HMS Ark Royal was hit by torpedoes from German submarine, U-81. She was ferrying supplies to

Malta in the Mediterranean when attacked on November 13, 1941.

Designed in 1934, Ark Royal served in some of the most active naval naval battles of the Second World War. She was involved in the first aerial and U-boat kills of the war, operations off Norway, the search for the German battleship Bismarck, and the Malta Convoys. Ark Royal survived several near misses and gained a reputation as a 'lucky ship'. She was torpedoed on 13 November 1941 by the German submarine U-81 and sank the following day: one of her 1,488 crew members was killed. Her sinking was the subject of several inquiries, with investigators keen to know how the carrier was lost, in spite of efforts to save the ship and tow her to the naval base at Gibraltar. They found that several design flaws contributed to the loss, which were rectified in new British carriers.

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Ark Royal was part of Force H which delivered supplies to Malta. Despite the boost in Allied morale from the sinking of the battleship Bismarck, the war in the Mediterranean was going against the Allies. Greece and Crete had fallen to the Axis Powers, and the Afrika Korps was preparing to launch a final push into Egypt. Malta remained an important stronghold in the Mediterranean, but was coming under increased pressure from Italian and German air attacks, and could no longer be supplied from the east since the fall of Crete.

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Ark Royal was pressed into service, delivering aircraft to Malta during several supply runs throughout June and July, and escorting the convoys of Operation Substance in July and Operation Halberd in September. Despite some losses, the convoys succeeded in keeping Malta supplied and fighting. The continued Allied presence in Malta was a considerable problem for Rommel in Africa, who was losing as much as ⅓ of his supplies from Italy to submarines and bombers based there. Adolf Hitler decided to send a flotilla of U-boats into the Mediterranean to attack Allied shipping.

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On 10 November 1941, Ark Royal ferried more aircraft to Malta before returning to Gibraltar. Admiral Somerville had been warned of U-boats off the Spanish coast, and reminded Force H to be vigilant. Also at sea was Friedrich Guggenberger's U-81, which had received a report that Force H was returning to Gibraltar.

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On 13 November, at 15:40, the sonar operator aboard the destroyer Legion detected an unidentified sound, but assumed it was the propellers of a nearby destroyer. One minute later, Ark Royal was struck amidships by a torpedo. Ark Royal listed badly and finally capsized and sank at 06:19 on 14 November 1941.

Source: Wikipedia

HMS Ark Royal with a flight of "Swordfish" overhead, circa 1939.