ROYAL NAVY SOUTH ATLANTIC COMMAND - ROYAL NAVY H
3)HERMES (AIRCRAFT CARRIER)
Photo. http://www.carrierbuilders.net (colorized)
HMS HERMES 95
Type: Aircraft carrier
Displacement:
10,850 long tons (11,020 t) standard
13,700 long tons (13,900 t) (deep load)
Length: 600 ft (182.9 m)
Beam: 70 ft 3 in (21.4 m)
Draught: 23 ft 3 in (7.1 m) (deep load)
Installed power:
6 water-tube boilers
40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Propulsion: 2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbine sets
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range: 5,600 nmi (10,400 km; 6,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 566 (excluding aircrew)
Armament:
6 × single 5.5 in (140 mm) guns
4 × single 4 in (102 mm) anti-aircraft guns
Armour:
Belt: 3 in (76 mm)
Deck: 1 in (25 mm)
Aircraft carried: 20
During World War II, the aircraft aboard HMS Hermes (95) played a critical trade protection, reconnaissance, and offensive role in the South Atlantic between late 1939 and 1941. Operating a single air wing—the 814 Naval Air Squadron, equipped with 12 Fairey Swordfish biplanes—her aircraft were the primary eyes and striking arm of the South Atlantic Command.
Core Air Roles in the South Atlantic Base (Freetown)
Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW): Operating out of the Freetown Naval Base (Sierra Leone), the Swordfish aircraft conducted extensive anti-submarine patrols. They monitored the high-traffic choke points off the West African coast to protect Allied merchant shipping and troop convoys from German U-boat "wolfpacks."
Commerce Raider Hunting: The aircraft flew long-range maritime scouting missions over the open ocean to hunt for German surface raiders, pocket battleships, and disguised merchant raiders attempting to disrupt South Atlantic trade routes.
Convoy Air Shields: The 814 Squadron provided an overhead anti-submarine umbrella for incoming and outbound convoys, deterring submarine attacks during the vulnerable transit legs around West Africa.
The Neutralization of the Battleship Richelieu (Dakar)
The most historic action executed by HMS Hermes’ aircraft occurred on July 8, 1940, following the fall of France. Operating closely with a French squadron in Dakar earlier that year, the sudden political shift placed the powerful, newly completed Vichy French battleship Richelieu under Axis alignment.
To prevent the battleship from breaking out into Atlantic shipping lanes, HMS Hermes launched a decisive air strike:
The Raid: Under the cover of darkness, her Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers flew straight into the heavily defended harbor of Dakar.
The Hit: The aircraft successfully dropped torpedoes at extremely close range, scoring a direct torpedo hit beneath the stern of the Richelieu.
The Outcome: The explosion caused massive flooding, ruptured propulsion shafts, and severely damaged the battleship's steering gear. This single carrier-borne air strike successfully knocked the massive warship out of action for months, completely neutralizing a major surface threat in the South Atlantic.
In February 1941, the ship supported Commonwealth forces in Italian Somalilandduring the East African Campaign and did much the same two months later in the Persian Gulf during the Anglo-Iraqi War. After that campaign, Hermes spent most of the rest of the year patrolling the Indian Ocean. She was refitted in South Africa between November 1941 and February 1942 and then joined the Eastern Fleet at Ceylon.
Above HMS hermes badly damaged by Japanese aircrafts begins to settle by port. Photo http://www.carrierbuilders.net
Hermes was berthed in Trincomalee on 8 April when a warning of an Indian Ocean raid by the Japanese fleet was received, and she sailed that day for the Maldives with no aircraft on board. On 9 April a Japanese scout plane spotted her near Batticaloa, and she was attacked by several dozen dive bombers shortly afterwards. With no air cover, the carrier was quickly sunk by the Japanese aircraft. Most of the survivors were rescued by a nearby hospital ship, although 307 men from Hermes were lost in the sinking.
