HMS Hermes (95)

HMS Hermes was a British aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and the first ship in the world to be designed as an aircraft carrier, although the Japanese carrier Hosho was the first to be commissioned. Armstrong Whitworth laid her down at its Walker yard on the River Tyne on 15 January 1918 and launched her on 11 September 1919, but the shipyard was due to close at the end of 1919 and she was towed to Devonport for completion. Many design changes, made in the light of experiments with operational carriers, delayed her until 1924. Two sets of Parsons geared steam turbines gave her a speed of 26.2 knots on trials. She served with the Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets and on the China Station, and in the Second World War she patrolled the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Japanese dive bombers sank her off Ceylon on 9 April 1942.