HMS Hermes

1942

Ceylon, Nagumo's raid, the first purpose-built carrier Location: Indian Ocean, off Batticaloa, Ceylon · Coordinates: 7.48°N 82.25°E · Casualties: 307 · Survivors: ~580 · Depth: 54 m · Cause: aerial attack — Intercepted south of Trincomalee on the morning of 9 April 1942 by 85 Japanese carrier aircraft during Admiral Nagumo's Indian Ocean raid. No fighter cover was available; she was struck by approximately forty bombs in ten minutes. Sank in twenty minutes. · Fate: war grave · diveable · Type: aircraft carrier · Tonnage: 10,850 tons · Crew: 664 · Flag: United Kingdom · Launched: 1919 The first purpose-built aircraft carrier in history, commissioned in 1924. Intercepted south of Trincomalee on the morning of 9 April 1942 by 85 Japanese carrier aircraft during Admiral Nagumo's Indian Ocean raid: no fighter cover, forty bombs in ten minutes. Sank in twenty minutes, 307 dead. The first aircraft carrier ever sunk by enemy carrier aircraft. The Vessel HMS Hermes was a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, the first warship in the world to be designed and built from the keel as a purpose-built aircraft carrier. She was laid down at Armstrong Whitworth at Elswick in 1918, launched on 11 September 1919, and commissioned on 19 February 1924 after an extended period of interwar delay during which her design features were extensively modified. The long fitting-out period reflected the Royal Navy's continuing uncertainty about carrier design principles. She was 182 metres long, 10,850 tons, and could operate approximately 20 aircraft. Her design incorporated many of the features that would become standard for subsequent carriers: a single full-length flight deck, a starboard-side island superstructure, and a single enclosed hangar. Her design speed of 25 knots, on single-shaft Parsons turbines, was adequate for the interwar period. Her interwar service had taken her across the Empire: she served in the Mediterranean Fleet, the China Station, the West Indies Station, and the Atlantic Fleet successively through 1924-1939. She had been the Royal Navy's principal carrier presence in the Far East for much of the 1930s. Her commanding officer in early 1942 was Captain Richard Onslow, 40 years old, a career naval aviator with pre-war carrier experience. The Disaster At 10:30 on 9 April 1942, approximately 100 kilometres south-southeast of Trincomalee, Hermes and Vampire were sighted by Japanese search aircraft. At 10:35 a strike force of 85 Japanese carrier aircraft (Aichi D3A Val dive bombers and escorting A6M Zero fighters) was launched against the British force. The Japanese strike reached Hermes at 10:50. Approximately 45 dive bombers attacked her in succession over the following ten minutes. The attack was, by the standards of carrier-versus-carrier engagements in 1942, unusually one-sided: Hermes had no fighter cover and no carrier aircraft of her own aloft. Her anti-aircraft armament (six 5.5-inch guns and three 4-inch anti-aircraft guns) was inadequate against a coordinated 45-aircraft dive-bombing attack. Hermes was struck by approximately 40 bombs in 10 minutes. Her superstructure was destroyed; her flight deck was ploughed from end to end; her hangar deck caught fire. She listed to starboard; her damage-control teams were overwhelmed. Captain Onslow ordered abandon-ship at 11:00 on 9 April 1942. Hermes rolled onto her starboard side and sank at 11:00 at approximately 7°30′N 81°50′E in approximately 54 metres of water. HMAS Vampire was also attacked during the engagement; she was hit by four bombs and sank at 11:02. The combined casualty count for Hermes and Vampire was 307 dead: 302 from Hermes, 5 from Vampire. The Japanese air strike suffered the loss of three aircraft.