HMS Victorious was the third after Illustrious and Formidable. Ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme, she was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939. Her commissioning was delayed until 1941 due to the greater need for escort vessels for service in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Her service in 1941 and 1942 included famous actions against the battleship Bismarck, several Arctic convoys, and Operation Pedestal. She was loaned to the United States Navy in 1943 and served in the south west Pacific as part of the Third Fleet. In 1944 Victorious contributed to several attacks on the Tirpitz. The elimination of the German naval threat allowed her redeployment first to the Eastern Fleet at Colombo and then to the Pacific for the final actions of the war against Japan.
After the war, her service was broken by periods in reserve and, between 1950 and 1958, the most complete reconstruction of any Royal Navy carrier. This involved the construction of new superstructure above the hangar deck level, a new angled flight deck, new boilers and the fitting of Type 984 radar and data links and heavy shipboard computers, able to track 50 targets and assess their priority for interrogation and interception. The reduction of Britain's naval commitment in 1967, the end of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, and a fire while under refit, prompted her final withdrawal from service, three to five years early, and she was scrapped in 1969.
Construction
Victorious was one of two Illustrious-class aircraft carriers ordered from Vickers-Armstrong under the 1936 Construction Programme for the Royal Navy. The cost of the new carriers was estimated to be £2,395,000 each. Victorious was laid down at Vickers' Walker Naval Yard, Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 4 May 1937 as Admiralty Job Number J4035 and Yard number 11. Construction was slowed by the unavailability of armour plate, with Victorious launched on 14 September 1939, with Augusta Inskip, wife of Thomas Inskip, the Lord Chancellor, as sponsor. The carrier was commissioned at the shipyard on 29 March 1941, leaving Walker for Sea trials and passage to Rosyth dockyard on 16 April 1941.
World War II
Bismarck episode
The first task given to the newly commissioned aircraft carrier was to ferry Hawker Hurricane fighters to Malta. 48 crated Hurricanes were loaded aboard Victorious at Rosyth on 14 May 1941, and on 15 May she sailed for Scapa Flow to join Convoy WS 8B to the Middle East. Following the sortie of the and cruiser , Victorious, despite not being worked up and having an understrength air wing (consisting of the nine biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers of 825 Naval Air Squadron and a flight of Fairey Fulmar fighters), was ordered to take part in the hunt for Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, sailing from Scapa Flow with the battleship , the battlecruiser and 4 light cruisers on the evening of 22 May.
thumb|left|HMS Victorious in 1941
Late on 24 May 1941, Victorious launched nine of her Swordfishes, followed by three Fulmars to track the German battleship, with two more Fulmar later launched to relieve the first three Fulmars. The Swordfish, under the command of Eugene Esmonde, flew through foul weather and attacked Bismarck in the face of tremendous fire from anti-aircraft guns, scoring a hit to the 320 mm armoured belt with a torpedo. No aircraft were shot down during the attack, but two Fulmars ditched after they could not find the carrier in the dark because a rain squall had moved in and the carrier's homing beacon had failed. Victorious took no further part in the chase; aircraft from disabled Bismarcks steering gear, thus contributing to her sinking three days later. Esmonde received a DSO for his part in the action.
Convoy and other Arctic duties
On 31 May 1941, Victorious set out in another attempt to deliver the Hurricanes, sailing with troop convoy WS 8X. On 4 June 1941 a Swordfish of 825 Squadron from Victorious spotted the German supply ship Gonzenheim north of the Azores. Gonzenheim had been intended to support the Bismarck but was subsequently scuttled when approached by the battleship and cruiser . On 5 June, Victorious was detached to Gibraltar, On 8 October, Victorious carried out another attack against shipping off Norway, with her Albacores damaging two merchant ships with bombs.
In November 1941, decrypted German Enigma signals indicated a break-out into the Atlantic by the German warships Admiral Scheer and Tirpitz. Victorious was deployed to Iceland with the battleships in response, working with the American battleships and , and cruisers and to patrol the Denmark Strait in order to intercept any breakout. While Adolf Hitler cancelled the planned sortie on 17 November, Victorious continued patrols with the Home Fleet to stop any breakout, often in very poor weather, until the end of 1941.
On 19 February 1942, Victorious left Scapa Flow in company with the battleship , the cruiser and seven destroyers to attack shipping in the Tromsø region, but on 21 February an RAF Coastal Command aircraft spotted the German cruisers Admiral Scheer and Prinz Eugen on passage to Norway, and the British force was diverted to try and intercept the German ships, which turned back towards Germany on being sighted. On the night of 22/23 February Victorious launched two forces of 10 and 7 Albacores to search for and attack Scheer and Prinz Eugen but they failed to locate their targets in conditions of poor visibility. Three of the Albacores were lost during the operation. The German force was not unscathed, as Prinz Eugen was torpedoed by the British submarine , sustaining damage that took months to repair.
In March 1942, the threat posed by Tirpitz, now based in Northern Norway, resulted in the Home Fleet providing a strong covering force, including Victorious, for the concurrent Arctic convoys PQ 12 (out-bound) and QP 8 (return). On 6 March 1942, Tirpitz and three destroyers sortied from Trondheim to attack the two convoys in Operation Sportpalast. On 7 March 1942, the German destroyer Friedrich Ihn encountered the Soviet freighter Izhora, a straggler from QP 8. The freighter managed to report by radio that she was under attack by a surface ship before being sunk, informing the British that a German force was at sea and near the convoys. When signals intelligence indicated that Tirpitz was heading back to Norway, Victorious was ordered to search for and attack the German battleship. Six Albacores were flown off Victorious on 0640 hr on 9 March to search for Tirpitz, followed by a strike force of 12 torpedo-armed Albacores at 0732 hr. One of the search aircraft spotted Tirpitz and directed the strike force to its target, but when the Albacores attacked, the attack was unsuccessful, with all torpedoes missing and two Albacores being shot down. In the last week of March 1942, Victorious formed part of the covering force for convoy PQ 13 and QP 9. The carrier received significant weather damage from a force 9 gale with waves buckling the ship's bow plating and forward bulkheads and requiring a short refit at Rosyth to repair the damage. Victorious continued to provide cover for Arctic Convoys for the rest April 1942, helping to provide cover for convoys PQ 14, and QP 10. From the end of April, until June, Anglo-American forces (including the US ships Washington, Tuscaloosa, and Wichita) covered convoys PQ 16, QP 12, PQ 17, and QP 13, after which Victorious returned to Scapa Flow. Whilst in US service she was assigned the radio call sign "Robin" and was informally known as "USS Robin" tongue-in-cheek. After crossing the Atlantic from Greenock, via the Royal Naval Dockyard on the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, to refit in the United States at the Norfolk Navy Yard during January, 1943. Her Fairey Albacore torpedo-bombers were replaced with Grumman Avengers, requiring the arrestor wires to be strengthened. A new "7 wire" was added on an extension to the aft-end of the flight deck, which increased deck space. Victorious was also equipped with the US Navy YB-type aircraft-homing system, TBS (Talk Between Ships) system, surface- and air-search radars, a vertical plotting board, and American cypher machines. Additional 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns were fitted, along with American Mark 51 fire-control directors. A control station was added to the hangar deck, and a new fire-suppression system for the crew spaces. Victorious passed through the Panama Canal on 14 February to operate with United States forces in the Pacific. Her crew suffered an outbreak of diphtheria and medical supplies were dropped to her by air on 21 February.
thumb|HMS Victorious and USS Saratoga at Nouméa, 1943
Victorious arrived at Pearl Harbor in March 1943 and was fitted with heavier arrester wires as RN wires had proved too light for the Grumman Avenger aircraft. Additional AA guns were also fitted. She sailed for the south-west Pacific, arriving at Nouméa, New Caledonia, on 17 May to join USS Saratoga of Rear Admiral DeWitt Ramsey’s Carrier Division 1. She sortied immediately for a week with Task Force 14, including Saratoga and battleships North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Indiana, sweeping against reported Japanese fleet activity, but without contact. Six aircraft were lost to accidents. Rear Admiral Ramsey, commanding the division, carried out evaluation exercises and patrol sweeps in June and determined that Victorious had superior fighter control but handled Avenger aircraft poorly because of their weight. Accordingly, he transferred 832 Squadron FAA to the Saratoga and US Carrier Air Group 3 to the Victorious. Thereafter, Victoriouss primary role was fighter cover and Saratoga mainly handled strikes.
On 27 June, TF14 was redesignated Task Group 36.3 and sailed to provide cover for the invasion of New Georgia (part of Operation Cartwheel). Victorious spent the next 28 days continuously in combat operations at sea, a record for a British carrier, steaming 12,223 miles at an average speed over and launching 614 sorties. Returning to Nouméa on 25 July, Victorious was recalled home. Though the Japanese had four carriers to Ramsey's two, it seemed clear that they were not intending to press their advantage and the first two carriers of the new Essex class had arrived at Pearl Harbor well ahead of schedule. Victorious left for Pearl Harbor on 31 July, leaving behind her Avengers as replacements for Saratoga, sailing in company with battleship Indiana and launching 165 anti submarine sweeps en route. She also carried US pilots finishing their tours as well as two Japanese POWs. After a brief stop in San Diego, Victorious passed through the Panama Canal on 26 August and arrived at Norfolk Navy Yard 1 September, where specialized US equipment was removed. Returning home, she arrived at Greenock on the Clyde on 26 September 1943 where aircraft and stores were discharged awaiting refit.
thumb|The German battleship [[German battleship Tirpitz|Tirpitz]]
Attack on Tirpitz
From December 1943 until March 1944, Victorious was under refit at Liverpool, where new radar was fitted. The Task Force returned to Scapa Flow three days later.
Victorious was to participate in three further attacks on Tirpitz, in April and May (Operations Planet, Brawn, and Tiger Claw), but these were cancelled due to bad weather and anti-shipping strikes were substituted. On 30 May, an acoustic torpedo attack by against Victorious failed and subsequently she made more shipping attacks off Norway (Operation Lombard).
After a short preparatory period, Victorious took part in a sequence of air attacks against Japanese installations. The first was Operation Crimson on 25 July, a joint attack with HMS Illustrious on airfields near Sabang in Sumatra. In late August, she provided air cover for Eastern Fleet ships that were providing air-sea rescue facilities for US Army aircraft during air attacks on Sumatra (Operation Boomerang). On 29 August, in company with HMS Illustrious and Indomitable and escorted by HMS Howe, Victorious made air strikes on Padang, Indaroeng and Emmahaven (Operation Banquet). After a short pause, on 18 September, Victorious and Indomitable attacked railway yards at Sigli in Sumatra followed by photo-reconnaissance of the Nicobar Islands (Operation Light). During Light, there was a "friendly fire" attack on HMS Spirit, fortunately without causing any casualties.
Okinawa
thumb|left|HMS Victorious and other ships of the British Pacific Fleet arriving at Sydney in February 1945
In early February, Victorious joined Task Force 113 (TF113) at Sydney to prepare for service with the US 5th Fleet. At the end of the month, TF113 left Sydney for their forward base at Manus Island, north of New Guinea, and then continued, joining the 5th US Fleet at Ulithi on 25 March as Task Force 57 (TF57), supporting the American assault on Okinawa. The task allocated to the British force was to neutralise airfields in the Sakishima Gunto. From late March until 25 May, the British carriers Victorious, Illustrious (later replaced by Formidable), Indefatigable and Indomitable formed the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Philip Vian and they were in action against airfields on the Sakishima Islands (Operations Iceberg I and Iceberg II) and Formosa (Operation Iceberg Oolong). In the main, however, British aircraft were excluded from the actions against the major Japanese naval bases; the Americans, for political reasons, preferred to reserve these targets for themselves.
War's end
Victorious was scheduled to leave for Manus Island with Task Force 37 (TF37) on 10 August 1945 to prepare for the anticipated invasion of Japan (Operation Olympic), and actually left on August 12, then proceeding to Sydney. The surrender of Japan on 15 August rendered the invasion moot. The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) commander had agreed to stay for one more day's operations, but the British arrangements could not stretch to a further delay and fuel shortages were insurmountable. The steering faults that had hampered Victorious in the Indian Ocean in late 1944 are believed to have continued. In the winter of 1946–47, the first deck trials with the Hawker Sea Fury (Mark 10) took place aboard Victorious, leading to its approval for carrier operations in early 1947.
Victorious was reduced to the reserve at Devonport on 15 January 1947, on completion of her trooping duties. From June that year she was modified at Portsmouth Dockyard with additional accommodation and classrooms and on 1 October 1947, joined the Home Fleet Training Squadron, replacing the battleship . In July 1948, Victorious was deployed to Portland Harbour in support of the sailing events at the 1948 London Olympic Games. In 1949 she was refitted at Rosyth and took part in several training cruises and Home Fleet exercises.
Modernisation
On 23 October 1950, Victorious entered Portsmouth Dockyard's D dry dock for an extensive modernization which was expected to be completed by 1954. Poor project management, frequent design changes to incorporate new technologies, and a shortage of labour at Portsmouth Dockyard all contributed to significant delays and cost increases with Victorious only leaving dock in January 1958.
The initial concept for the modernisation called for a rebuild of the hull with a single tall hangar; a new, straight, flight deck capable of operating aircraft up to 40.000lbs; and the installation of a port side deck-edge lift forward of the crash barriers (although the deck-edge lift was eliminated as impractical even before work began). The space between the new hangar and flight deck was to be converted into a gallery deck housing machinery for the two new steam catapults mounted in the bow, accommodation spaces, and various offices and operations rooms. The entire existing armament was also planned to be replaced with a combination of QF 3in Mark N1 guns in Mark 6 twin mounts and 40 mm Bofors guns in Mk VI sextuple mounts. While the flight deck was to retain an armoured thickness of 3 inches, the hangar sides were only intended to be 1.5 inches thick to offset the weight of the new gallery deck
Aviation was now supported by a Type 957 TACAN beacon on top of the mast for navigation, while a Type 963 Carrier-Controlled Approach (CCA) radar on the aft of the island and the mirror landing aid on the port deck-edge (when combined with the Type 984) allowed for landings even in bad weather or at night. The two bow mounted 145ft stroke BS4 steam catapults were capable of launching aircraft of up to 50.000lbs at 97 knots (relative to the deck), while the 4 arrester wires on the angled landing area could arrest a 35.000lbs aircraft coming in at up to 103 knots (relative to the deck), sufficient to operate any carrier aircraft in the Fleet Air Arm at the time. While it was hoped she would be able to operate a full air group of 50 aircraft when the refit commenced, the rapid increases in size of new jets coming into service limited her to operating up to 36 aircraft (depending on type) even with the deck park in use. Later in 1961 she would sail to join the Far East Fleet. In 1964, she provided support for the newly independent state of Malaysia against territorial expansion by its neighbour, Indonesia. Her passage through the Sunda Strait caused the Sunda Straits Crisis between August and September 1964, which was settled peacefully when Indonesia agreed to allow Victorious to return through the Lombok Strait. In April 1966 she departed again to serve with the Far East Fleet for a year, during which she proved capable of landing and then launching a US Navy Phantom F-4 from , returning to the UK for a refit period from June 1967.
thumb|Victorious in [[Grand Harbour, Malta en route back to the UK following her 1966–1967 Far East cruise]]
Decommissioning
thumb|A US Navy [[Douglas A-1 Skyraider|Douglas EA-1F Skyraider (electronics countermeasures aircraft) making a touch-and-go landing on HMS Victorious in 1963]]
On 11 November 1967, after the completion of the 1967 refit and shortly before the start of what was intended as the ship's final commission, there was a relatively small fire, which was rapidly extinguished, in the chief petty officers' mess (resulting in one death and two hospitalisations). Although damage was relatively minor, the fire coincided with a reduction of the defence budget and a manpower shortage for the Royal Navy. Together with the 1966 decision to phase out fixed-wing naval aviation, it was decided at very short notice not to recommission Victorious. Her captain was told of this just one day before the scheduled recommissioning ceremony. The ceremony was held by the ship's crew anyway as a "wake" for the ship. She was paid off in 1968 and placed on the Disposal List in 1969. She was sold later that year to British Shipbreakers and towed on 13 July 1969 to Faslane Naval Base, where she was broken up.
|-
!Squadron!!Aircraft type!!Number of<br />aircraft!!Role
|-align=center
|801 NAS||Buccaneer S2||9||Strike
|-align=center
|899 NAS||Sea Vixen FAW2||10||Fleet Air Defence
|-align=center
|rowspan=2|849A NAS||Gannet AEW3||4||Airborne Early Warning
|-align=center
|Gannet COD4||1||Carrier On-Board Delivery
|-align=center
|814 NAS||Wessex HAS.3||5||Anti-Submarine Warfare
|-align=center
|Ships Flight||Wessex HAS.1||2||Search and Rescue
|}
Squadrons and aircraft
{| class="wikitable"
|+Squadrons embarked
! Naval Air Squadron
! Dates !! Aircraft
|-
|809
|January 1941 – November 1942
|Fulmar II
|-
|825
| May–June 1941
|Swordfish I
|-
|800Z
|May–June 1941
|Fulmar I
|-
|820
|June 1941
|Swordfish I
|-
|828
|July–August 1941
|Albacore I
|-
|827
|July–August 1941
|Albacore I
|-
|820
|July 1941 – January 1942
|Fairey Albacore|Albacore I
|-
|817
|August 1941 – November 1942
|Albacore I
|-
|832
|August 1941 – December 1942
|Albacore I
|-
|802 detachment 8
|September 1941
|Martlet I
|-
|885
|June–August 1942
|Sea Hurricane Ib
|-
|884
|July–November 1942
|Spitfire V
|-
|801 detachment
|Aug 1942
|Sea Hurricane Ib
|-
|896
|September 1942 – September 1943
|Martlet IV
|-
|898
|October 1942 – October 1943
|Martlet IV
|-
|882
|October 1942 – September 1943
||Martlet IV
|-
|832
|January – September 1943
|Avenger 1
|-
|1834
|February 1944 – October 1945
|Corsair II/IV
|-
|827
|March–April 1944
|Barracuda II
|-
|829
|March–July 1944
|Barracuda II
|-
|831
|March–August 1944
|Barracuda II
|-
|1836
|March 1944 – October 1945
|Corsair II/IV
|-
|1837
|July–Sept 1944
|Corsair II
|-
|1838
|July 1944
|Corsair II
|-
|822 detachment 9
|September 1944
|Barracuda II
|-
|849
|December 1944 – October 1945
|Avenger II
|-
|701C
|November 1957 – July 1958
|Dragonfly HR3
|-
|803
|June 1958 – March 1962
|Supermarine Scimitar
|-
|824
|August 1958 – February 1959
|Westland Whirlwind HAS7
|-
|849B
|September 1958 – June 1960
|Douglas Skyraider AEW1
|-
|893
|September 1958 – February 1960
|Sea Vixen FAW1
|-
|831B
|November 1958 – December 1958
|Sea Venom ECM22
|-
|894 detachment
|February 1959
|Sea Venom FAW22
|-
|894
|June–August 1959
|Sea Venom FAW22
|-
|892
|July 1959 – March 1962
|Sea Vixen FAW1
|-
|831B
|September 1959 – December 1959
|Sea Venom ECM22
|-
|831A
|January 1960 – February 1960
|Gannet ECM4
|-
|815
|December 1961
|Westland Wessex HAS1
|-
|849B
|June 1960 – March 1962
|Gannet AEW3
|-
|825
|August 1960 – April 1962
| Whirlwind HAS7
|-
|893 detachment
|September 1960
|Sea Vixen FAW1
|-
|819
|July 1963 – August 1963
|Wessex HAS1
|-
|801
|August 1963 – July 1965
|Buccaneer S1
|-
|814
|August 1963 – June 1967
|Wessex HAS1
|-
|849A
|August 1963 – July 1965
|Gannet AEW3
|-
|893
|August 1963 – July 1965
|Sea Vixen FAW1
|-
|899 detachment
|August 1963
|Sea Vixen FAW1
|-
|893
|November 1965 – June 1967
|Sea Vixen FAW2
|-
|849A
|June 1966 – June 1967
|Gannet AEW3
|-
|801
|May 1966 – May 1968
|Buccaneer S2
|}
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
- Armoured aircraft carrier action and damage reports, 1940–1945
- .