HMS Illustrious Battle Honours Details:
Genoa 14 March 1795
The Naval Battle of Genoa (part of the French Revolutionary War) was fought off the coast of Genoa, a port city in north-western Italy, between French warships under Rear Admiral Martin and British and Neapolitan warships under Vice Admiral Hotham. The naval battle ended in a British-Neapolitan victory over the French. The French ships Ça Ira and Censeur were captured by the British, the British ship Illustrious was badly damaged in the engagement and eventually set on fire after efforts to tow her to safety during bad weather failed after the battle.
Basque Roads 1809
The Battle of the Basque Roads was a naval battle during the Napoleonic Wars. On the night of April 11, 1809 Captain Thomas Cochrane led a British fireship attack against a powerful squadron of French ships anchored in the Basque Roads. In the attack all but two of the French ships were driven ashore. The subsequent engagement lasted three days but failed to destroy the French fleet.
Cochrane accused the British commanding officer, Admiral James Gambier, of being reluctant to press the attack. Gambier demanded a court-martial, and was duly exonerated; Cochrane's career in the Royal Navy ended. The French Navy continued to operate against the British from the Basque Roads until the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Taranto 1940
The naval Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11 November 1940 – 12 November 1940 during World War II. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft naval attack in history, flying a small number of aircraft from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea and attacking the Italian fleet at harbour in Taranto.
The carrier Illustrious mounted an air-strike against the Italian Fleet at Taranto. Eagle was to have been in company, but suffered damage before the strike while in action off Calabria; some of her aircraft were transferred to Illustrious for the operation. Twenty-one aircraft in two waves flew off from Illustrious at 2040 and 2100 on the 11th. They achieved complete surprise and sank three battleships at their moorings. All but two aircraft returned safely to Illustrious.
Extract from a letter from Adm Cunningham on Taranto:
“The 11th and 12th November 1940 shall be remembered for ever as having shown once and for all that in the Fleet Air Arm the Navy has a devastating weapon. In a total flying time of about 6 ½ hours carrier to carrier 20 aircraft inflicted more damage upon the Italian fleet than was inflicted upon the German High Seas Fleet in the daylight action at the Battle of Jutland.”
All vessels welcomed the retuning Illustrious with the signal ‘Illustrious manoeuvre well executed.’
Mediterranean 1940-41
HMS Illustrious had along and renowned service history in particularly during her Mediterranean posting between September 1940 and January 1941. Illustrious is best remembered for her strike on the Italian Fleet at Taranto on the night of 11-12 November 1940. Torpedoes from her Fairey Swordfish aircraft sank one battleship and forced two others to be beached. She also led strike on Benghazi on 16-17 September, was part of Malta convoys between September-October, and again on Malta convoys from November 1940 to January 1941.
HMS Illustrious was heavily damaged by a concerted enemy air attack by German dive-bombers on 10 January 1941, when the armoured flight deck armour was penetrated by an 1100lb (500kg) bomb. That and six other bomb hits kept her out of action until the following December. She had temporary repaired at Malta 10-23 January 1941, and further repairs at Alexandria between February -March 1941. Major repairs were undertaken at Norfolk, Va.(USA) between May-December 1941.
Malta Convoys 1941
The Malta Convoys were a series of Allied supply convoys to sustain the Mediterranean island of Malta during World War II. The convoys were strongly opposed by Italian and German sea and air forces.
There were 35 major supply operations to Malta from 1940 through 1942. Axis forces frustrated or damaged eight of these: Operations White, Halberd, MF5, MG1, Harpoon, Vigorous, and Pedestal. There were long periods when no convoy runs were even attempted, and only a trickle of supplies reached Malta by submarine, or by a fast warship running the gauntlet.
The worst period for Malta was from December 1941 to October 1942, when Axis forces had the upper hand, achieving complete air and naval supremacy in the central Mediterranean (called the Italian Mare Nostrum by Benito Mussolini).
At the end of 1942, the relative success of Operation Pedestal, and Allied landing operations in North Africa changed the balance decisively in favour of the Allies.
Diego Suarez (later known as Antsiranana) 5 May – 6 November 1942
The Battle of Madagascar (or Operation Ironclad) was the Allied campaign to capture Vichy French-controlled Madagascar during World War II. It began on 5 May 1942. Fighting did not cease until 6 November.
Allied commanders decided to launch an amphibious assault on Madagascar. The plan was known as Operation Ironclad and Allied forces, anchored initially on the British Army and the Royal Navy, were commanded by Major-General Robert Sturges of the Royal Marines. The Allied naval contingent consisted of over 50 vessels, drawn from Force H, the British Home Fleet and the British Eastern Fleet, commanded by Rear Admiral Edward Neville Syfret. The fleet included HMS Illustrious, her sister ship HMS Indomitable and the ageing battleship HMS Ramillies to cover the landings
Salerno 1943
By May 1942, HMS Illustrious was on operations against Vichy French forces in Diego Suarez Madagascar, and remained in the Indian Ocean from May 1942 until January 1943, where she undertook further operations against Madagascar in September 1942. She undertook a refit in the UK between February -June 1943 then returned to the Mediterranean between August-November 1943 where she took part in the Salerno landings as part of the invasion of Italy in September 1943.
Sabang 1944 & Palembang 1945
In 1944, HMS Illustrious joined the Eastern Fleet, where she participated in raids on the Indonesian islands of Sabang on 22 July 1944 and Palembang on 24 January and 29 January 1945.
On 16 April, a force under Adm Somerville sailed from Trincomalee, and arrived off the S.W. of Sabang by 19th. At 0530 aircraft from the carrier Illustrious and Saratoga (USN) attacked the port from different directions at once and achieved complete surprise. The first AA fire rose after the first bombs had landed. Three of the four oil tanks were destroyed and extensive damage was done to installations, but there was no shipping to be hit. Twenty-four enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground, and one Allied aircraft was shot down, but its pilot was rescued by the submarine Tactician, which came under fire from shore batteries during the rescue. It was the first raid by the Eastern Fleet, which comprised three battleships (one French), a battle cruiser, two carriers (one USN), six cruisers (one RNZN, one Dutch), and fifteen destroyers (three RAN, three USN and one Dutch).
Further action near Palembang in 1945 on the Sothern part of Sumartra saw additional raids being carried out by the group that secured the area as a strategically important military base for the Allies.
Okinawa 1945
In 1945, as part of the British Pacific Fleet, designated Task Force 57 by Admiral Nimitz, HMS Illustrious supported the landings at Okinawa with her sister ships HMS Indomitable, HMS Indefatigable and HMS Victorious, where she won her last Battle Honour. While in the Pacific, she was hit by two kamikaze aircraft. Her armoured flight deck absorbed the brunt of some hits and enabled to stay in action. A kamikaze near miss on 6 April, however, caused serious structural damage below the waterline and, after operations against Formosa, she was replaced by HMS Formidable on 14th April and sailed to the Philippines for inspection. The damage was more serious than suspected and she returned to Sydney and thence to Rosyth for repairs and refit, which were completed in June 1946.
After the war she was involved in Home Fleet trails and duties as a training carrier 1946-54 during which time she took part in the initial deck-landing trials with jet aircraft. She was finally laid up in reserve at Gareloch in December 1954 and sold for scrap at Faslane 3 November 1956.