| Original caption: “The British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, having suffered heavy damage from our fire, is in a precarious situation in the Bay of Bengal, after it attempted to make its way to safety.” HMS Hermes (D95), the 1st purpose-designed aircraft carrier built for the United Kingdom Royal Navy, was launched by builder Armstrong-Whitworth and Company at Newcastle-on-Tyne on September 11, 1919, and commissioned on July 7, 1923. The basic hull had been built along the lines of a light cruiser. She was capable of carrying 20 aircraft, but received 12 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers on September 1, 1939, from the United Kingdom Royal Navy Number 814 Squadron. In January 1942, HMS Hermes was ordered to West Africa to hunt for German and Vichy French blockade runners, including the Kriegsmarine (“Nazi German Navy”) pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. In April 1942, HMS Hermes and HMAS Vampire (D68) were sent to Trincomalee, Ceylon, to prepare for Operation Ironclad, the Allied invasion of Madagascar. 814 Squadron was sent ashore. On April 8, 1942, a Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat reported the sighting of Kido Butai (“Mobile Force”), the 1st Air Fleet, approaching Trincomalee. The Royal Navy ships then received orders to withdraw, and Trincomalee Harbor was evacuated that day. Almost all ships went to sea. HMS Hermes, with HMAS Vampire, left and avoided the bombing of the port the next morning. A reconnaissance aircraft from battleship Haruna spotted HMS Hermes and HMAS Vampire at sea in the late morning of April 9, 1942. 91 Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” high-level bombers and D3Y2 “Val” dive bombers with 38 A6M2 “Zero” fighters from the carriers Akagi, Hiryu, and Soryu attacked the United Kingdom Royal Navy ships. 80 dive bombers with fighter escort diverged on HMS Hermes alone. Despite the arrival of 6 Fairey Fulmar II fighters of Royal Air Force (RAF) Number 273 Squadron, HMS Hermes sank from as many as 40 bomb hits. The 1st 1 blew out her forward elevator, and then the rain of bombs quickly sank the ship. The Imperial Japanese Navy considered this operation the most accurate of the war. Gunner’s Mate Stanley B. Curtis (March 3, 1918 – March 11, 2016) recalled, “Only about 15 minutes had passed since the start of the action and the ship was already listing to port, fires were raging in the hangar, she was on fire from stem to stern, just aft of my gun position was the galley, that received a direct hit also, minutes later we had a near miss alongside our gun, talk about a tidal wave coming aboard, our crew were flung yards, tossed like corks on a pond. Picking myself up and finding no bones broken, I called out to each member of our crew and got an answer from all of them (no 1 washed overboard). We were lucky; our gun was the only 1 that did not get hit. At this stage, Hermes had a very heavy list to port, and it was obvious that she was about to sink. As the sea was now only feet below our gun, I gave the order, “Over the side, lads, every man for himself, good luck to you all.” Abandon ship had previously been given by word of mouth; the lads went over the side, and I followed, hitting the water at 1100 Hours. This is the time my wristwatch stopped. I didn’t have a waterproof 1. As she was sinking, the Japs were still dropping bombs on her and machine-gunning the lads in the water. In the water I swam away from the ship as fast as I could, the ship still had way on, and I wanted to get clear of the screws and also because bombs were still exploding close to the ship, the force of the explosions would rupture your stomach, quite a few of the lads were lost in this way after surviving Dante’s Inferno aboard, so it was head down and away.” Fortunately, the attack had been witnessed by the hospital ship HMHS Vita, which immediately set about rescuing and treating the survivors. Some survivors swam ashore. Another 6 Fulmars from RAF Numbers 803 and 806 Squadrons arrived after Hermes had already sunk. The rest of the Japanese aircraft attacked other ships further north, sinking the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Athelstone of 5,571 gross register tonnage (GRT), her escort, the corvette HMS Hollyhock (K64), the oil tanker Steamship British Sergeant, and the Norwegian ship Steamship Norviken of 2,924 GRT. 307 officers and ratings went down with HMS Hermes, including Commanding Officer Captain Richard F. J. Onslow (March 29, 1896 – April 9, 1942). Commander William T. A. Moran (December 11, 1903 – April 9, 1942), Commanding Officer, and 8 officers and ratings died on HMAS Vampire. This photo appeared in the May 6, 1942, issue of Shashin Shūhō (“Photo Weekly”), the government-sponsored response to LIFE Magazine. This photo was also printed by the Imperial Navy Press Department, in “Photographic Records of the Greater East Asia War,” published in December 1942. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1494.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.96 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4118 x 4086 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 9, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | |
| Country | Ceylon |
| Archive | Japanese National Archives |
| Record Number | Publication 1880797, page 90 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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