MANILVA ARK ROYAL STORY.

WEDNESDAY 16^th NOVEMBER 2011.

Well this story has come about because I read on the council web site that there is a talk being given this Friday down in Sabinillas about the sinking of the Aircraft Carrier ‘ Ark Royal ’ back in 1941 off shore from Manilva ! I Googled and went on Wikipedia and soon found out that there is more to the story and there is also a postscript that brings things a lot nearer to home !

The Aircraft Carrier ‘ Ark Royal ’was at the time the third naval ship to carry the name; she was built at Cammel Laird and Company Ltd. Shipyard in Birkenhead on the Mersey. She was laid down on the 16^TH September 1935,launched on the 13^TH April 1937 when it took four bottles of champagne before one cracked and was commissioned on the 16^TH December 1938. Her design differed from previous carriers as she was the first ship on which the hangers and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, she could carry on over two flight decks a large number of aircraft and was fast ! The pictures below at the bottom of the blog show the ship on the slipway at Cammel Lairds on the day of the launch and later in the Mersey as she was maneuvered into the fitting out basin at the shipyard; she had a displacement of 22,000 tons and was 800 ft long and was powered by 3xParsons geared turbines which gave her a top speed of 31 knots ( 37 mph ) The complement was 1,580 officers and crew and she carried Fairy Swordfish and Blackburn Skuas bombers as you can see below. Straight away she was involved in WWII in the Atlantic in 1939 in various naval operations, she was responsible for the first British aerial kill of the war when a Blackburn Skuas shot down a Luftwaffe Dornier Do 18 seaplane that was attacking her and during this action, later three more Dorniers were driven away by anti aircraft fire but the fourth launched a 2,200 lb bomb at the carrier, Ark Royal turned hard to starboard, heeling over, avoiding the bomb but was covered in a spout of water, the German pilot thought that he had hit the ship and the Germans later claimed to have sunk her ! This was the start of her reputation as a ‘ Lucky Ship ’as she many more scrapes later in the war; in October 1939 she was redeployed to Freetown to hunt for the Admiral Graf Spee and was at Montevido when Hand Langsdoff scuttled the Graf Spee in the harbour.In 1940 she was sent to Norway and came under attack from Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 bombers as she supported various operations.

Next she was deployed to Gibraltar and took part in the Mediterranean from July 1940 on many search and destroy missions before she returned to Liverpool for a refit in November; she then headed out the Atlantic to hunt for the ‘ Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ’ but after several near misses due to fog, radio malfunctions and damage to the ship from depth charges had to return to Gibraltar, she then went on convoy duty towards Alexandria where she was attacked by the Italians and German, on one day 12 of Ark Royals Fairy Fulmars drove off over 50 aircraft, later she to took part in the support of Malta. On May 18^TH 1941 she set off to hunt for the ‘ Bismarck ’ and it was her Swordfish that found her and delivered their torpedoes that slowed her down off Saint-Nazaire where she was later sank by other British battleships on the 27^TH May ! It was then time to deliver aircraft and supplies to Malta on several runs;

Final Voyage and sinking.

As the Ark Royal was returning from Malta on the 13^TH November she came under a surprise attack from a German U-boat ‘ U81 ’ She was hit amidships by a torpedo between the fuel bunkers and bomb store and directly below the bridge island ! The ship took a big hit as the torpedo hit the bilge keel and made the ship loose all power,all communications and flooding and it also took the life of Able Seaman Mitchell which turned out to be the only fatality! It soon developed a list to starboard and the Captain,Maund gave the order to abandon ship, the ships complement of 1,487 officers and crew were taken off by the Destroyer ‘ HMS Legion ’The pictures below show the Ark Royal after she had been hit and also earlier in the war as she took part in the naval battles,the latest pictures above show the Ark Royal on station and after the attack.

Despite several attempts to save her she capsized and sank at 06-19 on the 14^TH November 1941 !! The wreck was only discovered in 2002 when a BBC film crew working on a documentary found her off-shore of Manilva !

PS; I have just found on U-Tube a film of the U81 returning to its home port with the victorious crew and commander – honest ! the Captain of the U81 was Friedrich Guttenberger who had a crew of three officers and 31 ratings; it carried twelve torpedoes and was a Type V11c boat of the German Knegsmarine built by Bremer Vulkan at Bremer-Vegesack; she was only commissioned on the 26th April 1941. ( she was later sunk by US bombers at Pola on the 9th January 1944 with the loss of just two of her crew ) See the pictures above.

Postscript to the story of the Ark Royal;

This is when the story becomes a lot more personal; Brenda’s dad, Walter Fitch worked at Cammel Lairds all his life from a boy to retirement, he was a gentle giant of a man, every morning before setting off on his bike across Birkenhead to the shipyard he used to take the four sisters a cup of tea in bed-to wake them! He helped build the Ark Royal and over the years many more great naval ships and cruise liners; the fourth Ark Royal was ordered in mid-1942, laid down in May 1943 and launched in May 1950 when a certain young girl of seven was taken by her father to see the launch by Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI – the ‘Queen Mother’!!

Walter had again helped build another Ark Royal and Brenda was that girl!! It is one of her first memories as she grew up, the very first being when her mom,Gwladys came home from the hospital with baby Jenny !!!

I told you it was one “ Helluva “ story.

Thought for the Day;

For those that serve.

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