Ark Royal – By Kenneth Poolman

“ARK ROYAL” By Kenneth Poolman. In June of 1934 the Board of Admiralty gave the go-ahead for the construction of the Royal Navy’s first full-sized aircraft carrier. The ship was christened HMS Ark Royal. Her design differed from previous carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on. Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. Ark Royal served in some of the most active naval theatres of World War II. She was involved in the first aerial and U-boat kills of the war, and the famous search for the German battleship Bismarck. Ark Royal survived several near misses and gained a reputation as a ‘lucky ship’. The Germans incorrectly reported her as sunk on multiple occasions. However on November 13 1941, torpedoes from the German submarine U-81 sank the mighty carrier. Author Kenneth Poolman tells the true story of the HMS Ark Royal, from her beginning up to and including the sinking of the carrier. 1978 Paperback edition. 173 pages, no photos, maps or index.