Hermes Saga

The first purpose built British aircraft carrier, HMS Hermes, lies on the continental shelf off Batticaloa. It was sunk by Japanese air attack during the World War II.

The ship was sailing defenselessly, having left all her aeroplanes ashore at Trincomalee when she met with the tragedy. The ten-minute attack, which sealed her fate, was spearheaded by Japanese dive-bombers flying under the command of Admiral Nagumo of the Japanese Imperial Navy. The attack ended HMS Hermes’ nearly twenty year service in the British Navy on 09^th April 1942.

The incidents that led to the ship’s sinking were regarded by then Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill as the most dangerous moment of the Second World War.

God Hermes

HMS Hermes was the ninth Royal Navy ship to be named after the Greek messenger of the gods, Hermes. The ship was laid down at Elswick and built by Armstrong-Whitworth.

Hermes had a displacement of 10,950 tons with standard load and 12,900 tons with full load. Her overall length was 598 feet. It had a beam of 70 feet at water level and 90 feet over the flight deck. Her draught was 18 feet 9 inches.

The ship was powered by Parsons geared turbines giving it a speed of 25 knots. It was built to carry 15 to 20 aircraft. The transporter cranes were fitted aft and the hangar was on the flight deck with electronic lift fitted fore and aft.

The ship’s armament consisted of six 5.5 inch guns on the main deck, four inch anti-aircraft guns and nine 2 pounder anti-aircraft guns. She was also fitted with anti-torpedo protection bulges to the hull.

The ship’s complement was to be 551 to 664.

Commissioned in 1924, Hermes served with the Atlantic Fleet as well as the Mediterranean Fleet and the China Station. She returned home in 1937 and became a training ship in 1938.

With the break of the World War II, the ship was assigned to the Home Fleet in 1939 to conduct anti-submarine patrols in the Western Approaches. She was transferred to Dakar in October to hunt down German commerce raiders and blockade runners. She also conducted patrols for Axis shipping in the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.

In February 1941, the ship supported Commonwealth forces in Italian Somaliland during the East African Campaign and in the Persian Gulf during the Anglo-Iraqi War. Hermes spent the rest of the year patrolling the Indian Ocean. After refit in South Africa between November 1941 and February 1942, she joined the Eastern Fleet in Ceylon.

With the fall of Singapore, Ceylon became a front-line British base. The Royal Navy's East Indies Station was moved to Colombo and then to Trincomalee. Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton was appointed Commander-in-Chief in Ceylon with Admiral Sir James Somerville as Commander of the British Eastern Fleet.

During March 1942 Japanese Admiral Nugumo’s Fleet prepared for a concerted attack on British shipping in the area. If Ceylon, a key British Naval Base, were to fall the Indian continent would be open to the Japanese.

In response the British made rapid plans to defend Colombo and Trincomalee, their major bases in Ceylon. Having realized the lack of equivalent power to resist, Admiral Somerville kept most of the fleet away from the Colombo and Trincomalee bases. Instead he operated from a secret base at Addu Atoll in the Maldives 600 miles from Ceylon.

The Japanese Fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo consisted of the carriers Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku, the battleships Kongo, Haruna, Kirishima, and Hiei, the heavy cruisers Chikuma and Tone, a light cruiser, and eight destroyers. It was a well-trained and powerful force, with more than 300 modern combat aircraft embarked, including considerable numbers of the superb Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter.

The British Eastern Fleet consisted of the modern fleet carriers Indomitable and Formidable, the small carrier Hermes, the battleships Warspite, Resolution, Ramillies, Royal Sovereign, and Revenge, the heavy cruisers Dorsetshire and Cornwall, five light cruisers, and 14 destroyers.

Acting on the intelligence received Admiral Somerville ordered his fleet to the south of Ceylon to attack the Japanese fleet when it appeared. Since there was no sign of them he decided to refuel the fleet at Addu Atoll and to send Dorestshire to Colombo for a refit and Cornwall to escort an Australian troop convoy. Hermes was dispatched to Trincomalee to form part of the planned assault on Madagascar.

Prior to Easter Sunday attack on Ceylon, Hermes was sent out from Trincomalee for safety. At 8 a.m. on Easter Day, 5^th April 1942, the raid took place on Colombo. Admiral Nagumo’s aircraft sank Dorestbire and Cornwall which were attempting to reach Admiral Somerville. For the next two days Admiral Nagumo searched for Somerville’s force which moved from south-west to north-east and evaded his patrols.

Once again Trincomalee was cleared of shipping with Hermes, the Australian destroyer Vampire and several merchantmen and auxiliary vessels moving southwards down the coast of Ceylon.

A reconnaissance plane from Haruna sighted Hermes and Vampire.  This report was intercepted at Colombo Hermes was instructed to reverse course and steam for Trincomalee where she could expect air cover. Hermes had one unusable aircraft aboard and very little anti-aircraft armament at the time of attack.

Admiral Nagumo dispatched a force of 85 bombers and nine fighters. They reached Hermes and Vampire as they were off Batticaloa beacon and, fortuitously, were about to meet the hospital ship Vita, coincidentally steaming south.

The Japanese concentrated their attention on Hermes first and dive-bombers secured forty direct hits in the space of ten minutes and the carrier sank to the bottom. Then they attacked Vampire and a direct hit broke the ship in two, sinking both parts separately.                 

The wreak of HMS Hermes now lies 3.9 nautical miles off Batticaloa at a depth ranging from 45 to 58 meters. The ship rests on her port side to the ground in an approximate South-North direction. Half of the deck is in the ground pointing the prominent starboard bilge keel upward.

The iconic Hermes, the star attraction of the dive sites in Sri Lankan waters, is one of the only two aircraft carrier wrecks in the world available for recreational diving by professionals as well as amateur divers under proper technical guidance. The ship, sprawling majestically on the sea floor off Batticaloa, is waiting in anticipation to be explored for her wealth of war history and fascinating marine life that inhabits within.