Hermes in Plymouth Sound in November 1934. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
ermes was the first ship in the world to be designed, ordered and built from the keel up specifically to operate aircraft, and was named after the cruiser that had operated experimental seaplanes in the 1913 manoeuvres. She was originally intended to be a seaplane carrier with a low, sloping quarterdeck on to which aircraft could be hauled and placed on to trolleys before being pushed forward into the hangar. The order was placed in July 1917, but after her launch in 1919 work on her stopped for a while pending the outcome of flying trials in Argus and the partly-completed Eagle, and she was laid up for two years.
Technical background
Hermes’ freeboard, at 32ft, was about half that of Argus, so the forward half of the hull, as far aft as the island, was plated in up to flight-deck level to improve her seaworthiness and flared to keep the deck as dry as possible. The results were successful and she was always regarded as a good, if lively, sea-boat. After the trials in Eagle the decision was taken to complete her with a starboard- side island, although it was shorter and narrower than the one fitted in the larger ship and had only one funnel. It was topped by a tripod mast with a huge gunnery control position that always seemed much larger than really necessary to control her small battery of 5.5in guns. Apart from bulges, her only protection was a waterline thickness of 2in of high-tensile steel, not armour plate.
Like Eagle, her flight deck tapered to a point at the bow and was made of 1in high-tensile steel.
Hermes had two lifts, both cruciform and identical to the forward lift in Eagle. The after lift was unusual in that it lowered into the open-sided quarterdeck, which was originally designed as a
seaplane handling area with a very low freeboard. It was also accessible by means of a steel roller- shutter in the after bulkhead of the hangar. The after round-down was accentuated by a pronounced
‘hump’ in the flight deck just forward of it. This was intended to form the rear anchor point of the fore-and-aft retaining wire system, but it was kept when the wires were removed in 1926. The ‘hump’
served the secondary purpose of housing the lift structure inside the thickness of the flight deck, instead of projecting partly below it when in the raised position.
Four transverse arrester wires were installed in 1933 and proved to be capable of stopping Swordfish in 1938. She had a crane aft of the island but, unlike Eagle, it could lift only 7,850lb and was thus incapable of lifting a fully-fuelled, float-equipped Swordfish. The hangar was divided into three bays by fire curtains; by 1939 each of these could accommodate only four Swordfish, limiting the ship’s usefulness to trade protection in the distant oceans. To make matters worse her stability was marginal by RN standards, and although she was designed to take 2,600 tons of FFO, the full load made her trim by the bow and heel 4 degrees to port. These defects gave her an effective maximum bunkerage of 2,000 tons, which reduced her radius of action to about 4,000 miles at 18 knots. Her avgas bulk stowage was also marginal at 7,500gal, 500 of which were carried in a ready- use tank on the starboard side of the flight deck, intended for the gravity refuelling of aircraft on deck between sorties, and which could be jettisoned in an emergency.
The rapid development of naval aviation soon rendered Hermes obsolete and she was simply not big enough or fast enough for fleet operations. After the Washington Treaty, however, she was retained because she existed and because she had some value supporting cruisers on the imperial trade routes.
Hermes undergoing sea trials off Plymouth in 1923. The forward windbreak is raised and the tall mast next to it is a temporary, telescopic device with an anemometer on top, intended to give accurate readings of wind flow over the deck before flying trials. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
Hermes technical details
Displacement: 13.700 tons deep load
Dimensions: length 600ft beam 90ft draught 26ft 7in
Machinery: 2 shaft Parsons geared turbines 6 Yarrow small-tube boilers 40.000shpdelivering 25 knots
Armament: 6 × single 5.5in LA; 3 × single 4in HA; multiple mac hine-guns
Protection: 3 in armoured waterline belt; 1 in tensilesreel llightdeck
Fuel: 2,000 tons FFO usable
Endurance: 2,930 miles at 18 knots
Complement: 700
Aircraft operating data
Flight deck: 570ft × 90ft
Hangar: 400ft long × 50ftwidex 16ft high
Arrester wires: 4 × 11.000lb at 53 knots lined in 1933
Lifts: forward 46ft long × 47ft wide cruciform Aft 46ft long × 47ft wide cruciform
Aircraft: 12 in 1939
Aircraft fuel: 7,500gal avgas in 1939
Air weapons: 18in torpedoes; 250lbGP bombs; 1001b bombs; depth charges; 0.303ingun ammunition; flares and pyrotechnics
Hermes Operational history
Laid down by Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co at Elswick-o-Tyne on 15 January 1918, Hermes was launched on 11 September 1919 by Mrs Cooper, the daughter of the First Lord of the Admiralty.
In 1920 the ship was towed from Elswick to Devonport Dockyard, where she was to be completed.
Work was essentially completed by August 1923, when she carried out steaming trials in Plymouth Sound. She commissioned for the first time on 18 February 1924 and carried out acceptance trials with 403 (Flycatcher) Flight and a single Parnall Panther embarked. In May 1924 she embarked officers from ships of the AF to witness flying operations off the Durnoch Firth so that they could learn about aircraft carriers and their capabilities. In June she carried out exercises with the AF off the west coast of Scotland and anchored in Torbay for a visit from 11 July with other warships. On 26 July 1924 she was present at a Royal Review of the Fleet at Spithead by His Majesty King George V, on completion of which she sailed with Argus for combined flying exercises in the English Channel and then entered Portsmouth Dockyard for a short refit to set right the defects that had been identified since completion.
Hermes still has her fore-and-aft retaining wires fitted in this photograph, which shows how the ‘cruciform’ after lift lowered into the quarterdeck, a feature originally intended to help with seaplane operations in harbour. The after fighter is a Fairey Flycatcher. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
She sailed from Portsmouth for post-refit trials on 10 November 1924, and on their successful completion sailed to join the MF with 403 (Flycatcher), 440 and 442 (Fairey IIID) Flights embarked.
She arrived in Malta on 22 November and sailed on 5 January 1925 to demonstrate embarked flying operations to senior officers of the MF. In February she carried out joint exercises with the USS Pittsburgh, and in March combined flying exercises took place with aircraft from Eagle. On 27 March she entered Malta Dockyard for a short refit and then on 17 May she left Malta to return to the UK, pay off and recommission with a new ship’s company for service on the China Station with the same air group.
Hermes in profile. (IAN STURTON)
Hermes recommissioned on 3 June 1925 and sailed for the Far East, passing through the Suez Canal on 18 July. She arrived in Hong Kong on 10 August after refuelling stops in Trincomalee and Singapore. She visited the Chinese ‘treaty’ port of Amoy in November and, having demonstrated her capabilities, began to return to the Mediterranean via Singapore and Colombo. She passed through the Suez Canal again on 9 March 1926 and arrived in Malta on 15 March. On 5 August she was inspected by Sir Roger Keyes, the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, and in September passed through the Suez Canal again for a second period in the Far East, arriving in Hong Kong on 11 October. In April 1927 she supported operations by British forces at Woosung near Shanghai to protect British interests during fighting between rival Chinese factions. In July she moved with other ships from Hong Kong to Wei Hei Wei and remained in the area until relieved by Argus on 1 August. On 7 September 1927 she left Hong Kong to return to the UK, arriving at Portsmouth to pay off on 10 October before moving to Chatham Dockyard for a refit.
On 15 December 1927 she recommissioned in Chatham and then sailed for further service on the China Station on 21 January 1928. The same flights were embarked but Fairey IIIFs had replaced the earlier Fairey IIIDs. She passed through the Suez Canal on 5 February and visited Bangkok on 9 March before relieving Argus on 20 March in Hong Kong. During the remainder of 1928 she visited the ‘treaty’ port of Chefoo, followed by Chingwangtao, North Borneo and Manilla. In 1929 she visited Nanking on the Yangtse River, Tsingtao and several ports in Japan. On 28 January 1930 Hermes deployed to Nanking, where she acted as guard-ship during talks between Sir Miles Lampson, the British Minister to China, and Chinese officials over the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. In March she visited Shanghai for a show of strength with other British warships. She sailed from Hong Kong for the UK on 7 August 1930 and arrived in Portsmouth to pay off on 23 September, moving to Chatham for a refit a few days later.
Anchored off Wei-Hei-Wei on the China Station, Hermes is seen operating Fairey IIIF seaplanes from her flight deck. The crane is about to lift the forward aircraft on to the water. Awnings have been spread over part of the flight deck to protect men working. The concept of operating seaplanes from a carrier at anchor was not finally discarded until 1940. (AUTHOR’S
COLLECTION)
Hermes at speed after arrester wires had been fitted. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
Hermes recommissioned at Chatham for further service on the China Station on 3 October 1930 and sailed for the Far East on 12 November with 403 (Flycatcher) and 440 (Fairey IIIF) Flights embarked, together with six Ripons intended for Eagle. She passed through the Suez Canal on 1 December, and on 22 December entered the new Admiralty floating dock off the Singapore Dockyard
which was still under construction at the time. She arrived in Hong Kong on 2 January 1931 and began an eventful year on the Station. In June she arrived at Wei Hei Wei to assist with rescue work when the submarine Poseidon sank. Six escapers reached the surface and were taken to Hermes’ sick bay, but two of them unfortunately died there. In August Commissioner Hsu of Wei Hei Wei was flown in a Fairey IIIF and Hermes began a passage up the Yangtse River to Hangkow on 31 August.
On arrival in Hangkow on 4 September Hermes put landing parties ashore to quell mutinies in several British-owned merchant vessels and to assist with flood-relief work. Fairey IIIFs on floats were flown over a large area to assess the extent of flood damage in the region. The American Colonel Charles Lindbergh and his wife were in Hangkow, having flown from Japan in their Lockheed Sirius as part of a world tour. They too had helped with aerial survey work, and their aircraft was hoisted on board overnight. On being lowered into the swollen river the next day it capsized but was recovered on board. On 3 October Hermes slipped her mooring and proceeded to Shanghai, where the Lindberghs and their damaged aircraft were landed. On 3 November Hermes went to the aid of the Japanese merchant ship Ryinjin Maru, which had run aground, and rescued nine survivors. In March 1931 she began a refit in Hong Kong Dockyard; this was completed in April 1932. She operated from Wei Hei Wei during the summer months and visited Nagasaki and the Philippine Islands before returning to the UK in 1933, arriving in Chatham on 27 July 1933.
Hermes was open to the public during Chatham Navy Days in August and then sailed to Devonport, where she paid off for a long refit during which arrester wires were fitted. She recommissioned on 18 September 1934 and sailed to Portsmouth for trials with the new equipment in November. On their successful completion she embarked 803 (Osprey) and 824 (Seal) NAS and sailed for the Far East. She anchored off the new naval base in Singapore on 31 December 1934 and relieved Eagle as the China Station carrier. In February 1935 her aircraft played a key role in rescuing the China Navigation Company steamer Tungchow from pirates, and on 8 November 1935 she joined the search for Air Commodore Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith MC AFC RAAF, who was missing off Burma with his copilot during an attempt to break the record time for a flight from London to Sydney. The search ended in early December without finding any sign of the pilots or their aircraft, the Lady Southern Cross. After a short refit in Hong Kong Hermes visited Kobe, Kagoshima, Nagasaki, Port Arthur and Tsingtao in 1936, and ports in the Dutch East Indies during 1937. After a few months based in Singapore she returned to the UK, arriving in Devonport on 3 May 1937. She took part in the Royal Review of the Fleet at Spithead on 20 May 1937 and subsequently reduced to reserve at Devonport, where she was used as an accommodation ship. In July 1938 she was brought forward for use as an aviation training ship, based in Devonport with a reduced ship’s company.
Hermes in a camouflage paint scheme, shortly before her loss in 1942. Note the Type 72 aircraft homing beacon fitted at the highest point of the foremast over the spotting top structure. (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
On 24 August 1939 Hermes was recommissioned for operational service and embarked 814 (Swordfish) NAS. She concentrated at Portland with other units of the HF on 1 September and subsequently carried out an antisubmarine sweep in the south-west approaches with the destroyers Imogen and Isis, returning to Devonport on 27 September. In October she joined a French squadron led by the battlecruiser Strasbourg based on Dakar which was used to hunt for German surface raiders in the South Atlantic shipping lanes. She was refitted briefly in Devonport in January 1940 and then returned to the Dakar-based group to resume searches. Her aircraft located the blockade- runner Jobshaven on 24 April and it was subsequently arrested.
After the collapse of France Hermes was ordered by the Admiralty to sail from Dakar on 29 June and initiate a blockade of French shipping off West Africa. She refuelled in Freetown on 2 July and then, on 18 July, one of her ship’s boats was used to attack the new battleship Richelieu in Dakar.
The intention was to disable the Richelieu’s rudder and propellers with depth charges but, because of the shallow water, they failed to explode. A more successful attack was carried out by bomb-armed Swordfish a day later. On 10 August Hermes collided with the armed merchant cruiser Corfu in dense fog, suffering damage to her bow. Initial repairs were made in Freetown and more complete work was carried out in Simonstown Dockyard in South Africa. She was able to resume operations in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, searching for German commerce raiders. She still had 814 NAS embarked and it remained her only squadron throughout her war service.
In April 1941 Hermes supported the Anglo-Indian force that suppressed the German-supported uprising in Iraq. She subsequently searched for Vichy-French shipping in the Indian Ocean, refuelling when necessary in Colombo and Mombassa. In early October she had a brief self-maintenance period in Mombassa, during which her Swordfish disembarked to RNAS Port Reitz, and later in the month she joined Repulse to patrol Allied shipping routes.
On 18 November 1941 Hermes arrived in Simonstown Dockyard for a refit which was completed on 31 January 1942. The Admiralty’s intention for her was that she would join the Australian Squadron to use her aircraft to support cruisers in operations against the Japanese. She was joined by HMAS Vampire and carried out an antisubmarine patrol with her south of Ceylon. The crisis that followed the rapid Japanese advances led to changes in her programme, however, and she was
retained near Ceylon while the new carrier Indomitable was misemployed ferrying RAF fighters to the Dutch East Indies. On 26 March she was ordered to leave Trincomalee with Vampire to join Allied forces assembling in Freemantle. Three days later she was recalled to form part of the EF in Trincomalee. However, when the Fleet Staff learnt of the imminent attack on Ceylon by Admiral Nagumo’s Japanese fast carrier task force, Hermes was ordered to sail without aircraft embarked to clear the harbour with Vampire. Air cover for the ships was to be provided by the RAF from shore bases, but in the event it did not materialise and at 1100 on 9 April 1942 Hermes was attacked by aircraft from the Japanese carriers Akagi, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku. They scored over forty hits with 500lb bombs and at 1120 Hermes sank in position 07 35N 82 05E, off Batticaloa in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, with the loss of 307 men. Vampire sank at 1130 with the loss of eight men. The corvette Hollyhock nearby was sunk at 1200 by aircraft from Soryu with the loss of fifty-three men, but the nearby hospital ship Vita was respected by the Japanese and rescued over 600 men from Hermes and Vampire. Hermes is the only British aircraft carrier ever to have been sunk by air attack.