Armada: Indomitable

The jewel atop the crown of Britain’s undisputed sovereignty over the European seas, forged in an age of rapid evolution for the Royal Navy.

HMS Indomitable, with her armored flight deck, expanded aircraft facilities, and heavy anti-aircraft artillery, strove to be a jack of all trades in the midst of a war that would put every conceivable aspect of naval combat to the test.

History

In April 1937, the first of four planned Illustrious-class aircraft carriers was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyards at Barrow-in-Furness, England. This first, fully-fledged, class of modern British carriers was meant to serve as the proving ground for a new Royal Navy doctrine that called for maximizing carriers’ fixed defenses, both active and passive. Lacking effective radar, fighter planes couldn’t be expected to scramble in time to intercept an incoming attack in conditions of poor visibility. As a result, the Illustrious-class ships sacrificed plane capacity for an armored “box” that encased their hangars, including 76 mm of plating on the flight deck. This feature was a true rarity for its time, and one that wouldn’t be replicated abroad until 1941 with the Japanese aircraft carrier Taiho.

By November 1937, the fourth and final ship of the Illustrious series—Indomitable—was laid down at the same English shipyard. Due to delays in the delivery of required materials, construction was put on hold and the Admiralty took the opportunity to modify Indomitable’s design. The new requirements called for an increase in airplane capacity from 36 to 48, while keeping her weight in line with her three unmodified sister ships. To achieve this, an additional hangar was added above the originally planned one, and some armor was shaved off the sides and lower decks around the “box,” while the flight deck plating was left untouched.

Indomitable was completed and entered service in 1941, shortly before the Japanese Empire joined the war on the side of the Axis. In January 1942, she was assigned to the Eastern Fleet—based in the Indian Ocean—to curtail the rapid advance of the Japanese Navy in the East Indies. Before leaving the Indian Ocean, Indomitable would provide air support for the invasion of Madagascar.

With the Battle of Midway sending any chances of further carrier threats to the bottom of the sea, Indomitable was freed up to be sent to the Mediterranean in July 1942 to partake in Operation Pedestal—a heavily armed resupply convoy for the crucial island of Malta. Air cover was essential to the mission’s success, so it’s no surprise that Indomitable became the focus of German and Italian bombers from the outset. The ship was hit with two armor-piercing bombs, one of which struck an unarmored section of the flight deck, starting fires below-decks. Nevertheless, Indomitable’s squadrons of Hawker Sea Hurricanes performed well against the bombers, with fighter ace Lt. Richard Cork shooting down five enemy aircraft.

In 1943, Indomitable found herself again in a large-scale operation in the Mediterranean, as the Allies prepared for the invasion of Sicily, providing important air cover for the amphibious assault. Shortly after midnight on July 16, a lone bomber approached Indomitable undetected, dropping a single torpedo which struck the ship under the belt on the port side amidships. The damage was heavy, but quick and effective damage control, as well as counter-flooding, allowed her to sail back to Malta for repairs under her own power.

After undergoing extensive repairs and refitting at Norfolk, she was assigned to the Pacific theatre in 1944, where she would serve out the rest of the war. She survived three kamikaze attacks on