Sinking of Ark Royal

13–14 November 1941, About 30 miles east of Gibraltar

German success; Ark Royal sunk

German radio had claimed Ark Royal sunk so often that she was famous for it. Coming back to Gibraltar from flying off aircraft for Malta, she was hit by a single torpedo from U-81, one of the first U-boats to pass the Strait into the Mediterranean. She took a heavy list, and after the first flooding her crew were taken off too quickly to save her; a tow was got aboard, but fire in the boiler rooms took her power. She capsized fourteen hours later, 25 miles from Gibraltar. One man was killed. The inquiry blamed her design, which let water spread across a whole boiler room, and the decision to abandon her so soon.