Formidable

Formidable Synopsis

HMS _Formidable_ was a British aircraft carrier during the Second World War. One of four Illustrious-class carriers, _Formidable_ was an armoured carrier, able to withstand air attacks, guarding its precious aircraft hangar with an armour-plated flight-deck. As well as its squadrons of fighters and torpedo bombers, _Formidable_ was armed with sixteen 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns, mounted in eight turrets. When action stations sounded, in one of these turrets, sweating in the tropical heat due to heavy asbestos anti-flash gear, lifting shells from the hoist to the gunner, while frantically turning the air into a 'plum pudding' of smoke and flame to smash the enemy kamikaze from the sky, was the author's grandfather, Arthur Flint. Illustrated with almost 200 contemporary photographs throughout, _Formidable_ is a memorial to the voyages and service of Arthur Flint and his shipmates during the war, from the Battle of Matapan, the landings in North Africa, Sicily and Salerno, to the arctic hunt for _Tirpitz_, before _Formidable_ steamed east to Sydney in 1945 and joined the British Pacific Fleet, fighting alongside the Americans at Okinawa and the final assault against Japan.