Displacement: 28,619 tons

Dimensions: 753ft3in overall, 673ft at waterline, 106ft9in maximum beam, 95ft9in at waterline, 28ft2in 
                       draught at deep load

Machinery: 3-shaft Parsons geared turbines, 6 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, 30.5 knots shaft 

Oil Fuel: 4854 tons

Range: 11,0000nm at 14kts

Armor: 4.5in belt, 4.5in hangar side, 3in flightdeck, 2.5-3in hangar deck.

Armament: 8 x twin 4.5in QF Mark III high angle, 48 x 2pdr (6 x 8) pom-pom. 
                    Illustrious later fitted with 40 x 2pdr, 3 x 40mm Bofors, 52 x 20mm Oerlikon.

Flightdeck: 740ft x 95ft9in

Catapult: 1 forward and to port, 14,000lb capacity. 

Hangar: 458ft x 62ft x 16ft

Lifts: 2 (45ft x 22ft, bow and stern amidships) 

Aircraft: Aug-40: 30 a/c 3 Fulmar, 8 Skua, 18 Swordfish 
              Nov-40: 39 a/c 14 Fulmar I, 4 Sea Gladiators, 21 Swordfish 
              Nov-42: 40+ a/c 16 Martlets, 21 Albacores, 1 Swordfish, 6 Seafires 
              Aug-45: 50+ a/c 36 Corsairs, 18 Avengers 

Complement: 842 Ship, 434 Air Group, Total 1276 (rising to 2000 by 1945).

 

The Regia Aeronautica's inability to subdue Malta as an air and naval base drew the first German involvement, when Fleigerkorps X moved into bases in Sicily - no doubt a pleasant change in climate, having come from Norway! Their role was to cover the movement of the first elements of the Afrika Korps to North Africa, by establishing the aerial command over the central Mediterranean their Allies could not. Their first raid was a small one on Malta on 9 January 1941. The next day they were in action in force, and the results were dramatic.

Illustrious was part of a convoy escort, along with the battleships Warspite and Valiant and a screen of five destroyers, bound for Malta and Greece, when the carrier was attacked at 12.20 by two Italian SM79 torpedo-bombers north-west of Malta. Her four airborne Fulmars had been drawn down to sea level by these, and had nearly exhausted their ammunition, when a force of 40 Ju87s plus a second group of Ju88s appeared on radar at 12.28. Illustrious turned into the wind and launched four more fighters, which had been due to relieve her CAP at 12.35 in any case, but too late; the Ju87s began their attack at 12.38 from 12,000 feet without fighter opposition, thirty concentrating on the carrier and ten attacking the two battleships. 

"There was no doubt we were watching complete experts. We could not but admire the skill and precision of it all. The attacks were pressed home to point-blank range, and as they pulled out of their dives, some of them were seen to fly along the flight deck of Illustrious below the level of her funnel."

Strangely, the Germans did nothing for several days, other than to send over an occasional recon plane (after the war it transpired that the delay was caused by a combination of bad weather and shortage of bombs, such was the intensity of their previous operations). Then on the 16th they struck - beginning a period the Maltese called "The Illustrious Blitz."

Soldiers at a post in the Grand Harbour

The three days grace had been put to good use by the defenders, with every available AA gun sited around the harbor. An experienced artillery officer, Brigadier Sadler, who had commanded the Dover guns during the Battle of Britain, had recently taken over and made sure a formidable box barrage would greet the Stukas. Gunners on other ships in the harbor, such as the cruiser HMS Perth, also stood ready, as well as the gunners on the Illustrious herself. The air-raid sirens wailed at 13.55, and soon the hordes of bombers - 70 Ju87s and Ju88s - came into view. The pre-planned barrage put up was fearsome, but the first wave of some sixty-five Ju88s dove into it, shallow diving from 8,000 feet. Following them were the Ju87s, stooping from 10,000 feet, keen to finish the job they started.

The defending fighters (a trio of Fulmars from Illustrious now based ashore, four Hurricanes and a pair of Gladiators, survivors of the original "Three Graces") at first circled the barrage, sniping at bombers on their entry and exit from the maelstrom, but then threw caution to the wind and followed their targets into the cauldron. One Ju87 came through the box barrage and flew down the harbor so low it had to climb over the 15-foot sea wall at the entrance. As it did so, the Fulmar that had followed it throughout its dive shot it into the sea beyond.

The score for this attack was fighters five, barrage five, and in reply the Luftwaffe scored a single hit on the Illustrious' quarterdeck, causing only minor damage. Of their misses, some had landed in the harbor, causing minor damage to the carrier as they exploded in the mud of the shallow creek bed, and one had entered the engine room of the merchantman Essex moored on the other side of the creek. Fortunately, the engine room bulkheads contained the explosion, as she had 4,000 tons of ammo and torpedoes in her holds - which would have finished the illustrious had they gone up. The remaining bombs found their mark in the Three Cities around Grand Harbour, destroying or damaging hundreds of houses and causing many civilian casualties.

The next day no attack developed, possibly because of the bad weather, possibly to regather strength. On the 18th they returned, but the target switched to the airfields in an attempt to put them out of action. Ta' Qali was already unusable due to rain, which turned it into a bog, and the bombers managed to put Luqa out of action for a time, but lost eleven of their number in the process. When they attacked the carrier and docks once more on the 19th, six Hurricanes, one Fulmar, and one Gladiator joined the guns in defence - against an estimated eighty aircraft. Near-misses caused some damage to the boiler rooms, but again the defences took their toll, the fighters claiming eleven and the gunners eight - about a quarter of the attacking force.

Not even the Luftwafffe could absorb these rising losses, and so they stayed away. After a few more days, Illustrious was ready, sneaking out of Grand Harbour in darkness on the 23rd at a healthy 26 knots. She arrived in Alexandria two days later, unmolested, and was sent to America for repairs. It was eighteen months before she was operational again.

Yet, without her armored deck, it is quite probable she would not even have made it to Malta, let alone eventually return to duty. No other aircraft carrier took as many hits as she did - eight direct hits (five of 1,000 pounders) and seven near-misses - and survived. In fact, no other warship survived such punishment.