[8], The Washington and London Naval treaties had restricted warship tonnage for a number of nations after the end of the great war and were both to expire by the end of 1936.

[101] About half an hour after the explosion, the carrier appeared to stabilise.

[83] Ark Royal, Renown, and Sheffield—accompanied by Faulknor, Foresight, Forester, Fortune, Foxhound, and Fury—were dispatched to the Atlantic on 23 May to search for the battleship. British carrier HMS Ark Royal launched 14 Hurricane fighters to reinforce Malta. Thank you also Graham. Once power was then lost, it was impossible to prevent the ship from sinking—her fate was more the result of design flaws than of the actions of her captain. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship1201.html, Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk, Census information Crown Copyright, from www.natio, RootsChat.com, Europa House, Bury, Lancashire, BL9 5BT United Kingdom. For more information, please see our privacy policy, Please enter a password with 6 characters or more. [3] The economic downturn following the First World War caused it to be postponed. [4] Six[1] 8-barrelled 2-pounder (40-millimetre (1.57 in)) "pom-pom" guns were located on the flight deck, in front of and behind the superstructure island, while eight 4-barrelled .50-inch (12.7 mm) machine guns were installed on small projecting platforms to the front and rear of the flight deck. We are not sure if he survived or went down with the ship but if we could find a crew list, we would at least have a first name to help with our search. This was the first time the Royal Navy had deployed carriers with the primary purpose of providing fighter protection for other warships. Destroyer escorts counterattacked with 130 depth charges, but U-81 would escape. [39], On December 14, 1939, Graf Spee had put into Montevideo to repair damage received during the battle of the River Plate. [12] Following this, Ark Royal proceeded to Portsmouth to take on supplies and personnel, before sailing to Scapa Flow.

While in port, Captain Arthur Power left the ship for a promotion to the Admiralty, and was replaced by Captain Cedric Holland.

Three torpedoes hit the battleship: two detonated forward of the engine rooms, while the third struck the starboard steering compartment and jammed her rudder in a 15° port turn.

Ark Royal and Glorious—screened by the destroyers Highlander, Diana, Acasta, Ardent, and Acheron—sailed from Scapa Flow on 1 June to cover the evacuation, which commenced the next day. Researchers originally thought the wreck had been carried by currents farther into the Mediterranean as she sank—that the ship had travelled eastwards underwater before reaching the seabed. As a result, comprehensive damage control measures were not initiated until 49 minutes after the attack.

Fifteen Swordfish bombers were armed with torpedoes and sent to delay the ship. The remainder of the crew, crammed aboard the support vessels, returned to Gibraltar and lived to fight another day. The crew were assembled on the flight deck to determine who would remain on board to try to save the ship while Legion came alongside to take off the rest. [80] The convoy survived without serious damage: the only casualties were to mines, with the Empire Song sunk and New Zealand Star damaged but able to reach port. She is certain that he was on the Ark Royal.

[77], The British convoy came under air attack on 8 May, first by the Italian air force, then German Luftwaffe. Later that month, she and fellow aircraft carrier Furious delivered Hawker Hurricanes to support Malta. [72] The next day, Ark Royal re-established air patrols in the hope of re-locating the raiders. [91], Ark Royal was pressed into service, delivering aircraft to Malta during several supply runs throughout June and July, and escorting the convoys of Operation Substance in July and Operation Halberd in September. Due to bad weather conditions and a day later that expected, 28 Hurricanes took off from Ark Royal and a further six from Argus, escorted by Bristol Blenheims overhead, headed for Malta to reinforce the beleaguered island. The sinking of U-39 was hailed as important to morale.

[21], Ark Royal's armament was designed with anti-aircraft warfare in mind, as aircraft were expected to be the main threat; ships and submarines could be outrun or dealt with by escorts. [18] Although intended for the Far East, events in Europe during the carrier's construction, including the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935 and the Spanish Civil War in 1936, caused the Admiralty to mark her for deployment with the Home and Mediterranean Fleets.

The ships sailed to Gibraltar to await orders.

This page has been archived and is no longer updated. [58] From Alexandria, Ark Royal was detached and sent to West Africa to support British attempts to encourage Vichy French colonies to switch allegiance to the Free French.

In 1931 work commenced on the design of a new Fleet Aircraft Carrier which would be the first of a new generation of this type of warship.

[28] Three F-class destroyers escorting the carrier began to depth charge U-39, and forced her to the surface. The convoy consisted of five large transport ships, escorted by Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Renown, the battleship Queen Elizabeth, the cruisers Sheffield, Naiad, Fiji, and Gloucester, and screened by destroyers of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla.

[111], The location of the wreck was undetermined until mid-December 2002, when the wreck was discovered by an underwater survey company, C & C Technologies, Inc, using a sonar-equipped autonomous underwater vehicle, 30 nautical miles (35 mi; 56 km) from Gibraltar, at about 1000 metres depth. [99] The ship's continued motion enlarged the hole in the hull, and by the time Ark Royal stopped she had taken on a great deal of water and begun to list to starboard, reaching 18° from centre within 20 minutes. [34] This was an embarrassment for Goebbels and Nazi propaganda. People missing from this listing? Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, England, and completed in November 1938. RootsChat.com cannot be held responsible directly or indirectly for the messages or content posted by others. A large debris field, which includes the funnel and bridge island, parts of the ship that came loose as the carrier sank, and aircraft from the hangars, lay between the two hull sections. [44] Operation Alphabet was instigated to move Allied troops from Narvik to Britain.

To avoid endangering other ships with the frequent course changes associated with flight operations, Ark Royal would have to break away from accompanying ships, and catch up on completion.

On 1 May, the Germans tried to sink the carrier, with numerous air attacks through the day. An attack by Ark Royal's Skuas took place at midnight on 13 June.

[96] A 130-by-30-foot (39.6 m × 9.1 m) hole was created on the ship's bottom and on the starboard side below the water-line by the torpedo, which was judged to have run deep, striking the bilge keel where it detonated, inboard of the side protection system.

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