Records at the best of times can be thoughtlessly cruel. One which I feel never really accounted for the sterling service delivered by a ship during wartime was that in which the Admiralty record concludes the history of HMS Indomitable. No reference to decommissioning, merely the word "scrapped."
There appears to be no record of Indomitable's decommissioning though many sources report her early history. By the time I came to know her, in 1952, she was already feeling her age. I only learned of her distinguished career much later. She was ordered in 1937 as war loomed ever closer. As a modified version of the Illustrious Class Aircraft Carriers already in service she would be able to operate more aircraft than her older sister ships, a benefit that would be a real advantage in future wartime forays. Laid down in November at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Armstrong she was finally launched in March 1940. Her first real venture into the maritime world came in November 1941 when her maiden voyage took her to the West Indies. A not very auspicious start in fact, as whilst there she ran aground on a coral reef near Jamaica. Not badly damaged, however, she was able to make a quick return to service. In January 1942 she joined the Eastern Fleet based in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where she ferried 48 RAF Hawker Hurricanes for Singapore via Java.
Here started her World War Two career and she became ever more indispensible as the other carriers in the Eastern Fleet went out of service. Hermes could already be said to be obsolete. Though still in action at that time she was soon to be sunk in the Indian Ocean along with the Australian destroyer Vampire and a corvette.
In May 1942 Operation Ironclad was launched against the Vichy-controlled Madagascar which it was believed the Japanese intended to occupy to use as a submarine base from which to attack allied convoy routes in the Indian Ocean.
The Indomitable, along with her sister ship Illustrious and a vast fleet of other ships converged on Durban in South Africa in preparation for an invasion. This commenced on 5th May at Courrier Bay and after bitter fighting lasting almost two days the strategic town was taken.
In July ‘the Indom' returned to the UK, but was soon off again into action, this time for Operation Pedestal as part of the largest convoy ever to head for beseiged Malta: fourteen merchant ships were escorted by, as well as the Indomitable, Cairo, Charybdis, Eagle, Victorious, Kenya, Manchester, Nelson, Nigeria, Phoebe, Rodney, Sirious and 32 destroyers. The plan was for Furious, which had also joined them, to launch Spitfires to land on Malta in order to reinforce their air defence and so go on the offensive. This time the mission was a complete success ending on 11th August.
However during the operation an 1100 pound bomb had pierced Indomitable's armoured flight deck putting her out of action for the remainder of Operation Pedestal. She was hit twice, but thankfully evaded three later attacks.
Limping to the United States she remained there for repairs until February 1943 when she returned to the Mediterranean. Again tragedy. She was torpedoed on 15th June whilst covering the Sicily Landings and again returned to the USA for repairs, this time remaining there until February 1944.
However, this was not the end of the war for the Indomitable. Returning to the Eastern Fleet with the Victorious they formed a formidable team, launching strikes against Sumatra in August and September, and later in the year the Nicobar Islands. Then with the Illustrious she made strikes against Medan and once again Sumatraon 20th December. By the New Year she joined the British Pacific Fleet and on the 4th January was making further strikes against Medam with her sister-ship Victorious and Indefatigable. Still later action took her into action against Palembang and Sumatra.
A little less than a year after being torpedoed she was again hit, this time by a Kamikaze on the 4th May 1945. Happily very little damage was suffered on her armoured flight deck, and with the war drawing to a close she headed for occupied Hong Kong to assist in retaking the territory. It was here her aircraft flew their last combat missions of the war. On 31st August and 1st September she was in action against Japanese suicide boats which were attempting to attack British forces. And sadly this ended Indomitable's active career.
She returned home to the UK in November 1945 and in 1947 was placed in the Reserve Fleet before being refitted, a task which took three years from 1947 -1950. Following this she joined the Home Fleet and was generally active in 'showing the flag' around cooler waters.
This was about the time I first had contact with her. My husband by now was the Gunnery Office Writer aboard the Indomitable, a fact which suited me very well as for the majority of the time when the ship was in dock he was able to carry out his duties during the day and return home at night. I never set foot on her, but his recounting the goings on aboard made me feel very close to her ship's company.
Our daughter was born on 17th December 1952 and it was a great shock to us to learn that the Indomitable was to leave for a Spring Cruise showing the flag in the Mediterranean only a few weeks later. I was assured the trip would last a mere three months and with no war on at the time I was not concerned.
I watched the Indomitable leave harbour from a vantage point on Southsea front where I stood with my almost new baby in her pram thinking the three months would not be easy for me.
Things turned out more difficult than imagined as Indomitable's luck again ran out. Whilst refuelling on the 3rd February something happened to cause a leak which resulted in the high octane fuel pouring out over the deck and down the hatches. Even worse, the fuel caught fire causing a massive explosion which reverberated through the ship's corridors injuring many and killing some.
Under normal circumstances I would not have heard so quickly about this. Remember no telephones in those days. As it was a telegram was addressed to me informing me my husband had been killed. Relatives of my husband reading of the accident in the newspaper where his name was listed amongst the dead took the next train from Chichester where they lived to come to my aid.
I am happy to say that before their arrival I received a second telegram telling me the first had been sent in error!
The explosion had taken place in a corridor down which my husband would normally have been walking. As it was he had taken a different route as just beforehand the Boy-seamen on board had been piped to go to the Flight Deck and he did not want to get in their way. Unfortunately one of the boy seamen was trapped in this corridor - he was also named Smith as was evidenced by the name on his belt. In the panic and because of the damage he had suffered to his features he was wrongly identified. When my husband arrived in his office his colleagues thought he was a ghost and sent him post haste to try and stop the first telegram being sent. Too late – but what a reunion we had when he returned several months late after the ship having remained in Malta for a temporary repair. In fact she was never completely repaired and in October 1953 was put into the Reserve Fleet, only to be sold for scrap In 1955. A sad end for a battle-scarred not very old heroine.
© Mollie Kay Smith
http://www.etribes.com/molliesmith
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