To submit a photo, biographical information or correction please email the webmaster. 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. She returned to Portsmouth on 19 November and began loading the 45th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, and the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment two days later. Germans records show the loss of three Stukas, with another forced to make an emergency landing. About Us; Staff; Camps; Scuba. The Type 281 radar was replaced by an upgraded Type 281M, and a single-antenna Type 79M was added. [52][53], While her steering was being repaired in Malta, the Illustrious was bombed again on 16 January by 17 Junkers Ju 88 medium bombers and 44 Stukas. The oil refineries at the Wonokromo district of Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies and the nearby Braat Engineering Works were struck by British and American carrier aircraft struck by carrier aircraft of the Royal Navys Eastern Fleet made up of carriers HMS Illustrious and USS Saratoga escorted by HMS Cumberland, HMS Renown, USS Cummings, and others. A hangar fire broke out on 2 April that destroyed 11 aircraft and killed one crewman, but failed to cause any serious damage to the ship. Two months later the carrier was crippled by German dive bombers and was repaired in the United States. [58] The work was completed in November and Illustrious departed on 25 October, for trials off Jamaica and to load the dozen Swordfish of 810 and 829 Squadrons. Second, it is to showcase HMS Illustrious' casualty list was terrible: 126 dead and 91 wounded. It also blew a hole in the hangar deck, damaging areas three decks below. As the Barracudas were needed only for anti-submarine patrols, the former embarked only nine while the latter ship flew off all her Barracudas. [13], While under repair in 1941, Illustrious's rear "round-down" was flattened to increase the usable length of the flight deck to 670 feet (204.2m). Vice Admiral Sir Bernard Rawlings, commander of Task Force 57, ordered the recently arrived Formidable to join the task force to replace Illustrious on 8 April. These latter aircraft lacked folding wings and could not fit on the lifts. JUNE 1945, ON BOARD HMS ILLUSTRIOUS. The remaining pair engaged a pair of torpedo-carrying SM.79s, damaging one badly enough that it crashed upon landing. 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. Occasionally, we would get a direct hit with our small practice bombs, and it must have been an earthshattering experience for the boat crew because it was an unwritten law that any pilot getting a direct hit on the boat would deliver a previous page page_29 next page > previous page page_30 next page > Page 30 case of cold beer to the crew. She was paid off in early 1955 and sold for scrap in late 1956. Courtesy Imperial War Museums. H.L.St.J. Sold for scrap The end of the war several weeks later meant that there was no longer any urgency in refitting the Illustrious in time to participate in the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands and the Admiralty decided that she would become the Home Fleet training and trials carrier. The RN planned to fit her out as a flagship, remove her aft 4.5-inch guns in exchange for increased accommodation, and replace some of her Oerlikons with single two-pounder AA guns, but the end of the war in August caused the RN to reassess its needs. Her air group was reinforced at this time by four more Martlets each for 878 and 890 Squadrons. The necessity to attack from the south, across the full width of Java, meant that the target was outside the Barracuda's range and 810 and 847 Squadrons were replaced by the 18 Grumman Avengers of 832 and 845 Squadrons for the mission. The two flare droppers also bombed the oil storage depot with minimal effect, and one bomb penetrated through the hull of the heavy cruiser Trento without detonating. . Illustrious was the lead ship in her class of aircraft carriers. One Avenger crashed on take-off and an American Avenger was shot down over the target; only one small ship was sunk, and little damage was done to the refinery. The destroyer Aquilone later struck one of the mines and sank. 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. [8] On 24 May 1940 Illustrious ran her sea trials and her engines reached 113,700shp (84,800kW). HMS Illustrious, nicknamed Lusty, is the last of the Invincible class of aircraft carriers which included the Ark Royal and Invincible, introduced into the navy in the 1980s. She next put to sea on 24 April 1953 for trials and did not resume training pilots until the following month. 21 TBR Wing were landed to make room for the additional fighters. [64][65] Illustrious' aircraft flew 209 sorties and suffered six deck landing crashes, including four by Martlets. Three other Swordfish completed her destruction. On 18 July she rendezvoused with the Home Fleet to participate in manoeuvres before George VI reviewed the fleet on 2223 July. These ships proceeded through the Minches and were joined around 1100/31 by the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious (Capt. [89] Illustrious resumed her duties in early 1949 and conducted trials and training for Avengers, Fireflies, Gloster Meteors, de Havilland Sea Hornets, Vampires and Seafires. The Stukas also near-missed Illustrious with two bombs, which caused minor damage and flooding. She began permanent repairs in June that were scheduled to last four months. Lieut (A) J H Clarke, RNZNVR, Otorohanga, NZ, and Maintenance Crew. After arriving in Trincomalee, 1837 Squadron was transferred to the Victorious. [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. The bombardment was very effective, sinking two small freighters, and severely damaging the oil storage and port facilities. [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. HMS Illustrious 'suicide Bombed'. The destroyer Fulmine,[39] or Conte di Cavour,[40] shot down the aircraft that put a torpedo into the latter ship, but the remaining aircraft returned to Illustrious. On 10 June Hughes-Hallet was relieved by Captain Eric Clifford. HMS Illustrious was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy before World War II. [93] Another model of Illustrious in her late-war appearance is at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in RNAS Yeovilton. A list of the crew, with their Register Ticket numbers, to be filed for a foreign-going ship on sailing. HMS Hermes, was converted to a helicopter carrier, and then to a vertical take-off and landing aircraft carrier - suitable for the Harrier jump jets which were invaluable to military efforts during the Falklands War. 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. (Operation Diplomat). The carrier's air group consisted of 21 Barracudas and 28 Corsairs for the operation; Illustrious launched 17 of the former escorted by 13 of the latter on the morning of 19 April. Corsairs of the HMS Illustrious ranged before taking off to strafe Japanese airfields in Sumatra. On 11 Jan 1941, she was attacked by German dive bombers while escorting a convoy, suffering 8 bomb hits. The noise of the on-coming first airstrike was heard at 22:25 and the anti-aircraft guns defending the port opened fire shortly afterwards, as did those on the ships in the harbour. [92] A model of HMS Illustrious in 1940is on display at the Monaco Naval Museum. One bomb struck and destroyed the starboard forward "pom-pom" mount closest to the island, while another passed through the forwardmost port "pom-pom" mount and failed to detonate, although it did start a fire. During a severe gale in late October, the ship aided the small coastal steamer SSYewpark that had lost power. [18] The sum total of the changes since her commissioning increased her full-load displacement by 2,520 long tons (2,560t). The torpedo-carrying aircraft of the first wave scored one hit on the battleship Conte di Cavour and two on the recently completed battleship Littorio while the two flare droppers bombed the oil storage depot with little effect. The carrier launched four replacements at 12:35, just when 2436 Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers of the First Group/Dive Bomber Wing 1 (I. Gruppe/Sturzkampfgeschwader (StG) 1) and the Second Group/Dive Bomber Wing 2 (II. Captain C. T. Jellicoe relieved Carlill on 27 August and the ship ferried 10 Fireflies of 814 Squadron to Malta beginning on 1 October. After post-war modifications to convert her into a trials carrier, her complement was reduced to 1,090 officers and enlisted men. She set sail two days later and arrived at Famagusta on 11 November. This included the battleships Littorio, Vittorio Veneto, Giulio Cesare, Caio Duilio, Andrea Doria, and Conte di Cavour, the first two of those being brand new, along with several cruisers and destroyers. sgtpepperband. This attack was intercepted by six of the ship's Fulmars which had rearmed and refuelled ashore after they had dropped their bombs, but only two of the dive bombers were damaged before the Fulmars ran out of ammunition. Lava's technical capabilities. But he felt HMS Illustrious offered vital air cover and an equally important boost in morale. Type 282 gunnery radars were added for each of the "pom-pom" directors, and the rest of the main directors were fitted with Type 285 radars. The World War II Database is founded and managed by British carrier HMS Illustrious and the escort carrier HMS Atheling, with covering forces, began a series of diversionary raids on Sabang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, with the goal of tying down Japanese forces during the American Operation Forager attack on the Mariana Islands. 2. The multiple hits at the aft end of the carrier knocked out her steering gear, although it was soon repaired. 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. She was commissioned on 20th June 1982 (3 month early during work-up trials, due to the Falklands crisis). 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. 4 Squadron, RNNAS and 824 Squadron landed aboard for more deck-landing training. [6], The 753-foot (229.5m) armoured flight deck had a usable length of 620 feet (189.0m), due to prominent "round-downs"[Note 1] at each end designed to reduce the effects of air turbulence caused by the carrier's structure on aircraft taking-off and landing, and a maximum width of 95 feet (29.0m). As the world's first battle cruiser, HMS Invincible was by any measure a revolutionary and important warship. The first operation carried out by both carriers was an airstrike on the small naval base at Sabang at the northern tip of Sumatra (Operation Cockpit). 810 Squadron was the only unit retained from her previous air group and it had been re-equipped with Barracudas during her refit. It was one of 3 Inviciible -class light carriers. The British Royal Navy, particularly, suffered a damaging defeat after the Japanese raids into the Indian Ocean in Mar-Apr 1942. It dived out of the clouds on the port bow and from the time it emerged from the clouds until the time it hit the water was only 11 seconds. 2627; Sturtivant, p. 327, Brown 1971, p. 257; Brown, J. D., pp. Captain Ralph Edwards relieved Stephens on 7 January 1947. If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. [83], Formidable's arrival allowed Rawlings to order Illustrious to the advance base in San Pedro Bay, in the Philippines, for a more thorough inspection. 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