H.M.S. Ark Royal
91
1939
(Neptun 1114)
- Class: Ark Royal - 1 aircraft carrier of 1935
- Displacement: 22,000 tons
- Dimensions: 685 (pp) 800 (oa) x 94.75 x 22.75 ft.
- Machinery: 3-shaft geared turbines, S.H.P. 102,000 = 30.75 knots
- Armor: belt 4.5 in., deck 2.5-3 in.
- Armament: 16-4.5 in. (8x2), 48-2 pdr. A.A. (6x8) guns
- Aircraft: 72
- Complement: 1,536
- Builder: Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
- Laid Down: 16 Sep 1935
- Launched: 13 Apr 1937
- Commissioned: 16 Nov 1938
- Service: Home fleet and South Atlantic 1939, Home and Mediterranean fleets 1940, Force "H" 1941. The first enemy aircraft shot down by the Fleet Air Arm was by one of her Skua aircraft 26 Sep 1939. She participated in the Norwegian campaign Apr-Jun 1940, with her Skuas divebombing and sinking the German cruiser Königsberg at Bergen 10 Apr 1940. Moving to the Mediterranean, her aircraft took part in operations against the French warships at Mers-el-Kebir in Jul 1940, including torpedo attacks against the battlecruisers
Strasbourg and Dunkerque. Her aircraft bombed the Italian port of Cagliari in Aug, she again faced the French at Dakar in Sep, and then saw action against the Italian fleet off Cape Spartivento in Nov. In May 1941 she played a crucial role in the hunt and destruction of the German battleship Bismarck when her Swordfish torpedo bombers scored a hit that jammed the German's rudder. Ferried aircraft and supported several convoys to Malta May-Nov 1941. Airstrikes against Sardinia in Aug and Genoa, Leghorn, and La Spezia in Sep. Torpedoed by German submarine U81 13 Nov 1941 in western Mediterranean; sank next day while under tow off Gibraltar.
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