Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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In April 1942, just days after crippling two British cruisers off Ceylon, Japanese carrier-based dive bombers struck again. Their target: the Royal Navy’s HMS Hermes, Britain’s first aircraft carrier.

With the Eastern Fleet scattered and no fighter cover in the skies, Hermes, the destroyer HMAS Vampire, and several support vessels found themselves exposed.

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