Ark Royal was heavily involved in early WWII with the first aerial and U-boat kills of the war. Ark Royal also served in operations off Norway, during the seach for and sinking of the Bismark and in supporting the vital convoys to Malta in the Mediterranean. During this period, Ark Royal gained a reputation as a lucky ship having narrowly avoided a number of near misses. However her luck ran out on 13 November 1941 at 15:41 when, returning from Malta to Gibraltar, she was torpedoed by the German

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