History
United Kingdom
Name: 	Victorious
Ordered: 	13 Jan 1937
Builder: 	Vickers-Armstrong
Cost: 	£4.05million
Laid down: 	4 May 1937
Launched: 	14 September 1939
Commissioned: 	14 May 1941
Decommissioned: 	13 March 1968
Refit: 	1950–57
Identification: 	Pennant numbers: 38, R38, 38
Motto: 	Per coelum et aequorem victrix (Through air and sea victorious)
Honours and
awards: 	Cape of Good Hope 1795 – St Lucia 1796 – Egypt 1801 – Walcheren 1809 – Rivoli Action 1812 – Bismarck Action 1941 – Norway 1941–42 – Arctic 1941–42 – Malta Convoys 1942 – Biscay 1942 – Sabang 1944 – Palembang 1945 – Okinawa 1945 – Japan 1945
Fate: 	Scrapped 1969


Bismarck Episode

Just two weeks after commissioning in 1941, Victorious took part in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic. Originally intended to be part of the escort for Convoy WS 8B to the Middle East, she was hardly ready to be involved in the hunt for Bismarck with only a quarter of her aircraft complement embarked. Sailing with the battleship HMS King George V, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, and 4 light cruisers – Force H from Gibraltar – Victorious was hastily deployed to assist in the pursuit.[2]
HMS Victorious in 1941

On 24 May 1941, Victorious launched nine of her biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber aircraft and two Fulmar fighters. The Swordfish, affectionately known by their crews as "stringbags", under the command of Eugene Esmonde flew through foul weather and attacked Bismarck in the face of tremendous fire from anti-aircraft guns, scoring a hit to the armoured belt with a torpedo.[2] No aircraft were shot down during the attack, but the Fulmars ran out of fuel on the return journey and had to ditch in the sea as the ship's homing beacon had failed. Victorious took no further part in the chase; aircraft from Ark Royal disabled Bismarck's steering gear, thus contributing to her sinking three days later. Esmonde received a DSO for his part in the action.


Attack on Tirpitz

From December 1943 until March 1944, Victorious was under refit at Liverpool, when new radar was fitted.[2] At the end of March, Victorious with Anson and Duke of York formed Force 1, covering the passage of Convoy JW 58. On 2 April 1944, Force 1 joined with Force 2, composed of the aging carrier HMS Furious and the escort carriers HMS Emperor, Fencer, Pursuer, and Searcher as well as numerous cruisers and destroyers. The combined force launched an attack (Operation Tungsten) on the German battleship Tirpitz in Altafjord, Norway. This involved Barracudas in two waves, hitting the battleship fourteen times and strafing the ship's defences. Although near-misses caused flooding and there was serious damage to the superstructure, the ship's armour was not penetrated. Nonetheless, the attack put Tirpitz out of action for some months.[a][6] The Task Force returned to Scapa Flow three days later.

Victorious was to participate in three further attacks on Tirpitz, in April and May (Operations Planet, Brawn and Tiger Claw), but these were cancelled due to bad weather and anti-shipping strikes were substituted. On 30 May, an acoustic torpedo attack by U-957 against Victorious failed and subsequently she made more shipping attacks off Norway (Operation Lombard).[2]