ARK ROYAL: THE LIFE, DEATH AND REDISCOVERY OF THE LEGENDARY SECOND WORLD WAR AIRCRAFT CARRIER

"In June 1941, the Ark Royal won one of Britain's most famous naval victories. The German battleship Bismarck ravaged the British fleet in the Atlantic. Sailing through a ferocious storm, the Ark Royal intercepted the Bismarck. A dozen Swordfish torpedo-bombers took off from her deck and, facing a barrage of shell fire, launched torpedo after torpedo at the giant ship, which was crippled and sank the next day. It was a signal victory that resonated around the world. When the Ark Royal returned to the Mediterranean, where her aircraft continued to defy the Luftwaffe, Hitler was determed to sink her." "Within weeks, the Ark Royal was destroyed while sailing off the coast of Gibraltar, torpedoed by a German U-boat. There she has rested, one kilometre below the surface of the Mediterranean, until her wreck was discovered by Mike Rossiter in 2004. In detail, and using the testimony of survivors of the sinking and men who lived, flew and fought on the Ark Royal, Mike Rossiter gives an account of this most famous of ships. He also reveals for the first time the true story of the quest to discover the wreck of this naval legend."--BOOK JACKET.