![]() Over the next two years Hermes was largely retained in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Richelieu would be left with two inoperable propeller shafts until her eventual US refit completed in October 1943. Ironically Hermes' first significant engagement was against a former ally, and her six Swordfish managed a torpedo hit on the stern of the moored ship, though it caused no personnel casualties. Hermes was assigned to strike at the battleship Richelieu in Dakar, Senegal. Concerned that the potent French Navy might fall into German hands the British moved against French ships, most famously in the attack on Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria with heavy loss of life as battleship Bretagne exploded. Search, patrol and convoy duty were the norm until mid-1940, where with the fall of France the political situation changed. ![]() ![]() Hermes was paired with the French Battleship Strasbourg as one of the hunting groups looking for the Graf Spee, without success. Her airgroup could scout a significantly larger area per day than any ship limited to binoculars reaching out to the horizon. Increasingly as the interwar period rolled on she spent more and more of her time in the Far East until just before war broke out she was back in the UK, in reserve.Īlthough old, Hermes was valuable for trade protection in the early part of WWII. She would participate in a Fleet Review in Spithead, and while on the China Station launch an in-anger air attack against. Service History: Commissioned in 1924 the Hermes enjoyed a relatively bucolic early career, serving with the Atlantic Fleet, Mediterranean Fleet and on the China Station. That said, any carrier is more useful than no carrier, and compared to many early ships such as the Argus, Eagle, USS Langley, French Bearn and Japanese Hosho the Hermes was not disastrous, she was nonetheless utterly obsolete by 1939, let alone 1942 and with a small, old hull was a fairly poor candidate for any major upgrade or refit. Her initial airgroup was fewer than 20 aircraft, and by WWII she would operate about a dozen Fairey Swordfish at best. A beam of 21m imposed immediate limits on hangar size. IWM Image Q 70886 - Hermes, likely at the 1924 fleet review, note the lowered aft 'T'-shaped elevator and trained-out 5.5in guns.Īs an aircraft carrier, Hermes had some serious limitations. Old-fashioned features still include a pointed bow, rather than flared sheer and battery of medium-caliber single-purpose 5.5in guns, supported by an over-large spotting top. A large island superstructure on the starboard side with AA guns fore and aft of it wouldn't look out of place on ships 30 years newer. Despite being initially designed at a very early stage in carrier development Hermes was able to leverage design experience gained on the converted carriers Furious, Argus and Eagle, during her long (6 year) building process and her appearance is remarkably modern. Her hull design had some origins in the Hawkins class cruisers, sharing an approximate length and armor protection scheme, though she operated with only 2 rather than 4 screws for a slower 25kt. Hermes was a relatively small ship, at about 11,000t standard load she was barely bigger than most interwar heavy cruisers. The first dedicated aircraft-carrying ships used were a hodge-podge of weird and wonderful conversions, but interest was there and a new ship was ordered in 1917 to expand capacity. By the end of the war flying-off platforms were fitted to most Grand Fleet Battleships, allowing them to launch light aircraft from their turret tops. The RN had been accompanied by a seaplane carrier at Jutland in 1916, and launched the first carrier strike mission in 1918. It was a Royal Naval Air Service Short 184 which launched the first successful airborne torpedo attack in history. In the tail end of WWI the Royal Navy had become increasingly air-minded. ![]() Designed in 1917 and lain down in early 1918 the Hermes has as her key claim to fame her title as 'the first purpose designed aircraft carrier lain down and launched in the world' though as her build underwent several evolutions and only completed in 1924 the Japanese Hosho built her as the first purpose-built carrier completed and commissioned. Note that whatever the year this is likely similar to her as-sunk configuration, with some slight AA changesĭesign History: Hermes was a unique carrier design and one-off 'experimental carrier'. I believe the aircraft shown are a Fairey Flycatcher fighter (forward) and Blackburn Dart torpedo bomber, dating it to the 1920's. ![]() IWM Image Q 75602 - HMS Hermes undated interwar image. Things are very much WIP on the carriers, it's not even certain to me if the mooted tiers are final or if WG are doing a bare-bones test. I thought it might be nice to do the same for them, though carriers usually have more history than destroyers. ![]()
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