Eighty years have passed since the sinking of HMS Hermes (95), which had the distinction of being the first warship to be designed from the outset as an aircraft carrier. Hermes, ordered by the Royal Navy in April 1917, was launched on 11 September 1919, but it took until 19 February 1924 before she was actually commissioned. However, in the time between her being ordered and joining the Royal Navy the Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho was completed, and she therefore became the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to enter service.
Sadly, aircraft from a Japanese aircraft carrier strike force were responsible for the sinking of in the Indian Ocean on 9 April 1942. 80 years on from that devastating attack by Aichi DA dive-bombers, the wreck of , located in the Bay of Bengal, can be dived. lies on her port side, with the main deck collapsed onto itself. Parts of the ship are still
