Pacific ships

Photos and the story

Formidable

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TypeAircraft carrier (CV)
Hull67
FateAfloat. Kamikaze hits on 4 May and 9 May 1945. Not sunk. Survived the war.
Command

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

Formidable
HMS Formidable (R67) on fire after a kamikaze struck her off the Sakishima Islands at 1130 on 4 May 1945. Royal Navy photograph A 29717, taken from HMS Victorious. Imperial War Museums. Public domain.

HMS Formidable, pennant 67, was a fleet carrier of the Royal Navy. Philip Ruck-Keene became her captain on 23 September 1943 and remained in command through the rest of the war.

She joined Task Force 57 for the later strikes on the Sakishima Islands. That duty belongs with the Okinawa battle of 1945, dated from 1 April. On 4 May 1945 a kamikaze aircraft hit her while she was engaged in those operations. A second kamikaze hit Formidable on 9 May 1945, five days after the first. She was not sunk. The carrier survived the war. Ruck-Keene was relieved on 13 February 1946.

The pictures on this page are the originals.