HMS Indomitable (92)

HMS "Indomitable" (pennant number 92) was a modified "Illustrious" class aircraft carrier of the British Royal Navy. The "Illustrious" class came about due to the 1937 Naval Programme. She had been designed to the original configuration of the "Illustrious" class, but was soon revised to enable her to operate far more aircraft than her sister-ships were able to.

Construction and early history

She was laid down by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, on 10 November 1937, as war loomed ever closer. She was launched on 26 March 1940 and commissioned the following year in October.

She sailed to the West Indies in November 1941 for her maiden voyage. While there, "Indomitable" ran aground on a coral reef near Jamaica, though she returned to service soon afterwards. This short delay proved fatal for British plans for Singapore: it had been planned that "Indomitable" was to join HMS "Prince of Wales" and HMS "Repulse" in the port of Singapore as part of a deterrent force, "Force Orange", against Japanese aggression in the Far East. The other two capital ships, designated Force Z, did not have adequate air cover, and were sunk by Japanese aircraft (see Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse) when the Japanese landed in Malaya in December 1941. In January 1942 "Indomitable" joined the Eastern Fleet based at Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where she ferried 48 Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricanes for Singapore via Java, during January. These planes again came too late as the British commanders in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in February.

After the fall of Britain's Far Eastern colonies (Hong Kong and Burma also fell) "Indomitable" was redeployed. A new Eastern Fleet was established under the command of Admiral Sir James Somerville. "Indomitable", the only modern aircraft carrier of the Fleet, was a vital asset to the Allies in the Far East; the other carrier, "Hermes", was effectively obsolete. "Hermes", the Australian destroyer HMAS "Vampire", the corvette HMS "Hollyhock", and two tankers were sunk in action against the Japanese in the Indian Ocean.

In May 1942 the British launched Operation Ironclad, the invasion of Vichy-controlled Madagascar. It was feared that the Japanese would themselves occupy Madagascar and use it as a submarine base to attack allied convoy routes in the Indian Ocean.

"Indomitable", her sister-ship "Illustrious", and many other warships converged at Durban, South Africa preparing for the invasion. The assault began on 5 May at Courrier Bay, just west of the actual objective. Sea Hurricanes made their first operationally hostile duties during the invasion and, in their escort role, destroyed three Vichy Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighters on the ground. The following day the Royal Marines launched an assault on the town itself and after bitter fighting that lasted almost two days the strategic town was taken.

The Mediterranean

In July, "Indomitable" returned to the United Kingdom. She was soon back in action, participating in Operation "Pedestal", the largest convoy to supply the besieged island of Malta. This convoy comprised 14 cargo ships and an unprecedentedly large escort of warships: "Cairo", "Charybdis", "Eagle", "Indomitable","Victorious", "Kenya", "Manchester", "Nelson", "Nigeria", "Phoebe", "Rodney", "Sirius", and 32 destroyers. One objective was for "Furious" to launch her Spitfires to land at Malta where they would remain; this was done successfully on 11 August, and "Furious" returned to Gibraltar. During the operation "Indomitable" was hit by two bombs and suffered three near misses; a 500 kg bomb penetrated her armoured flight deck, causing damage that required her to withdraw for repairs. She sailed to the United States, where repairs were completed in February 1943, after which she immediately returned to the Mediterranean. She was torpedoed by a Ju-88 bomber on 15 June while supporting the buildup for the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky), and returned again to the USA where repairs were completed by February 1944.

The Far East

"Indomitable" returned to the Eastern Fleet in early 1944. She and "Victorious" launched effective strikes against Sumatra in August and September. They later launched strikes on the Nicobar Islands, after which "Indomitable" joined up with "Illustrious" for air strikes against Medan and once more against Sumatra on 20 December.

The following year, "Indomitable" joined the British Pacific Fleet. On the 4th of January 1945 she,her sister-ship "Victorious" and another fleet carrier "Indefatigable" attacked Medan. Subsequent actions were taken against Palembang and, yet again, Sumatra, later in January.

On 4 May 1945 she was hit by a Kamikaze, but her armoured flight deck saved her from serious damage. In August, with the war ending, "Indomitable" participated in the reconquest of Hong Kong. Her aircraft flew the carrier's last combat missions of the war and of her career on 31 August and 1 September against Japanese suicide boats which were attacking British forces.

Post war

She returned to the UK in November 1945. In 1947, she was placed in reserve, and then given a refit that took three years, from 1947 to 1950. Late in her refit her boilers were discovered to have only 10 years of life, and the engine spaces had to be torn apart and rebuilt to replace the boilers. Upon the completion of her refit she returned to operational duty with the Home Fleet in far cooler climates than her wartime operations. On 3 February, she was badly damaged by an internal fire and explosion; the damage was later covered in concrete, and was never repaired. She sailed to Elizabeth II's Coronation Review, then did deck landings in the channel , with experimental landing lights , replacing the batman .She returned to the reserve fleet. In October 1953 she was placed in unmaintained reserve. She was sold for scrap in 1955.

Battle honours

*Malta Convoys 1942
*Diego Suarez 1942
*Sicily 1943
*Palembang 1945
*Okinawa 1945

External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/aircraft_carriers/hms_indomitable_92.htm Maritimequest HMS Indomitable photo gallery]
* [http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Ships/Indomitable.html Fleet Air Arm entry for "Indomitable"]
* [http://www.naval-history.net/WW2Memoir-Indomitable-Whiteing1.htm Leading Air Mechanic Maurice Whiteing and his photographic record of HMS Indomitable in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, 1944-45]