page_title: HMS Ark Royal (91)
section_title: Mediterranean deployment
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Ark Royal (91) / Service history / Mediterranean deployment
caption_attribution_description: Blackburn Skuas and Fairey Swordfish aircraft landing on the deck of HMS ARK ROYAL after attacking the Italian Fleet during the action off Sardinia. Photograph taken from HMS KELVIN. One Italian cruiser and two Italian destroyers were damaged in this action.
context_page_description: HMS Ark Royal was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served during the Second World War.
  Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead, England, and completed in November 1938. Her design differed from previous aircraft carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. She served during a period that first saw the extensive use of naval air power; several carrier tactics were developed and refined aboard Ark Royal.
  Ark Royal served in some of the most active naval theatres of the Second World War. She was involved in the first aerial and U-boat kills of the war, operations off Norway, the search for the German battleship Bismarck, and the Malta Convoys. Ark Royal survived several near misses and gained a reputation as a 'lucky ship'. She was torpedoed on 13 November 1941 by the German submarine U-81 and sank the following day; one of her 1,488 crew members was killed.
context_section_description: Ark Royal left Scapa Flow with the battlecruiser Hood and three destroyers, arriving at Gibraltar on 23 June 1940. Here she joined Force H, under Sir James Somerville. After the capitulation of France there was concern that a French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir might fall under Axis control and tip the balance of power in the Mediterranean, affecting the whole war. Ark Royal's captain, Cedric Holland, had been the British naval attaché in Paris, and was sent to negotiate the surrender or scuttling of the French fleet. Force H was deployed outside the harbour, and when the French admirals refused to agree to the offered terms, opened fire on the French ships. During the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, Ark Royal's aircraft provided targeting information for the British ships. The French battleship Strasbourg escaped, despite attacks by Swordfish from Ark Royal. Two days after the attack, aircraft from Ark Royal incapacitated the French battleship Dunkerque, which had been beached in the initial attack.
  Having reduced the possibility of a French challenge in the Mediterranean, Force H prepared for attacks on Italian targets, and sailed from Gibraltar on 8 July. The force was attacked by Italian bombers within eight hours of departing, and although Force H escaped damage, Somerville cancelled the raids and ordered the fleet to Gibraltar. During July, the British colony of Malta came under attack from the Italian air force, with Force H ordered to deliver Hawker Hurricanes to reinforce the island's air defences. Force H was deployed from 31 July – 4 August, with the carrier Argus used to deliver the aircraft, while Ark Royal provided air cover for the fleet. On 2 August, Ark Royal launched a successful air attack against the Italian air base at Cagliari.
  Force H remained at Gibraltar until 30 September, when it escorted reinforcements for Admiral Andrew Cunningham's fleet to Alexandria. En route, diversionary attacks were planned on Italian air bases at Elmas and Cagliari to direct attention from both the reinforcement operation and a supply convoy sailing to Malta. The attacks were successfully carried out on 1 October, and the fleet reached Alexandria without significant attention from the Italian air force. From Alexandria, Ark Royal was detached and sent to West Africa to support British attempts to encourage Vichy French colonies to switch allegiance to the Free French. During negotiations, several Free French aircraft flew from Ark Royal, but their aircrews were arrested at Dakar. Negotiations failed, and bombers from Ark Royal were directed against military installations during the unsuccessful British attempt to take Dakar by force. Following this, Ark Royal returned to Britain for refit, docking in Liverpool on 8 October after being escorted by Fortune, Forester and Greyhound. The refit—which lasted until 3 November—included repairs to her machinery and the installation of a new flight deck barrier.
  Following refit, Ark Royal—accompanied by Barham, Berwick, and Glasgow—sailed for Gibraltar, arriving on 6 November. They were deployed with the rest of Force H to escort convoys from Gibraltar to Alexandria and Malta, performing several runs before being assigned to Operation Collar, one of 35 convoys to support Malta between 1940 and 1942, on 25 November. An Italian fleet—led by the battleships Giulio Cesare and Vittorio Veneto—was dispatched to intercept the convoy. The Italian fleet was detected by a reconnaissance aircraft from Ark Royal and the carrier launched Swordfish torpedo bombers while the capital ships of Force H turned to meet the enemy. During the engagement, the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Italian destroyer Lanciere was damaged, although it is uncertain if torpedoes from the bombers or British gunfire were responsible. The British mistook Lanciere for a cruiser, while the Italian commanders received incorrect reports that the cruiser Bolzano had been hit. British attacks failed to damage any other Italian ships or sink the disabled destroyer, and a retaliatory attack by the Italian air force saw Ark Royal as the s
caption: A Fairey Swordfish aircraft lands on Ark Royal's flight deck, whilst a Blackburn Skua circles overhead. Photograph taken from Kelvin after the attacks on the Italian Fleet off Sardinia
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