Several Stuka waves converged around noon after persistent scouts fixed the fleet's position. One 1,000-kilogram bomb pierced the ordinary flight-deck plating beside the forward lift, outside the protected hangar and armoured section. A second struck an after 4.5-inch turret at an angle, glanced into the sea, and detonated close to the rudders and shafts. Neither bomb landed squarely on the armoured flight deck, yet the near-stern explosion still deformed a shaft, damaged the rudders, and caused electrical failures. Formidable could continue at about twenty knots and resume flying, but the physical damage and depleted air group ended her usefulness as a fighting carrier in the operation.
Chapter · 1:04:41-1:09:46
Two one-ton bombs strike Formidable
A concentrated Stuka attack put one 1,000-kilogram bomb through the unarmoured deck beside Formidable's forward lift and glanced another off an after 4.5-inch turret.