HMS Unicorn (I72) - World War II

World War II

Whilst working up, 818 and 824 Squadrons flew aboard in April 1943. 818 Squadron had nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers and 824 Squadron had six. 887 Squadron, with nine Supermarine Seafire IIC fighters was also embarked during this time. In late May, Unicorn escorted Convoy MKF 15 to Gibraltar while carrying a number of Royal Air Force Bristol Beaufighters that she off-loaded there. She escorted the returning convoy back to the Clyde in early June. Together with the aircraft carrier Illustrious, the ship made a sweep towards the Norwegian coast as part of Operation Governor, a diversion for the Allied landings in Sicily in early July. For this operation, 887 Squadron was replaced by 800 Squadron with Hawker Sea Hurricanes.

Unicorn was assigned to Force V, a flotilla of British carriers, commanded by Admiral Philip Vian, intended to provide air cover to Operation Avalanche, the Allied landings at Salerno. In preparation for this mission, the ship disembarked all of her Swordfish, except for a small detachment of three from 818 Squadron for self-defence, and the Sea Hurricanes of 800 Squadron. They were replaced by Seafires of 809 and 897 Squadrons. Each of the Seafire squadrons had 10 aircraft. Unicorn joined the escort carriers of Force V in August at Gibraltar before they moved forward to the Central Mediterranean for intensive training prior to the commencement of the amphibious landing on 9 September.

The ship's Seafires flew 75 sorties on the first day of operations and 60 on 10 September, but the Seafire was not well suited to carrier landings in low wind conditions and many were damaged in landing accidents. 44 sorties were flown on 11 September and only 18 on 12 September, even though Unicorn's mechanics had managed to repair ten Seafires over the previous night. The fighter shortage grew so acute during the operation that fighters from the carriers Illustrious and Formidable, intended to provide distant cover against an attempt by the Italian fleet to interfere with the invasion, staged forward to Unicorn in order to provide air cover over the landings. By 12 September, the situation had improved so that 887 Squadron was able to fly off six Seafires to a temporary airfield ashore.

The ship returned to the UK on 20 September with a full load of damaged Seafires, in addition to her own aircraft, that were off-loaded at Glasgow to be repaired. Afterwards, she was refitted by her builders and reconfigured for her designed role as an aircraft repair ship.