HMS Audacity (D10)

History of HMS Audacity (D10)

The British Navy has always produced ships with state-of-the-art naval technology - HMS Victory and HMS Dreadnought being two such. The other became HMS Audacity, the first escort aircraft carrier. Escorts provide replacement aircraft for the larger fleet carriers to compensate for their losses in combat.

This allows missions to continue without the fleet carriers having to return to land bases to get the planes and pilots they need. This WWII solution of supplying aircraft and pilot supply ships to fleet carriers evolved into air strikes and strikes targeting convoys and amphibious landings, reducing the need to build larger, more expensive fleet carriers.

Audacity was originally built and launched by the German Vegesack company Bremer Vulkan in 1939 as a 5,537 ton German merchant vessel called the MV Hannover. As a cargo ship, the Hanover was originally used as a fruit carrier in the West Indies. In her home port of Bremen, Germany, she was allowed to be sunk when war was declared.

Hanover was ordered to sail to the natural harbors in the Netherlands Antilles, and in early 1940 Hanover's captain Wahnschaff was ordered to return to Germany. Found off Puerto Rico, she received orders to stop from light cruiser HMS Dunedin and destroyer HMCS Assiniboine. Hanover decided to try to escape to a neutral port in the Dominican Republic. The escape route was cut off by the British warship, so Captain Varnschaf gave the order to open the sea valve and set the ship on fire. The boarding convoy of HMS Dunedin captured the crew and was able to close the sea valve.

Hanover was dragged into international waters and it took four days to bring the fire under control. As a trophy, Hannover was towed to Jamaica on March 11, 1940.

Now under British control, Hannover was renamed Sinbad and received its official British number and alphabet. Her home port was changed to Kingston, Jamaica under the British flag. In late 1940, Sinbad was renamed the Imperial Dreadnought by the Department of War Transport.

Her home port moved from Jamaica to London and White Star Line. Calculate.

The Royal Navy recognized the need for defensive support in the 1930s, but did nothing at the time. When war broke out, the Admiralty needed carriers to protect valuable cargo ships going to British bases around the world, and decided that the concept of escort carriers had to be implemented.

In January 1941, she was sent to the Bryce Dockyard to be rebuilt as an escort carrier. The Empire Audacity is the largest ship ever built in Blyth, and shipbuilders wonder why the superstructure was torn down at a time when Britain was running out of ships. Commissioned on 17 June 1941, HMS Intrepid was the Royal Navy's first escort carrier. Due to the tight schedule, the new carrier is not equipped with elevators to bring planes to the hangar deck. This forces all maintenance of the aircraft to be done on top and reduces the overall space for additional aircraft.

They are usually only half the length and one-third the displacement of large fleet carriers. Although they were slower, poorly equipped and armored, and carried fewer aircraft, they were still much less expensive to manufacture.

The first squadron of HMS Empire Audacity was the 802 FAA, consisting of Grumman Martlet fighter jets and first landed on her deck on 10 July 1941. The Martlet, an F4F Wildcat in service with the Royal Navy, was Grumman's first monoplane and one of the most prominent naval combatants of World War II, especially in the Pacific. The American fighter was designated the Martlet by the Royal Navy and was not reverted to the American designation Wildcat until March 1944.

The Admiralty did not like her brand name and HMS Empire Audacity was renamed HMS Audacity (D-10).

There were no major problems during the sea trials, and since they had such a high demand for the station, Audacity went into full service. As with all carriers (to date), three arrester wires are used for deck landings. A small turret was built on the starboard side and 8 x AA (anti-aircraft guns) were installed for anti-aircraft.

Radar The Type 79B airborne early warning radar was installed for two reasons, firstly to detect incoming threat aircraft and secondly to track their own aircraft within 75 miles. The German long-range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor reconnaissance aircraft was considered the greatest aerial threat. It was suggested that Hurricanes could be used onboard, but they were not available, and the Grumman Martlet, which was designed for carrier operations and has proven itself, became Audacity's mount of choice. She came aboard with six or eight Grumman Martlets belonging to No.

FAA Squadron 802 (Fleet Aviation). Audacity has signed on to support teams from England to Gibraltar. She began her war service in September 1941 when she sailed with her first convoy, OG 74 (out of Gibraltar), as a convoy to Gibraltar.

On the way, the convoy was attacked by vultures, one of which was shot down by a shotgun. Her next convoy - HG 74 (returning from Gibraltar) - she lost a plane but shot down 4 x Condors.

Their fourth and final convoy was the HG 76. Many believe that the carrier should be in the middle of the convoy, and the battleship on the outer edge. This would give the unarmored carrier maximum protection from torpedo attacks.

This was tried but proved impractical due to the large area required to maneuver and launch/recover the aircraft in the wind. As a result, aircraft carriers have to operate outside the protective circle of these ships.

HG 76 consisted of a powerful escort of 36 merchant ships and 17 warships. The 36th Escort Group was commanded by Captain Walker and consisted of 2 sloops (Stork and Deptford) and 7 frigates (Convul??us, Gardenia, Marigold, Penstemon, Rhodenedendron, Samphire and Vetch).

The trip allocated additional troops to Walker's group. The aircraft carrier Audacity and its destroyers Blanckney, Stanley and Exmoor II and two other sloops - Black Swan and Fowey - and the sloops Carnation and La Malouine.

The convoy was attacked by a German wolf pack consisting of U-boats U-67, U-107, U-108, U-131, U-434 and U-574.

As the fleet departed, German spies stationed in Spain across the bay informed the U-boat command of the departure time and overall strength of the ships. The U-boat line is south of Cape St. Vincent, but did not make contact with the convoy until December 16, when it was spotted by a bald eagle that was approached by U-108. The ship began to track the convoy, and by the next morning, the four U-boats were in attack position.

Regular Audacity air patrols located U-131 and notified the escort team. U-131 was attacked by the sloops Stork and Penstemon and the destroyers Blanckney, Stanley and Exmoor II. The depths of the destroyer engaged U-131, forcing her to surface, and her deck crew shot down a Martlet before she sank. On the 18th, U-434 was spotted by the destroyer Blankney, who attacked and rammed the U-boat.

The battle caused the escorts to consume a lot of fuel, so the frigates Carnation and Ramalooin returned to Gibraltar for refueling along with the damaged Brackney, which now required repairs, all escorted by Exmoor II. Soon after, the Black Swan Fowey sloop headed to Gibraltar for fuel as well.

On the evening of the 19th, U-574 launched an attack, but was sunk by torpedoes. Stork and Samphire find and attack (and destroy) U-574. During the night, U-108 attacked and sank Ruckinge.

On the 19th, the convoy was attacked by five Condors, two were shot down and the other was damaged by air cover from Martlets provided by Audacity. On the same day, U-751, U-71 and U-567, led by submarine ace KL Endrass, also joined the German wolf pack. Over the next few days, the remaining 3 ships - U-67, U-107 and U-108 - arrived and attacked, but without results.

On the 21st, three ships from Bordeaux arrived and the U-boats were ready to attack.

Captain Walker lures the U-boat by keeping Deptford away from convoys and Martian cannonballs. However, some merchant ships were confused by this move and fired star cannonballs, effectively revealing their position. U-567 was able to sink the merchant ship Annavore, while U-751 saw Audacity behind the convoy without her escort. He fired 3 torpedoes and Audacity was sunk. Marigold, Vetch, and Samphire saw the attack and engaged U-751, but did not sink her.

Deptford later spotted a submarine and attacked with depth charges, to no avail. However, after the war, German records show that she sank U-567.

On 22 December, three more submarines arrived with the British destroyers Vanquisher and Witch. The next day, due to the loss of U-boats and the lack of sunken ships, Admiral Donitz called off the attack, causing all remaining German ships to return to French bases.

Despite the loss of the Audacity and three other ships, the safe arrival of thirty ships and the destruction of three U-boats (excluding U-127 and U-567, which were not confirmed until after the war) was a victory. The loss of U-boat ace Endras is also a heavy blow to Germany. Britain lost the aircraft carrier HMS Audacity and destroyer HMS Stanley, as well as the cargo ships Ruckinge and Annavore, and lost 36 merchant ships.

Germany lost four U-boats (U-131, U-434, U-567 and U-574) and about 76 men.

Allied escort carriers were typically around 150m in length - no more than half the length of nearly 300m long fleet carriers of the same era, but actually less than a third of their weight. A typical escort carrier displaces around 8,000 tons, while a full-size fleet carrier displaces close to 30,000 tons. The islands on these ships are small and narrow, just in front of the funnel, unlike full-size aircraft carriers, where the funnel is one piece with the island. Although the first British escort carrier had no aircraft lifts, two lifts - one at the front and one at the rear - along with aircraft catapults, soon became standard.

The carrier uses the same line and tail hook system as the larger carriers, and the launch and recovery procedures are the same. Of the 151 aircraft carriers built by the United States during World War II, 122 were escort carriers.

Of these, six are British merchant marine conversions: HMS Audacity (D10), Nairana (D05), Campania (D48), Activity (D94), Pretoria Castle F61) and Vindex (D15).

HMS Audacity (D10) started out as a disgraced fruit carrier Hannover, earning four names between the German Navy and the Royal Navy, ending her brief career as a primary escort carrier. She was launched on June 17, 1941, and sank on December 21, 1941.

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