John Bethone Archibald

HMS Audacity was a British escort carrier of the Second World War and the first of her kind. She was originally the German merchant ship Hannover, which the Royal Navy captured in the West Indies in March 1940 and renamed Sinbad, then Empire Audacity. She was converted and commissioned as HMS Empire Audacity, then as HMS Audacity.

Convoy HG 76 sailed from Gibraltar on 14 December. Audacity had only four Martlet aircraft serviceable. The convoy came under attack from 12 U-boats. Martlets from Audacity shot down two Condors; U-131 was attacked on 17 December. U-131 shot down a Martlet, but was unable to dive after the attack, and was scuttled by her crew, who were taken prisoner.

As Audacity left the convoy on the night of 21 December, one of the merchantmen fired a "snowflake" flare which revealed her in silhouette to the German U-boats. The submarines had been given specific orders to sink her as she had caused a lot of trouble for the Germans both at sea and in the air. The first torpedo fired by U-751 under Kapitänleutnant Gerhard Bigalk hit her in the engine room and she began to settle by the stern. The next two torpedoes caused an explosion of the aviation fuel blowing off her bow. Audacity sank some 500 miles west of Cape Finisterre. She sank in 70 minutes. 73 of her crew were killed. Her
survivors were picked up by the corvettes Convolvulus, Marigold and Pentstemon.

The German commander had confused her with an Illustrious-class aircraft carrier, the sinking of which was announced by Nazi propaganda sources. Audacity had been operating outside the convoy, a procedure that was later prohibited by the Admiralty as too risky

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