered to Gibraltar in the summer of 1942. The carrier was accompanied by the destroyers Laforey , Lightning and Lookout . From Freetown the anti-aircraft cruiser Phoebe joined the association.

Mediterranean Sea

In August 1942, the Indomitable met with their association in the sea area between the Azores and Gibraltar with the Victorious coming from the Home Fleet (accompanied by Sirius and six destroyers) and the Eagle coming from the Force H (accompanied by Charybdis and three destroyers) to practice the task at hand for the three porters. They were to carry out Operation Pedestal , the largest convoy to Malta , which was supposed to supply the island with supplies to prevent the besieged island from surrendering to Italy and Germany. Other units took part in the multi-day exercise.

The operation began on August 9, and was recognized early by the Axis powers and attacked from the air and with submarines. When a German submarine sank the Eagle on the morning of the 11th , the convoy with its 16 Sea Hurricanes had already lost a considerable part of its air defense capabilities. On the evening of the 12th, the Indomitable was hit by three 500 kg bombs from German Ju 87 Stukas , which made the flight deck unusable. After a short time the porter was able to resume driving and put out a fire that had broken out. His machines, which were in the air when the hits were hit, had to land on the Victorious , which, however, had to give unmatchable machines overboard in order to remain operational. The heavily damaged Indomitable started the march back, which the cover association soon followed, since with the remaining carrier neither an air support of the convoy marching on to Malta nor the cover association within the range of the Axis air forces could be represented.

Indomitable had to go to the USA for repairs . The flight deck was prepared beforehand in Gibraltar in such a way that it was possible to use some aircraft to secure against submarines for the crossing. The ship was repaired by January 1943.

In February the carrier returned to Great Britain and received a new radar system there. Their tests and the break-in of a new crew took place at Home Fleet. From June 17, 1943, the Indomitable moved from Scapa Flow back to the Mediterranean to support the Allied landing in Sicily ( Operation Husky ). The carrier was assigned to a British unit in the Ionian Sea , which was supposed to prevent the Italian fleet from intervening in the landing area. On July 16, 1943, a machine flying towards the carrier was mistaken for a machine of its own for too long. Evasive maneuvers that had been initiated came too late to prevent the torpedo hit by an Italian SM.79 Sparviero . The flooding of part of the hull on the undamaged side prevented the ship from capsizing, which was sailing to Malta at 11 knots, where a makeshift repair restored the porter's seaworthiness. He could then run to Gibraltar.

Accompanied by the destroyers Obdurate , Obedient and Opportune , the carrier then ran via Bermuda back to the USA, where repairs were carried out at the naval shipyard in Norfolk . The carrier did not return to Great Britain until May 1944.

Indian Ocean and Pacific

On June 12, 1944, the Indomitable left Great Britain with the Victorious to move through the Mediterranean to Trincomalee , where they arrived on July 5. The Eastern Fleet then had three fleet carriers with the Illustrious, which had been in use since January 1944 . From August to November 1944, Indomitable was involved in four missions against Japanese-occupied targets on the Nicobar Islands and in the Dutch East Indies, along with one or two other carriers.

On November 22nd, the British Pacific Fleet was formed from a part of the Eastern Fleet, which then included the battleship Howe , the carriers Illustrious , Victorious and Indomitable as well as the Indefatigable, which arrived on December 4th, with Rear Admiral Vian on board. In addition there were the cruisers Black Prince , Ceylon , the New Zealand Gambia and Achilles as well as three destroyer flotillas ( 4th destroyer flotilla (DF) with the Q-class , the 25th DF with the U-class and the 27th DF with the W-class ), which, however, had not all arrived yet. Other units, such as the King George V. , Swiftsure , Argonaut arrived in December. More followed in the course of 1945.

The first missions of the new fleet were similar to the attacks carried out previously. Admiral Vian had chosen the Indomitable as his flagship and attacked Belawan -Deli and Medan with this and the Illustrious on December 17 and 20 , whereby only one machine was lost. The two carriers were secured by the cruisers Newcastle , Black Prince and Argonaut as well as the destroyers Kempenfelt , Wager , Wakeful , Wessex , Whelp , Whirlwind and Wrangler of the 27th DF. Another advance by Indomitable followed with the other two sponsors. The cruisers Suffolk and Ceylon were used as security for Newcastle and in addition to three destroyers of the 27th DF, Grenville , Urania , Undaunted , Undine and Ursa of the 25th DF were used. The target of the attack on January 4, 1945 was the oil refineries of Pangkalan-Brandan (NE Sumatra). A machine was also lost during this operation.

Off Okinawa , the Indomitable was hit by a Kamikaze aircraft on May 4, 1945 , with its armored flight deck protecting it from serious damage. On August 30, 1945, the aircraft carrier drove into the port of Hong Kong as part of a British warship group to receive the surrender of the Japanese garrison there .

post war period

In November 1945 the aircraft carrier returned to England. In 1947 a three-year major overhaul of the ship began. After completing the major overhaul, the carrier was ordered to join the British home fleet . On February 3, 1953, she was badly damaged by a fire inside the ship combined with an explosion. In June 1953 an improved mirror deck landing system was installed on the Indomitable and then tried and further improved in a series of tests. With the introduction of the mirror deck landing system and the tests on the Indomitable , the entire landing process on aircraft carriers could be significantly improved.

The ship's squadrons

Season Aircraft type on board Remarks
800 Fairey Fulmar II October 22, 1941 to May 22, 1942 delivered after thong
827 Fairey Albacore I October 13, 1941 to August 27, 1942 Carrier failed after bombing on August 12th
831 Fairey Albacore I October 15, 1941 to August 27, 1942
March 3 to May 19, 1943
Carrier failed after bomb hits
880 Sea Hurricane Ib October 10, 1941 to August 27, 1942 Carrier failed after bomb hits
806A Grumman Martlet  II April 23, 1942 to August 27, 1942 Carrier failed after bomb hits
817 Fairey Albacore I March 11 to August 20, 1943 canceled after torpedo hit on July 16, Z-Flight secures transfer in USA
880 2 Supermarine Seafire  IIc March 3 to July 29, 1943 failed after torpedo hit,
899 Seafire IIc March 11 to July 29, 1943 failed after torpedo hit,
807 Seafire L.IIc June 2 to July 29, 1943 failed after torpedo hit,
854 Grumman Avenger II April 10 to May 1, 1944 Transfer USA - UK
1839 Grumman Hellcat  I, II July 25, 1944 to October 11, 1945
1844 Grumman Hellcat I, II July 25, 1944 to October 10, 1945
854 Grumman Avenger II, I November 27, 1944 to October 11, 1945
801 Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 November 24, 1950 to March 30, 1952 given to HMS Glory
813 Fairey Firebrand TF.5 November 24, 1950 to December 6, 1951
815 Fairey Barracuda TR.3 April 27 to June 24, 1951 AS school relay
802 Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 May 8 to July 5, 1951 also T.20
820 Fairey Firefly AS.6 January 17, 1952 to May 8, 1953
826 Fairey Firefly AS.6 January 17, 1952 to May 7, 1953
809 de Havilland Sea Hornet NF.21 June 17 to July 3, 1952
804 Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 January 16 to May 7, 1953

The End

After the deck landing tests, the Indomitable was part of the reserve fleet and eventually sold for scrapping. On September 30, 1955, she arrived in Faslane-on-Clyde for her demolition.

literature

  • Roger Chesneau: Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present - An Illustrated Encyclopedia , Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1984.
  • Norman Friedman: British Carrier Aviation: The Evolution of the Ships and Their Aircraft. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland 1988, ISBN 0-87021-054-8 .
  • David Hobbs: British Aircraft Carriers: Design, Development and Service Histories. Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley 2013, ISBN 978-1-84832-138-0 .
  • David Hobbs: The British Pacific Fleet: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strike Force. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2011, ISBN 978-1-59114-044-3 .
  • Neil McCart: The Illustrious & Implacable Classes of Aircraft Carrier 1940-1969. Fan Publications, Cheltenham 2000, ISBN 1-901225-04-6 .
  • Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak VerlagsGmbH, Herrsching 1968, ISBN 3-88199-009-7 .
  • Ray Sturtivant: The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. Air-Britain (Historians), Tonbridge 1984, ISBN 0-85130-120-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ J. Rohwer / G. Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Maritime War 1939–1945 , May 4–8, 1942 Indian Ocean, British landing on Madagascar (Operation Ironclad).
  2. Christopher Chant: Codenames of World War II , Operation Berserk
  3. J. Rohwer / G. Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945 , 10–15 August 1942 Mediterranean, Operation Pedestal.
  4. J. Rohwer / G. Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945 , July 11–31, 1943 Mediterranean Sea, continuation of Operation Husky.
  5. Rohwer: naval warfare, 11.- 24 December 1944 Indian Ocean
  6. ^ Rohwer: Sea War, January 2-4, 1945 Indian Ocean
  7. J. Rohwer / G. Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945 , Manfred Pawlak Verlagsgesellschaft, Herrsching without the year, page 570.
  8. ^ David Hobbs: A Century of Carrier Aviation , Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley 2009, p. 211.
  9. Sturtivant: The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. , First Line Squadrons, p.155 ff. With articles and information on each season