HMS ILLUSTRIOUS ASSOCIATION The 5th HMS ILLUSTRIOUS was named and launched on 1st December 1978 by HRH Princess Margaret and Admiral of the Fleet, Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Italian merchant ships Gloria Stella and Maria Eugenia were also sunk. She was sent to Loch Ewe on 30 August for service as a local defence ship. 47273, Brown 1971; pp. She was reunited with the four other carriers that served with the BPF for the first time since the war for the Coronation Fleet Review of Queen Elizabeth II on 15 June at Spithead. Courtesy Imperial War Museums. The following day, the Fireflies of No. The attackers were all shot down, but two shells fired by either Indomitable or the battleship King George V struck Illustrious, killing 12 and wounding 21 men. It gives details of over 439,000 Royal Navy and Merchant Seamen records which are searchable by name, rank, age and ship. On the morning of 7 May, Martlets from 881 Squadron intercepted three Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighters on a reconnaissance mission. 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. Eight Corsair and 15 Barracuda aircraft attacked the Japanese airfield and harbour. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 111,000shp (83,000kW), enough to give a maximum speed of 30 knots (56km/h; 35mph) at deep load. Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. HMS Illustrious was a light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and the second of three Invincible -class ships constructed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. HMS Illustrious was a light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and the second of three Invincible-class ships constructed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Italian destroyer Borea was sunk by torpedoes and destroyer Aquilone was damaged by a mine. While the precise details on activities of the carrier's squadrons are not readily available, it is known that the commanding officer of 854 Squadron was forced to ditch his Avenger on the morning of 27 March with the loss of both his crewmen; he was ultimately rescued that evening by an American submarine. THE AIRPLANE SCRAPED . [28], After refuelling in Gibraltar, Illustrious and the battleship Valiant were escorted into the Mediterranean by Force H as part of Operation Hats, during which her Fulmars shot down five Italian bombers and her AA guns shot down two more. Five days later, the BPF attacked a different refinery and the ship launched 12 Avengers and 12 Corsairs. 21 Naval Torpedo-Bomber Reconnaissance Wing on 27 November before beginning her work up three days later. 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. #1. Illustrious had her work up cut short on 19 March to prepare to join the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean and participate in the attack. By the end of 1901, she was fitted or due . [56], Some important modifications were made to her flight deck arrangements, including the installation of a new aft lift and modification of the catapult for use by American-built aircraft. 2. The war ended while she was in the dockyard and the Admiralty decided to modify her for use as the Home Fleet's trials and training carrier. [41], One torpedo-carrying aircraft of the second wave was forced to return when its long-range external fuel tank fell off, but the others hit the Littorio once more and the Duilio was hit once when they attacked beginning at 23:55. It has been sold for scrap for 2m. [10], The main armament of the Illustrious class consisted of sixteen quick-firing (QF) 4.5-inch (110mm) dual-purpose guns in eight twin-gun turrets, four in sponsons on each side of the hull. Pete and Jan Owens Records of seafarers and ships British seafarers of the late 19th and early 20th century are the best documented workers that there have ever been - millions of documents survive, recording in detail the crews of a hundred thousand ships. After arriving in Trincomalee, 1837 Squadron was transferred to the Victorious. Other twin mounts were added so that by May she had a total of eighteen twin and two single mounts. [90], Captain S. H. Carlill assumed command on 24 June and the Illustrious resumed deck-landing training. [91], After a brief refit in early 1952, she participated in Exercise Castanets off the Scottish coast in June and hosted 22,000 visitors during Navy Days at Devonport Royal Dockyard in August. One Fulmar was lightly damaged during the battle. The remaining pair engaged a pair of torpedo-carrying SM.79s, damaging one badly enough that it crashed upon landing. Illustrious was decommissioned from service. On the early morning of 25 July, Illustrious launched 22 Corsairs for CAP and to observe the naval gunfire and take photos for post-attack damage assessments. Cunliffe, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral C. Moody, CB, RN), HMS Unicorn (Capt. Nominal List of Ship's Company of HMS Illustrious 1944-45 This list was published in the Beacon Annual 1944-45. About Us; Staff; Camps; Scuba. [9] On 6 March she sailed to the BPF's advance base at Manus Island and, after her arrival a week later, Illustrious and her sisters Indomitable and Victorious, as well as the carrier Indefatigable, exercised together before sailing for Ulithi on 18 March. HMS Victorious, ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme, was the third Illustrious-class aircraft carrier after Illustrious and Formidable. Once the convoy was out of range of German aircraft, the Illustrious left the convoy and arrived back at Greenock on 8 August. Bad weather degraded the accuracy of the Barracudas and little damage was inflicted aside from a few aircraft destroyed on the ground and a few small craft sunk in the harbour. These latter aircraft lacked folding wings and could not fit on the lifts. J.P. Scatchard, DSC, RN), HMS Tenacious (Lt.Cdr. Two days later, one of three Fulmars that intercepted an Axis air raid on the Maltese airfields was shot down with no survivors. This meant that the ship had to be capable of remaining in action after sustaining damage and that her fragile aircraft had to be protected entirely from damage. Nine Swordfish and five Fulmars were destroyed during the attack. It was around in the late 70's to early 80's. Her ship nickname was Lusty. [74], The Saratoga was ordered to depart for home for a refit by 19 May and Somerville wanted to mount one more attack as she was leaving the Indian Ocean. This section includes over 21.000 Allied Warships and over 11.000 Allied Commanders of WWII, from the US Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Australian Navy, The Polish Navy and others. The BPF joined the American Fifth Fleet there two days later, under the designation Task Force 57 (TF 57), to participate in the preliminary operations for the invasion of Okinawa (Operation Iceberg). This left only 21 aircraft available for the attack. The flight deck was extended forward, which increased her overall length to 748feet 6inches (228.1m). As a consequence, her flight-deck armour had to be ordered from Vtkovice Mining and Iron Corporation in Czechoslovakia. All comment submissions will become the property of WW2DB. For the operation the carrier's air group numbered 25 Martlets, 1 night-fighting Fulmar and 21 Swordfish, and was consequently was forced to have a permanent deck park of 5 Martlets and one Swordfish. 254, 257; Brown, J. D., p. 80; McCart, pp. In total darkness Fasson and Grazier entered the sinking submarine to capture instruments and documentation fully aware of the dangers. Corsairs of the HMS Illustrious ranged before taking off to strafe Japanese airfields in Sumatra. HMS Illustrious' casualty list was terrible: 126 dead and 91 wounded. She arrived at Greenock on 21 December and permanent repairs were made from 30 December to late February 1942 at Cammell Laird's shipyard in Birkenhead. She embarked the Barracudas of 810 and 847 Squadrons of No. 17, 19; Shores, Cull & Malizia 1987b, pp. The ship completed 1,051 deck landings and steamed 4,037 nautical miles (7,477km; 4,646mi) by April. British carrier HMS Illustrious left Malta for Alexandria, Egypt. [37] Three additional Fulmars had been flown aboard from Ark Royal a few days earlier, when both carriers were near Malta; that brought its strength[36] up to 15 Fulmars, 24 Swordfish, and two to four Sea Gladiators. She arrived on 14 May and departed 10 days later, bound for Rosyth for permanent repairs. HMS Illustrious was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy before World War II. We hope that visitor conversations at WW2DB will be constructive and thought-provoking. [22] Construction was delayed by slow deliveries of her armour plates because the industry had been crippled by a lack of orders over the last 15 years as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty. [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 British role during the operation was to neutralise airfields on the Sakishima Islands, between Okinawa and Formosa, beginning on 26 March. 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. Later in the month she hosted the Sea Furies of 802 and the Fireflies of 814 Squadrons for Exercise Winged Fleet. 21 TBR Wing were landed to make room for the additional fighters. For the next six weeks she carried out an intensive flying regime in preparation for the next operations against the Japanese together with the other carriers of the fleet. While off Malta two days later, six of the carrier's fighters engaged an equal number of Fiat CR.42 Falco biplane fighters, shooting down one and damaging two others. Ld.Sea Johnson Charles Thomas. Lieut (A) J H Clarke, RNZNVR, Otorohanga, NZ, and Maintenance Crew. For the planned attack on Port Blair in the Andaman Islands in mid-June her air group was reinforced by the 14 Corsairs of 1837 Squadron; six Barracudas from No. In Nov 1940, she launched 21 torpedo bombers against the Italian fleet at Taranto, and achieved spectacular success after sinking one battleship and damaging two others. She was finally modernized between Jan and Aug 1948, and then served another six years before she was decommissioned. During the morning of 10 January, her Swordfish attacked an Italian convoy without significant effect. H.L.St.J. [9] She carried a maximum of 4,850 long tons (4,930t) of fuel oil which gave her a range of 10,700 nautical miles (19,800km; 12,300mi) at 10 knots (19km/h; 12mph) or 10,400nmi (19,300km; 12,000mi) at 16 knots (30km/h; 18mph)[5] or 6,300nmi (11,700km; 7,200mi) at 25 knots (46km/h; 29mph). [18] A five-bladed propeller was installed on her centre shaft although the increasing wear on her outer shafts later partially negated the reduction in vibration. The new ship class was named the Invincible-class and would constitute three vessels led by HMS Invincible and followed by HMS Illustrious and HMS Indomitable. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. Second, it is to showcase Repairs were made in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where her destroyed aircraft were replaced and augmented by twelve additional Martlet II fighters from HMS Archer, while two Martlet I aircraft were, in turn, transferred to Archer, bringing Illustrious's total aircraft complement to 47. This event was also the first landing of any turboprop aircraft aboard an aircraft carrier. Aircraft Carrier Illustrious Interactive Map. The underwater defence system was a layered system of liquid- and air-filled compartments backed by a 1.5-inch (38mm) splinter bulkhead. The Royal Air Force (RAF) had positioned a Short Sunderland flying boat off the harbour to search for any movement to or from the port and this was detected at 17:55 by acoustic locators and again at 20:40, alerting the defenders. [51], The ship was hit five more times in this attack, one of which penetrated the un-armoured aft lift and detonated beneath it, destroying it and the surrounding structure. A Z.501 searching for the fleet was shot down on 10 November by a Fulmar and another on the 11th. 2526, Brown 1971, p. 257; Brown, J. D., p. 81, McCart, p. 26, Brown 1971, p. 257; Brown, J. D., p. 81; Hobbs 2013, p. 91; McCart, pp. 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. She sailed four days later, having embarked twenty-one Swordfish, nine Martlet IIs of 881 Squadron and six Martlet Is of 882 Squadron,[61] and two Fulmar fighters[62] prior to escorting a troop convoy carrying some of the men allocated for the assault. She was the third warship of the . On 3 November she began loading the 39th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division in response to the riots in Cyprus that broke out when Egypt abrogated the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936. Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? some really good leads ,two good sites I found were World Navalships Froums & the other was Sevicepals.com + I got a crew snap shot prior to them sailing to Crete,some one else maybe interested in this info.Keep me posted Folks if . The carrier and her escorts arrived back at Trincomalee on 23 June where 847 Squadron was merged into 810 Squadron a week later. She returned to Portsmouth on 7 December and she did not leave harbour until 30 January 1952 when she resumed her customary role as a training ship. Lacking that, there was nothing to prevent land-based aircraft from attacking them, especially in confined waters like the North Sea and Mediterranean. Preventing this required a preemptive invasion of Diego Suarez scheduled for May 1942. 150, 159; Hobbs 2013, p. 91; McCart, pp. It also blew a hole in the hangar deck, damaging areas three decks below. [75], On 10 June, the Illustrious and the escort carrier Atheling put to sea to simulate another airstrike on Sabang as a means of distracting the Japanese while the Americans were attacking airfields in the Mariana Islands and preparing to invade the island of Saipan. The statue of Our Lady remains standing amid the destruction at Senglea caused by repeated raids by German dive-bombers, which started on January 16 . [81] By this time the vibration problems with her centre propeller shaft, which had never been properly repaired after she was bombed at Malta, were so bad that the propeller was removed and the shaft locked in place, reducing her maximum speed to 24 knots. The goal of this This is a shout out to any members of the Phot Branch who were on board HMS Illustrious acting as a film crew when it sailed from the UK until departing the ship in Hong Kong, who were employed to make a documentary of life on board during the deployment. Many do not survive at all whilst significant proportions of those that do survive are held . 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. Her length was 640 feet with a beam of over 90 feet and a draught reaching 23 feet. HTML tags are not allowed. The Vichy French-controlled island of Madagascar stood astride the line of communication between India and the UK and the British were worried that the French would accede to occupation of the island as they had to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina in 1940. Before the Illustrious steamed for Malta she transferred six Seafires to the Unicorn to replace some of the latter's aircraft wrecked in deck-landing accidents. [72], She then returned to Britain on 18 October for a quick refit at Birkenhead that included further improvements to the flight deck and the reinforcement of her light anti-aircraft armament. The Illustrious-class carriers were of a new school of thinking, providing battlecruiser class armor to purpose-built carriers. Thank you. As built, HMS Unicorn displaced 16,770 tons under standard load and up to 20,600 tons under full load. 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