HMS Formidable was an Illustrious-class aircraft carrier ordered for the Royal Navy before the Second World War. After being completed in late 1940, she was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet before being transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet as a replacement for her crippled sister ship Illustrious. Formidable's aircraft played a key role in the Battle of Cape Matapan in early 1941, and they subsequently provided cover for Allied ships and attacked Axis forces until their carrier was badly damaged by German dive bombers in May.
HMS Indefatigable was one of two Implacable-class aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy (RN) during World War II. Completed in 1944, her aircraft made several attacks that year against the German battleship Tirpitz, inflicting only light damage; they also raided targets in Norway. The ship was transferred to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) at the end of the year and attacked Japanese-controlled oil refineries in Sumatra in January 1945 before joining the American forces in March as they prepared to invade the island of Okinawa in Operation Iceberg. Indefatigable and the BPF joined the Americans in attacking the Japanese Home Islands in July and August. Following the end of hostilities she visited ports in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
HMS Implacable was the name ship of her class of two aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Upon completion in 1944, she was initially assigned to the Home Fleet and attacked targets in Norway for the rest of the year. She was subsequently assigned to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) where she attacked the Japanese naval base at Truk and targets in the Japanese Home Islands in 1945. The ship was used to repatriate liberated Allied prisoners of war (PoWs) and soldiers after the Japanese surrender, for the rest of the year. Implacable returned home in 1946 and became the Home Fleet's deck-landing training carrier, a role that lasted until 1950. She briefly served as flagship of the Home Fleet in 1950. During this time she participated in many exercises and made a number of port visits in Western Europe. She was placed in reserve in 1950 and converted into a training ship in 1952, and served as flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron. The ship was considered for a major modernisation in 1951–1952, but this was rejected as too expensive and time-consuming. Implacable was decommissioned in 1954 and sold for scrap the following year.
HMS Furious was a modified Courageous-class battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, the ship was very lightly armoured and designed with a main battery of only two 18-inch guns. Furious was modified as an aircraft carrier while under construction. Her forward turret was removed and a flight deck was added in its place, such that aircraft had to manoeuvre around the superstructure to land. Later in the war, the ship had her rear turret removed and a second flight deck installed aft of the superstructure, but this was less than satisfactory due to air turbulence. Furious was briefly laid up after the war before she was reconstructed with a full-length flight deck in the early 1920s.
ORP Piorun was an N-class destroyer operated by the Polish Navy in World War II. The word piorun is Polish for "Thunderbolt". Ordered by the Royal Navy in 1939, the ship was laid down as HMS Nerissa before being loaned to the Poles in October 1940 while still under construction.
The Attacker class were a class of escort aircraft carriers in service with the British Royal Navy during the Second World War.
Operation Tungsten was a Second World War Royal Navy air raid that targeted the German battleship Tirpitz. The operation sought to damage or destroy Tirpitz at her base in Kaafjord in the far north of Norway before she could become fully operational again following a period of repairs.
Operation Halberd was a British naval operation that took place on 27 September 1941, during the Second World War. The British were attempting to deliver a convoy from Gibraltar to Malta. The convoy was escorted by several battleships and an aircraft carrier, to deter interference from the Italian surface fleet, while a close escort of cruisers and destroyers provided an anti-aircraft screen.
Stanley Gordon Orr, was the highest scoring fighter ace of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Flying with the Fleet Air Arm he was credited with the destruction of 17 aircraft. His success was recognised by the awards of the Distinguished Service Cross and Two Bars, an Air Force Cross and a Mention in Despatches.
Operation Mascot was an unsuccessful British carrier air raid conducted against the German battleship Tirpitz at her anchorage in Kaafjord, Norway, on 17 July 1944. The attack was one of a series of strikes against the battleship launched from aircraft carriers between April and August 1944, and was initiated after Allied intelligence determined that the damage inflicted during the Operation Tungsten raid on 3 April had been repaired.
Operation Mascot was an unsuccessful British carrier air raid conducted against the German battleship Tirpitz at her anchorage in Kaafjord, Norway, on 17 July 1944. Few of the British airmen were able to spot the battleship, and their attacks did not inflict any significant damage. Tirpitz was eventually disabled and then sunk by Royal Air Force heavy bombers later in the year.
778 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. During the Second World War the squadron was a Service Trials Unit (STU) initially based at HMS Daedalus, RNAS Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, England before moving to HMS Condor, RNAS Arbroath, Angus, Scotland on 6 July 1940. The squadron tested all types of aircraft that could be used by the Royal Navy. Key to this was testing new types for deck landing on aircraft carriers. Such aircraft included various types of Supermarine Seafires, Grumman Hellcats, Grumman Martlets, Grumman Avengers, and Vought Corsairs. The squadron was reformed on 5 November 1951 with Douglas Skyraider AEW.1 but was disbanded on 7 July 1952 to form the basis of 849 Naval Air Squadron.
Operation Goodwood was a series of British carrier air raids conducted against the German battleship Tirpitz at her anchorage in Kaafjord in occupied Norway during late August 1944. It was the last of several attacks made by the Home Fleet during 1944 which sought to damage or sink Tirpitz and thereby eliminate the threat it posed to Allied shipping. Previous raids on Kaafjord conducted by Fleet Air Arm aircraft had involved only one air attack; in Operation Goodwood several attacks were made in a single week. The Royal Navy hoped that these raids would wear down the formidable German defences.
882 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was formed as a carrier based fighter squadron in July 1941 and served through the rest of the Second World War. It took part in the British invasion of Madagascar and Operation Torch, the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa in 1942, and in the invasion of Southern France in August 1945, also taking part in operations in the Aegean and off Norway. It was disbanded after the end of the war, in October 1945.
731 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active between 1943 and 1945 and its sole role throughout its formation was a Deck Landing Control Officer training squadron. Through this role the squadron pilots were nicknamed 'Clockwork Mice'. It was based out of the purpose built airbase, RNAS East Haven , located near Carnoustie, in Scotland, as part of the Deck Landing Training School there.
757 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was first formed as a Telegraphist Air Gunner Training Squadron in 1939, operating out of RNAS Worthy Down, but after three months it went into abeyance, only to reform again in the same role, at the same location, in 1941 and operating until 1942. It then reformed as a Fighter Pool Squadron & Operational Training Unit at RNAS Puttalam, in Sri Lanka, in 1943. After a brief spell at RNAMY Tambaram, in India, the squadron finally disbanded at RNAS Katukurunda, in Sri Lanka, at the beginning of 1946.
768 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It last disbanded at HMS Gannet, RNAS Eglinton, Northern Ireland, in March 1949, having been formed as a Deck Landing Control Officer Training Squadron, in December 1948, to ensure one American-style signal trained DLCO could be located at every FAA station. It first formed as part of the Deck Landing Training School at HMS Condor, RNAS Arbroath, in January 1941, as a Deck Landing Training Squadron. Advanced training was in HMS Argus, for which a detachment was maintained at HMS Landrail, RNAS Machrihanish, where it wholly moved to in March 1943. September saw a move to RAF Heathfield, Ayr, followed by a further move to HMS Sanderling, RNAS Abbotsinch in January 1944. Training used escort carriers on the Firth of Clyde and a detachment was maintained at (Heathfield)Ayr throughout this period, with the squadron returning there in July 1945, at this time HMS Wagtail, RNAS Ayr. In August the squadron moved to HMS Corncrake, RNAS Ballyhalbert in Northern Ireland but then in October it joined up with the Deck Landing School at HMS Peewit, RNAS East Haven, Scotland, where it disbanded in April 1946.
787 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which disbanded in January 1956. It formed in March 1941, at HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton, out of 804 Naval Air Squadron as a Fleet Fighter Development Unit. Almost every type of fighter was received by the squadron for testing and evaluation for naval use. A move to RAF Duxford in June 1941 saw it become the Naval Air Fighting Development Unit, attached to the Royal Air Force's Air Fighting Development Unit. The squadron undertook rocket projectile test, continuous development of fighter tactics and even helping Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance squadrons in evading fighter attack. Post Second World War it continued its trials task and also undertook Rebecca radar trials and ASH, US-built air-to-surface vessel radar trials.
