HMS Formidable bombed by Stukas

May 26, 1941: The British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable launched an air-strike on the Fliergerkorps X airfield on the island of Scarpanto, off Crete, in an attempt to ease the pressure on evacuation attempts. In return, she was bombed by Stukas - hit twice by 2200lb (1000kg) bombs - and forced to retire to Norfolk, Virginia, for extensive repairs.
For more, check out: Twitter - @armouredcarrier | Website - www.armouredca...

[@misterangel8486]

A time capsule of memories that should not be forgotten. Appreciate that so much. Thank you👍🙏

[@ArmouredCarriers]

It's my pleasure

[@ianschroth6575]

Totally agree. Stories that should be documented for preservation. As a Yank, I know a lot more about the American side of the story, but have been making an effort to learn more about the British side more and more. I really wish we had more documentaries over here about British stories. Commando raids in Norway, St. Nazaire raid, the midget sub raids on the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, etc. Amazing stories.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

@@ianschroth6575 I'll try and touch on most of these eventually. But there are also the channels of Dr Alexander Clarke and Drachinifel. We each approach the subjects from very different directions. But with the same end - goal: highlighting fascinating, yet forgotten, aspects of the past.

[@grendelgrendelsson5493]

@@ianschroth6575 Hello there! Did you have relatives serving during the war? I had a great uncle rescued off the coast of America by the USCG after an unfortunate encounter with a German torpedo (and very pleased to see the Coast Guard he was too!). Another uncle served on Atlantic, Mediterranean and Arctic convoys in the Royal Navy, eventually as a gunner aboard HMS Belfast at the Battle of the North Cape against the Scharnhorst and at D-Day. I had other uncles in the RN; one was a Swordfish crewman and later went to work on the development of Concorde but I can't remember what he did any more! All of my other great uncles and grandfathers (I had three as one was killed in action and my gran remarried) were Army except for two blokes who were pilots who married my great aunts; one flew Hurricanes and then Typhoons and Tempests and the other was a South African pilot on Spitfires. My mum's dad was killed in Burma on 02/02/45 having survived Dunkirk, North Africa and a few excursions to other places around the Mediterranean. Sorry for the length of my rambling!

[@clazy8]

I love these, the pace of the interviews, the absence of narrator, the film blended in. Great job

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Thanks. Glad you like the style.

[@TheSilmarillian]

Thanks for taking us on this journey hello from Australia

[@simonstock4448]

these are incredible videos, the oral histories are priceless

[@flybobbie1449]

My US cousins husband was in US navy in the 80's. They docked at Portsmouth UK. They were told not to go into town in uniform or go in pubs and pick a fight with British sailors, because they would lose. He said when they did go into pubs, the sailors couldn't have been nicer and they didn't pay for drinks the rest of the night. But he did say the sailors drank them under the table.

[@roybennett9284]

When I was living in Craigie in western Australia I was mooching around when these two gizzers asked for directions.. there was some thing about them..squad,stocky, sunburned.. Strange accents...one like a farmer and the other scorce.. bloody Royal marines ,on holidays .

[@matthewmoore5698]

Well they had a rum rations keeping in practice

[@ianschroth6575]

Thanks for posting this. I'm enjoying your channel. As a Yank, I know a lot more about the American side of the story, but have been making an effort to learn about the British side more and more. The commando raids in Norway, St. Nazaire raid, the midget sub raids on the Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, etc. Amazing stories I've read in books. The more I learn, the more I appreciate how tough and tenacious the Brits were during WWII.

[@redskindan78]

Incidentally, my dad was an aviation machinist's mate at Norfolk in 1941, where he met sailors from "Illustrious" and from "Formidable". As I mentioned on another of these great videos, the sailors teased each other over which navy's torpedo bombers were a "one way trip".

[@roybennett9284]

It brilliant when you guys acknowledge that there were others in ww2

[@roybennett9284]

Thanks yanks,it's great when there's mutral respect and understanding that many countries contributed..and the idea of a tea drinking uppt class coward that may be seen by the Americans is quite untrue.regards Australia

[@ianschroth6575]

@@roybennett9284 Yeah, I think the average American thinks that we won the war and saved the world from the German/Japanese hordes all by ourselves. Other Allied countries had been fighting for years before we entered the war and we were just a part of the Allied Forces that fought. ANZAC had some amazing raids too! Operation Jaywick, etc.

[@roybennett9284]

@@ianschroth6575 your a good bloke..and your blood is worth bottling.. regards Wollongong, Australia.. ex Sydney Uni, regiment.

[@nonsibi1087]

My uncle (Australian 9th Div.) told me, with unbeatable Aussie humor, how the command tent he occupied during the battle of El Amien was blown up by a Stuka. No one was hurt, all having jumped into the perimeter slit trenches, as the tent collapsed amid a storm of shredded paper. Embarrassingly for one of his mates, that is how they learned of the once large collection of pornography his mate had amassed as the shredded photos rained down upon them. A Spitfire quickly appeared and took out the Stuka.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

I love these stories. Even among the barbarism of war, humour brings people back to their humanity!

[@joeschenk8400]

Great again. wonderful films and lots of interesting stuff in the background. Of course terrific stories. Thanks.

[@johnmelvin4604]

My father was a stoker on the Formidable during that Stuka attack. His shift was in the engine room at the time. The previous shift were in the stokers mess and if I remember right some if not all died in the explosion.

[@ericdickison7995]

I love listening to these old boys memoirs, voices from the grave teaching us what real men used to be like

[@johnconlon9652]

I met some of them as a working student in the 60s. Banjaxed. Lovely blokes.

[@geordiedog1749]

Soon as I heard “ these US marines beat up a Royal Marine” I thought “oh that’s gonna not end well for the yanks!” Another great video. I do look forward to these so much! And lots of shots of Fulmars! Excellent.

[@Trojan0304]

Interviews are priceless. Thanks for great collection of videos✌️✌️✌️

[@sergarlantyrell7847]

I'm not sure what amazes me more, that none of these carriers (or any built after Ark Royal) were sunk... Or that anyone, even Americans would attack a guy who's on the toilet.

[@forthleft]

Thanks again. Quality effort.

[@stephenround8386]

British Armoured Deck Aircraft Carriers always re-armed and re-fuelled their aircraft on the flightdeck and never did so below in the hangars. This safety first policy payed off everytime when they were being bombed by the Luftwaffe because they sustained much less severe damage from the heavy 2200lb bombs the stukas and Ju 88 carried if they scored a hit. The Illustrious sustained six solid 2200lb bomb hits in the Pedestal Convoy run to supply food and munitions to Malta and Illustrious survived the heavy damage and was repaired in America to serve with the British Pacific Fleet in the Pacific...

[@nickdanger3802]

Formidable arrived at Alexandria the following day and disembarked her air group. She received emergency repairs before departing on 24 July for permanent repairs at Norfolk Navy Yard in the United States, 829 Squadron flying aboard with its Albacores to provide anti-submarine patrols during the voyage. She arrived on 25 August, and the repairs were completed in early December. After several days of sea trials, she sailed for Britain in company with Illustrious on 12 December. During the night of 15/16 December, Illustrious collided with Formidable's stern, but neither ship was seriously damaged. She was repaired at Belfast from 21 December 1941 to 3 February 1942[32] and embarked the Albacores of 818 and 820 Squadrons and the Grumman Martlet fighters of 888 Squadron.[33]

[@oceanhome2023]

These Stukas were doing Quite a job , they knew what they were doing

[@geordiedog1749]

Fleigerkorp X - the anti shipping experts. Very good at their job alas. (They were ear marked fir the Graff Zeppelin had it ever sailed.

[@oceanhome2023]

I have a diagram from the damage assessment at the. Philadelphia ship yard that shows all of the hits they took ! No wonder the Stuka pilots were so frustrated, the Brits armored decks did save them of course they were on their game with damage control any other carrier would have been sunk twice !

[@geordiedog1749]

@@oceanhome2023 During ‘Pedestal Indom was badly bombed by Stukas. The ju87 pilots were told specifically to target the merchantmen but being Fleigerkorp X they’d done nothing but obsess about our carriers for years so they went straight for the Indomitable. Again though, the armours decks saved the day. That and a lot of triple A. I hate to say it but the Stuka pilots - both German and Italian - had a lot of balls.

[@guaporeturns9472]

@@geordiedog1749 why do you hate to say it? Nationalistic pride? The war has been over a long time now bro. The Germans haven’t been the enemy for 70 yrs.

[@oceanhome2023]

Were Stukas capable of using torpedoes ? A couple torpedoes would have done it in !

[@NJTDover]

When the X Fliegerkorps was transfered from Norway to Sicily, the Brits knew deep down that a new ball game would be played over the skies of the Mediterranean sea.

[@raymondkisner9240]

Amazing tough ship and crew!

[@ianwalker1715]

Great video, thanks

[@Boric78]

This channel is Epic.

[@user-rj5kx8wr6y]

A terrific program.

[@gerryhenderson6442]

My dad was on the HMS Formidable during the 2nd world war. He passed away in 1975 aged 52. I never really got to know anything about his experiences. I just wonder if anyone has any history of it. My dad's name was James Henderson and he came from Larbert in Stirlingshire. Gerry Henderson

[@benwilson6145]

Thank you

[@matthewmoore5698]

50 boys , it goes back to the old sail days always been a thing

[@flyingphobiahelp]

Such brave men!

[@alexlesonroblox5872]

Great video

[@yes_head]

Some of the Amercian servicemen's belligerence could have been due to the sense that by mid 1941 the US military knew war was coming, and anyone in uniform was itching to get into it. All of that coiled energy needed some kind of release.

[@stephenmichalski2643]

These interview excerpt's are great......waving "so long suckers" at the Germans who laughed at them.......funny stuff

[@ArmouredCarriers]

It's those little tidbits that remind us it was real people among all those bullets and bombs ... That's why I put them in.

[@1960alftupper]

@@ArmouredCarriers I've always wondered what the crews of Illustrious and Formidable did while their ships under repair in the US. Thought they might have been brought back to man other ships....

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Most stayed with their ship. But the crews were certainly “looted” to fill shortages. Naturally the squadrons and their mechanics etc went elsewhere. But the crew stayed with the ship to help repair it, maintain it, operate it (still needed food, comms, power etc) … and to supervise all the work.

[@matthewmoore5698]

They used to say you were as fast as your slowest ship but God knows

[@nickhomyak6128]

Was it not an Italian Stuka that struck Formidable?

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Italian Stukas were in the "second wave" attack that struck HMS Illustrious.

[@matthewmoore5698]

The stories are amazing the Brits has had some experience but the guy saw the hornet brilliant carry guns !Americans still do !

[@Jakob_DK]

Interesting for the question of the navy defending Britain had RAF lost air superiority. They could bomb ships and damage armored ships.

[@PaulHigginbothamSr]

Problem seemed to be armored or unarmored and the British ship sustained less damage because the bomb struck forward of the armor killing less crew and blowing out both sides. So the men on the Ajax were killed aboard because of so many men being evacuated from Crete. Makes me wonder if better war conditions for the British would have been better to supply the shore troops with ammo and hold Crete. Probably would have starved though. A bad situation like Gallipoli in ww1. Called "piss poor prior planning" which the British have been known for.

[@paulgee8253]

Well, you can see the land-based air power the Nazis could apply to the vicinity. Not sustainable for the British to hold on in Crete at that desperate moment in the war.

[@johnhanson5943]

Perhaps, not only the British though. You just need to get it right over 50% of the time. Ideally, around 2/3 of the time. You won’t ever do anything of merit, unless you follow that maxim. Not only militarily.

[@johnconlon9652]

I blame Winston S Churchill for the Greece, Crete fiasco. Not allowed to say that. (I'm Irish in Tasmania). Slante.

[@jaimelarroyo5368]

A esos dos les gusta tocar la corneta

[@johnstewart9745]

My fathers ship 🇬🇧

[@jaimelarroyo5368]

Formidabl attac by stukas good

[@gregorybrennan8539]

My father was in the US Navy during WW2 . He hated Norfolk Virginia and the Naval Shipyard. Ignorance Reigned supreme. All of the US service men who caused trouble did have an inferiority complex and when they did see battle would most of the time end up on the Deck crying and praying and begging to go home. But most where able to con their way into rear area jobs for the duration Usually at Norfolk.

[@redskindan78]

My dad was an aviation machinist's mate -- a mechanic -- at Norfolk in 1941. In fact, he met Illustrious and Formidable crew when they visited the Naval Air Station. He mentioned signs all over Norfolk saying: "Dogs and Sailors! Keep off the grass!".

[@matthewmoore5698]

Soft underbelly!

[@majorbloodnok6659]

Thank you