Harold Francis Huxley

Son of Francis and Edith Mary Huxley of Nottingham

HMS Ark Royal

Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead and completed in November 1938. Her design differed from previous aircraft carriers. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure.

Designed to carry a large number of aircraft, she had two hangar deck levels. She served during a period that first saw the extensive use of naval air power; several carrier tactics were developed and refined aboard Ark Royal.

Ark Royal served in some of the most active naval theatres 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.

On August 1st 1941, at around 0550 in position 40-00N, 06-30E, Ark Royal’s Swordfish strike force arrived back from bombing Alghero, Sardinia and commenced landing. The third Swordfish to land which was from 810 Sqd, piloted by Lt CM Jewell, was still armed with a 40lb GP bomb which had hung up. As the aircraft touched down the bomb detached, fell on the deck and exploded killing the pilot, the observer, Sub Lt LA Royall, and the Telegraphist Air Gunner Leading Airman Harold Huxley from Nottingham. The bomb also blew a hole in the deck and killed four members of the flight deck party. (naval-history.net)

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, the remainder safely evacuating. Her sinking was the subject of several inquiries; investigators were 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.
The wreck was discovered in December 2002 by an American underwater survey company using sonar mounted on an autonomous underwater vehicle, under contract from the BBC for the filming of a documentary about the ship, at a depth of about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and approximately 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) from Gibraltar. (Wikipedia)

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