HMS Formidable

Class

Illustrious Class

Builder

Harland & Wolff.

Laid down

17 June 1937

Launched

17 August 1939

Commissioned

24 November 1940

18 December 1940 - 22 January 1941

Atlantic

26 January 1941 - 10. March 1941

East Coast of Africa

20. March 1941 - 2. May 1941

Mediteranean

Protecting the a convoy to Malta,
On the morning of 27 March, major elements of the Italian Fleet were spotted enroute to the sea lanes between Egypt and Greece, and the carrier sailed later that afternoon to intercept them. Reinforced by three Fulmars from 806 Squadron, her air group only numbered 13 Fulmars, 10 Albacores and 4 Swordfish. An Albacore spotted the leading Italian ships the next morning; a strike force of six Albacores was loaded with torpedoes and began to attack the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto. Two German Junkers Ju 88 bombers intervened, but they were driven off by the escorting pair of Fulmars. The attack was unsuccessful, and another strike force of three Albacores and two Swordfish was prepared. Shortly after launching them at 12:22, Formidable was unsuccessfully attacked by a pair of torpedo-carrying Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers. Around 14:50, one Albacore succeeded in torpedoing the Italian battleship, although the other aircraft missed. The hit briefly knocked out her engines and caused heavy flooding. Another air strike of six Albacores and two Swordfish was launched at 17:30 to finish off the crippled battleship, but they mistook the Italian cruiser Pola for the battleship in the fading light. The cruiser was struck by a single torpedo from one of the aircraft, possibly from one of two Swordfish from 815 Squadron from Maleme, Crete, that linked up with Formidable's aircraft before the attack. The mistake allowed the battleship to reach port. One Albacore was shot down by Vittorio Veneto, and two others were forced to ditch after running out of fuel during the day's operations.

6. May 1941 - 11. May 1941

Mediteranean

26. May 1941 - 27 May 1941

Mediteranean

26. May 1941

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers from  I./StG 2 hit HMS Formidable with two 500-kilogram bombs. The bombs killed 12 men and wounded 10; one bomb passed completely through the outer part of the starboard forward flight deck and detonated before it hit the water, riddling the side of the hull with holes. A near miss also blew a large hole in the ship's starboard side underwater.

27. May 1941 - 24. July 1941

Emergency repairs at Alexandia

24. July 1941 - 25. August 1941

Mediteranean, Trip to NAS Norfolk VA

25. August 1941 - December 1941

Repais at NAS Norfolk VA

12 December 1941 - 21. December 1941

Transit to the UK

15 - 16 December 1941

During the night HMS Illustrious collided with HMS Formidable's stern, but neither ship was seriously damaged.

21. December 1941 - 3. February 1942

Repais at Belfast

17. February 1942 - 24. March 1942

To the Far East

28. March 1942 - 13. April 1942

Indian Ocean

20. April 1942 - 10. May 1942

Indian Ocean

29 May 1942 - 1942

Indian Ocean

30. August 1942 - 21. September 1942

Indian Ocean

21. September 1942 - 18 October 1942

Refit at Rosyth

30. October 1942 -1943

-

13. October 1943 -19. October 1943

Trip to the UK

October 1943 - 13 November 1943

Trip to the UK

19. November 1943 - June 1944

Refit at Belfast

29. June 1944 - 5. July 1944

North Sea, Norway

17. July 1944 - 19. July 1945

North Sea, Norway

7. August 1945 - 14. August 1944

North Sea, Norway

18. August 1944 - 2. September 1944

North Sea, Norway

16. September 1944 - 21. September 1944

Trip to Gibraltar

21. September 1944 - 1. January 1945

Refit at Gibraltar

14. January 1945 - 10. March 1945

Trip to the Far East

848 NAS

Avenger I (18)

370 X

1841 NAS 27. Jan. 45 - 8. Feb. 45

1842 NAS 15. Jan. 45 - 8. Feb. 45

Port Calls at: Ceylon 8, February 1945

March 1945 - 31. May 1945

2nd CAG BPF

848 NAS

Avenger I (18)

370 X

1841 NAS 22. Feb. 45 - 1. Jun. 45

1842 NAS 22. Feb. 45 - 1. Jun. 45

31. May 1945 - 28. June 1945

Repair and Refit at Sidney  (Überprüfen)

28. June 1945 - 24. August 1945

2nd CAG BPF

848 NAS

Avenger I & II (18)

370 X

1840 NAS

Hellcat II (6)

-

1841 NAS 22. Jun. 45 - 23. Aug. 45

1842 NAS 22. Jun. 45 - 23. Aug. 45

Port calls at: Manus Island, Admiralty Islands 4. July 1945,

September 1945 - 21. October 1945

Trip to the Philippines.

Having left her air group behind to maximise the numbers of passengers she could carry, the ship arrived at Manila on 30 September, where she loaded over 1,000 Australian former prisoners of war on 4 October and unloaded them at Circular Quay in Sydney on 21 October 1945.

24. October 1945 - 6. December 1945

Trip to Singapore, Bombay, Tarakan, and Morotai

She departed three days later, bound for Karavia Bay, New Britain, where she loaded 1,254 men of the Indian Army and continued on to Singapore where she loaded Indian ex-PoWs before delivering them to Bombay. There Formidable loaded an Indian Army infantry battalion for transport to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies to maintain law and order until Dutch colonial troops could take over. The ship then loaded elements of the 7th Australian Division and their equipment at Tarakan Island, Borneo, and picked up more Australians at Morotai; she arrived at Sydney on 6 December.

28. December 1945 - 5. February 1946

Trip to the UK

800 naval personnel embarked for passage home

2. March 1946 - April 1946

Trip to the Far East

-

12. April 1946 - 9. May 1946

Trip to the UK

1,336 naval personnel embarked for passage home, stopping in Colombo to refuel and drop off 576 naval personnel

15. June 1946 - 25. July 1946

Trip to the Far East

She made her next voyage to Bombay and Colombo between 15 June and 25 July. The ship loaded 114 officers, 958 enlisted men and 11 VAD nurses in Singapore in August and another 319 enlisted men in Trincomalee before stopping in Malta to load 41 men of the Merchant Navy.

3. December 1946 - 3. February 1947

Trip to the Far East

Formidable made her last trooping voyage between Portsmouth and Singapore, delivering 1,000 Royal Marine Commandos to the latter.

Decommissioned

12 August 1947