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The HMS Illustrious (87) is the fourth ship in the British Royal Navy that is named Illustrious. It is the lead ship of the Illustrious-class of carriers. The carrier was built by Vickers-Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, which was order on January the 13th in 1937 under the 1936 Naval Programme.
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The hull for the ship was laid down.
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Her first mission was in the Mediterranean, where she provided protection for the convies there, carried anti-shipping raids, and strikes on the enemy position along North Africa.
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Squadrons 813, 815, 819, and 824 based on the Illustrious launched daring surprise attack on the Italian fleet at night. The twenty-one aircraft caught the Italians off-guard, and sunk one battleship and two hevily damaged.
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While escorting a convoy east of Sicily, Illustrious was attacked by Axis Savoia-Marchetti SM. 79 and Ju-87 Stuka bombers. The bombers scored 6 hits and resulted in extensive damage for the carrier. In Malta receiving repairs, she was bombed again and led to more damage (some flooding of her outer hull compartments and minor listing, machinery spaces are luckily intact thought.)
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After that, HMS Illustrious sailed to Virgina for permanent repairs at Norfolk Navy Yard. One propeller shaft was uninstalled and the speed fell to 23 knots.
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Later that month, Illustrious and Indomitable (one of her sister ships) participated in Operation Ironclad; mainly covering the landing force at Diego Suarez in Madagascar.
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The carrier was transferred back to the Mediterranean for operations with Force H (the base of this fleet is at the British territory of Gibraltar.)
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The HMS Illustrious carried 57 aircraft during this operation, and which at one time, 51 of them were in the air. After this operation; she sailed for Fremantle, Australia for some R & R.
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With the British Pacific Fleet, HMS Illustrious was one of the 17 carriers that supported the Okinawa landings. She won her last battle honour at in this operation.
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A kamikaze aircraft has neared missed hitting the main aircraft, but it has caused serious damage below the waterline. She was later replaced by her sister ship, Formidable, after operations against Formosa.
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Due to the damage from the kamikaze near miss on 6 April, HMS Illustrious sailed to the Philippines for inspection. It was later revealed that the damage was much more serious than previously suspected, so she was returned to Sydney and then to Rosyth (Scotladn) for repairs and refit. This was not completed until June 1946.
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Due to acumalated war damage, her maximum speed was limited to 22 knots from the 30.5 knots she had at the beginning. The picture shows a Supermarime Attacker on the carrier in 1948.
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After a successful career, the HMS Illustrious was scraped at Faslane.
