HMS Illustrious (HMS Resistance Edition)
With the new class of battleship having been finalised in October 1935, there was renewed debate within the admiralty as
to the future structure of the Royal Navy. The following year it was agreed that the Fleet Air Arm would revert to Royal Navy
control.
Although the second London treaty allowed for five aircraft carriers of 27 thousand tons,
planns called for six aircraft, meaning seeking compromise of smaller designs with the same overall tonnage, resulting in designs
of 23 thousand tons.
However, at American insistence, the tonnage limits included a "Escalator Clause" allowing an extra 4000 tons per ship if
the Italians or Japanese did not sign the treaty by April 1937. The unique Aircraft carrier Ark Royal, and next three ships
were ordered before Britain invoked this clause.
The Illustrius class were built with two requirements in mind. Firstly, that they would be able to carry as many aircraft
as the existing designs, and secondly, to meet the requirements of the "Layered Defence "doctrine, the layers being
the aircraft themselves, the heavy AAA for detering air attacks (and light surface attacks as a never realised last resort),
the light AA armament against attacking aircraft, and the armour and damage control system in the event of a sucessful
attack.
In order to meet the first requirement, there was a degree of compromise with regards to the thickness of the "armoured box"
so as to accomodate an extra half hanger deck bringing total aircraft compliment up to the required 48 planes.
All three ships in the class served with distinction during the Second World War. The Illustrious herself is most famous
for her role in the the attack on Taranto,although most of the credit does to her Swordfish Torpedo Bombers and Skirmish divebombers.
The Battleships Conte de Cavour and Caio Duillo, while not definitively sunk,
never saw action again, and a Heavy cruiser and two destroyers were sunk by dive bombers.
The Formidable also served with distinction in the Mediterranean, having if not the most spectabular, but perhaps the most important impact at the battle of Cape Matapan.
While contemporary coverage made much of the capture of the heavy cruiser Pola (whose name is still used in the Royal Australian Navy to this day),
the Fairey Hammerhead torpedo bombers suceeded on inflicting severe damage on the battleship Vittorio Veneto.
It wasn't until a week after the battle that British intelligence learned that the fourth and final strike had broken her back.
The repairs Mussolini had insisted upon despite her being a total constructive loss
were not completed before the Italian Armastice.
The Victorious is perhaps the best known of the three Illustrious Class.
Her aircraft and those of HMS Glorious were responsible for sinking the German Battleship Bismarck in the first recorded "Hammer and Anvil" strike.
This tactic was repeated in March 1942 against the Battleship Tirpitz, this time with Victorious's Hammerheads acting in concert with those of her sister ship, the Illustrious.
Note: The Fairey Hammerhead is a high wing monoplane developed in place of OTL's Albacore.