![\"Aircraft](\"https:\/\/secondbysecondworldwar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Warkroyal2.jpg\")
<\/a>Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, damaged and listing, 13 November 1941. She sank the following day. [Public domain, wiki]<\/p><\/div>This week in the war, on 13 November 1941, the pride of the Royal Navy, Britain’s aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal<\/em>, was torpedoed near Gibralter in the Mediterranean by U-81, a U-boat commanded by Kapitanleutnant Friedrich Guggenberger. The following afternoon, a fire broke out in the Ark Royal<\/em>‘s engine room. The aircraft carrier sank at around 6.00pm.<\/p>\n The sinking was a result of Hitler’s having recently reinforced U-boat strength in the Mediterranean following huge losses experienced by Italian supply convoys<\/a> destined for North Africa. (Rommel had pleaded for additional U-boats to be sent from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean). When the U-81 delivered its attack, the Ark Royal<\/em> had been returning from delivering fighter plane reinforcements to the island of Malta. With the Ark Royal<\/em> gone, the Illustrious<\/em> and Formidable<\/em> being repaired in the United States, and the Indomitable<\/em> having been damaged by running aground, Britain had no modern carriers available for service in the Mediterranean. Without adequate air cover, Malta could no longer be supplied.<\/p>\n The first Ark Royal had been the flagship of the English fleet in Elizabethan times and had fought against the Spanish Armada. The Ark Royal<\/em>\u00a0of World War II was a favourite of the British public. The ship had achieved spectacular fame in May 1941 when planes from the Ark Royal had launched the attack against the Bismarck<\/a> which had led to the German battleship’s eventual sinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week in the war, on 13 November 1941, the pride of the Royal Navy, Britain’s aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, was torpedoed near Gibralter in the Mediterranean by U-81, a U-boat commanded by Kapitanleutnant Friedrich Guggenberger. The following afternoon, … Continue reading