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HMS ''Indomitable'' (pennant number 92) was a modified ''Illustrious''-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. The ''Illustrious'' class was developed in the 1937 Naval Programme. Originally planned to be the fourth of the class, she was redesigned to enable her to operate more aircraft, 48 instead of 36. A second hangar was added above the original, raising the flight deck by 14 feet, although the hangar side armour had to be reduced to compensate. Part of the lower hangar was converted into extra workshops and accommodation to support the added aircraft.〔Hobbs, David. ''British Aircraft Carriers''. Seaforth Publishing, 2013, p. 100〕 ==Construction and early history== She was laid down by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, on 10 November 1937, as war loomed ever closer. She was launched on 26 March 1940 and commissioned the following year in October. She was christened by Clementine Churchill. She sailed to the West Indies in November 1941 for her maiden voyage. While there, ''Indomitable'' ran aground on a coral reef near Jamaica, though she returned to service soon afterwards. It has been suggested that this short delay proved fatal for British plans for Singapore. There were provisional plans that ''Indomitable'' was to join HMS ''Prince of Wales'' and HMS ''Repulse'' in the port of Singapore as part of a deterrent force, ''Force Orange'', against Japanese aggression in the Far East. However, given that the aircraft carrier was in the vicinity of Jamaica, on 3 November 1941, it seems unlikely that ''Indomitable'' could really have reached Singapore in sufficient time to provide air cover for the battle fleet. For that to have been achieved, it would have been necessary to order the ship to proceed to Singapore at an earlier date than 3 November. In the event, the other two capital ships, designated Force Z, did not have adequate air cover, and were sunk by Japanese aircraft (see Sinking of ''Prince of Wales'' and ''Repulse'') when the Japanese landed in Malaya in December 1941. The following month, in January 1942, ''Indomitable'' joined the Eastern Fleet based at Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. At the end of January, she ferried 48 Royal Air Force Hawker Hurricanes to airfields in Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies, to reinforce the air defenses of Singapore, but a large proportion of the Hurricanes were destroyed on the ground by Japanese air raids. The British commanders in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February. After the fall of Britain's Far Eastern colonies (Hong Kong and Burma also fell) ''Indomitable'' was redeployed. A new Eastern Fleet was established under the command of Admiral Sir James Somerville. ''Indomitable'', and her sister ship ''Formidable'' were the only modern aircraft carriers of the Fleet, and were a vital asset to the Allies in the Far East; the only other available carrier, ''Hermes'', was effectively obsolete. In April 1942 Somerville attempted to intercept the Japanese carrier strike force as they raided the Indian Ocean. Incomplete intelligence led him to abandon his ambush just hours before the Japanese force arrived. Over the next few days ''Indomitable'' was part of a force that attempted to intercept the Japanese fleet at night, where the slow, but radar equipped, British torpedo planes would have the best chance of a successful strike. Despite several days of searching no decisive action was achieved, and Somerville eventually withdrew his fast carriers to Bombay. ''Hermes'', the Australian destroyer HMAS ''Vampire'', the corvette HMS ''Hollyhock'', and two heavy cruisers, the ''Cornwall'' and ''Dorsetshire'', were sunk in action during this Japanese raid, as were a score of merchant ships. In May 1942 the British launched Operation Ironclad, the invasion of French Madagascar. It was feared that the Japanese would themselves occupy Madagascar and use it as a submarine base to attack allied convoy routes in the Indian Ocean.〔Shores 1996, pp. 276–277.〕 ''Indomitable'' was detached from the Eastern Fleet to take part in the invasion, rendezvousing with the covering force (which included sister ship ) and the invasion force which had been sent from Durban, South Africa.〔Rohwer and Hümmelchen 1992, p. 136.〕〔Shores 1996, p. 278.〕 The assault began on 5 May at Courrier Bay, just west of the actual objective of Diego Suarez. ''Indomitable''s air wing attacked Arrachart airfield on the opening day of the invasion, destroying five Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighters and damaging two more as well as two Potez 63.11s.〔Shores 1996, p. 279〕 The following day a ground assault on the town's defences was launched, with ''Indomitable''s Albacores bombing the defences and her Fulmars and Sea Hurricanes flying ground attack sorties. French forces in Diego Suarez surrendered on 7 May.〔Shores 1996, pp. 280–283.〕 On 8 May, the attempted to torpedo ''Indomitable'', but failed, and was sunk by depth charges from the destroyers and .〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Indomitable (92)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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