HMS Hermes
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Hermes | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | aircraft carrier | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | Battle of Dakar | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Bay of Bengal | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Sri Lanka | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 34 km from land |
| Position | 7.5830, 82.0830 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMS Hermes was a British aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy and was the world's first ship to be designed as an aircraft carrier, although the Imperial Japanese Navy's Hōshō was the first to be commissioned. The ship's construction began during the First World War, but she was not completed until after the end of the war, having been delayed by multiple changes in her design after she was laid down. After she was launched, the Armstrong Whitworth shipyard which built her closed, and her fitting out was suspended. Most of the changes made were to optimise her design, in light of the results of experiments with operational carriers.
Finally commissioned in 1924, Hermes served briefly with the Atlantic Fleet before spending the bulk of her career assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and the China Station. In the Mediterranean, she worked with other carriers developing multi-carrier tactics. While showing the flag at the China Station, she helped to suppress piracy in Chinese waters. Hermes returned home in 1937 and was placed in reserve before becoming a training ship in 1938.
When the Second World War began in September 1939, the ship was briefly assigned to the Home Fleet and conducted anti-submarine patrols in the Western Approaches.
Location
- Recorded position: 7.5830, 82.0830 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Bay of Bengal
- Nearest coast: Sri Lanka
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Hermes (95) (revision 1374692552), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMAS Vampire 1942 · 0 km
- HMS Hollyhock 30 km
- Great Basses wreck 170 km
Other wrecks of the Battle of Dakar
Browse more: Asia wrecks · wrecks off Sri Lanka · Bay of Bengal