Every war the Fleet Air Arm has fought
The First World War was fought by the Royal Naval Air Service, the Fleet Air Arm’s predecessor, and the 2021 strikes by a Lightning Force shared with the RAF; both are recorded. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Cuxhaven raid of 1914 to strikes on Islamic State from HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| The First World Warthe Royal Naval Air ServiceRoyal Naval Air Service | 1914–1918 | Germany and Ottoman Empire | Sopwith Pup, Short seaplanes, Airships | |||
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Flew seaplane and ship-borne raids, maritime patrol, anti-Zeppelin defence and bombing, and pioneered the aircraft carrier. The RNAS was an air force in its own right: when it was merged into the RAF on 1 April 1918 it had 55,066 officers and men, 2,949 aircraft, 103 airships and 126 coastal stations. Its war was full of firsts. On 25 December 1914 seaplanes carried by converted cross-Channel ships raided the Zeppelin sheds at Cuxhaven, the first attack by British ship-borne aircraft. In 1915 a Short seaplane flown by C. H. K. Edmonds made the first successful aerial torpedo attack against a ship. In 1917 Edwin Dunning landed a Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious while she was under way. Two RNAS airmen, Reginald Warneford and Richard Bell-Davies, won the Victoria Cross. The irony is that the service that did most to invent carrier aviation lost control of its own aircraft for twenty years just as the carrier became practical. Outcome By the armistice the RNAS had been absorbed into the RAF (1 April 1918). Casualty and sortie totals for the RNAS were not found in the sources checked and are not given.
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| The Norwegian campaignthe sinking of the KönigsbergFleet Air Arm | 1940 | Germany | Blackburn Skua | |||
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Dive-bombed German warships at Bergen and supported the Allied campaign in Norway. On 10 April 1940, the day after Germany invaded Norway, Skuas of 800 and 803 Squadrons dive-bombed the cruiser Königsberg at Bergen, sinking her. 800 Squadron’s history counts five of its Skuas in the attack. It was a rare success in a campaign that went badly for the Allies, but it showed what a dive bomber flown from the navy’s own bases could do against a ship. Outcome The cruiser Königsberg was sunk on 10 April 1940; the Norwegian campaign ended in Allied withdrawal in June. Service details of the Skua and the other naval aircraft lost in Norway were not verified; no loss figures are given.
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| Taranto and Matapanthe Mediterranean carrier warFleet Air Arm | 1940–1941 | Italy and Germany | Fairey Swordfish, Fairey Albacore | 21 | 2 | |
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Attacked the Italian battle fleet in harbour at night and slowed it at sea for the battleships. Taranto was the Fleet Air Arm’s masterpiece. On the night of 11–12 November 1940 HMS Illustrious launched two waves of Swordfish, 12 and then nine, against the Italian battle fleet at anchor. The biplanes torpedoed the Conte di Cavour, Littorio and Duilio, damaged a cruiser and two destroyers and lost two aircraft. Wikipedia’s account gives 59 Italians killed. Admiral Cunningham wrote that Taranto “should be remembered forever as having shown once and for all that in the Fleet Air Arm the Navy has its most devastating weapon”. Four months later, on 28 March 1941, Albacores and Swordfish from HMS Formidable attacked the Italian fleet off Cape Matapan: Lieutenant-Commander John Dalyell-Stead hit the Vittorio Veneto before being shot down, and an evening strike stopped the cruiser Pola, which let Cunningham’s battleships catch and sink her and two sister cruisers that night. Outcome Three Italian battleships disabled at Taranto; three Italian heavy cruisers and two destroyers sunk after Matapan. Italian casualty figures for Taranto are taken from Wikipedia and were not checked against Italian official sources.
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| Bismarck, the Channel Dash and the Tirpitzthe war against the German heavy shipsFleet Air Arm | 1941–1944 | Germany | Fairey Swordfish, Fairey Barracuda, Vought Corsairand 2 more | |||
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Torpedo and dive-bombing attacks on Germany’s battleships and battlecruisers. Three attacks define this war. On 24 May 1941 Swordfish of 825 Squadron under Lieutenant-Commander Eugene Esmonde flew from the new carrier Victorious and put one torpedo into the Bismarck, to little effect. Two days later Ark Royal launched 15 Swordfish in foul weather; the first strike attacked HMS Sheffield by mistake, and the second hit the Bismarck astern and jammed her rudder, so the battleships could catch her the next morning. On 12 February 1942 Esmonde led six Swordfish from Manston against the German battlecruisers escaping up the Channel; all six were shot down, 13 of the 18 aircrew died, and Esmonde received a posthumous Victoria Cross. On 3 April 1944, in Operation Tungsten, two waves of 21 Barracudas with fighter escort hit the Tirpitz 15 times, killing 122 of her crew for the loss of four aircraft and nine men; later raids in July and August achieved little and the task passed to the RAF. Outcome Bismarck sunk on 27 May 1941; Tirpitz damaged in April 1944 but not sunk by naval aircraft. Esmonde’s Bismarck attack of 24 May is sometimes conflated with the decisive Ark Royal strike of 26 May; the rudder hit came from Ark Royal’s aircraft.
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| The British Pacific FleetPalembang, Sakishima and JapanFleet Air Arm | 1945 | Japan | Supermarine Seafire, Vought Corsair, Grumman Hellcatand 3 more | |||
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Struck oil refineries at Palembang, suppressed kamikaze airfields during the Okinawa campaign and attacked Japan. By August 1945 the British Pacific Fleet had six fleet carriers, four light carriers and nine escort carriers, with more than 750 aircraft. In January 1945 its strikes on the refineries at Palembang in Sumatra cost 48 aircraft for claims of 30 Japanese aircraft in the air and 38 on the ground. From March to May it was given sole responsibility for the airfields of the Sakishima Islands during the Okinawa campaign, where the armoured flight decks of the British carriers shrugged off kamikaze hits that would have put American carriers out of action for months. In the last weeks its aircraft attacked Kure, the Inland Sea and Osaka. On 9 August 1945 Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, a Canadian flying a Corsair from HMS Formidable, sank a Japanese warship and was killed; he received a posthumous Victoria Cross. Outcome Japan surrendered in August 1945; the fleet had more than 750 aircraft by then. Japanese aircraft claims are British claims and are given as such.
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| The Korean Warlight fleet carriers off KoreaFleet Air Arm | 1950–1953 | North Korea, China and Soviet Union (air units) | Supermarine Seafire, Hawker Sea Fury, Fairey Firefly | |||
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Flew strike, close air support and patrol from light fleet carriers under the United Nations command. Four British light carriers — Triumph, Theseus, Glory and Ocean — took turns off Korea, joined by the Australian Sydney. Triumph’s Seafires of 800 Squadron flew 360 sorties in the first months; after that the piston-engined Sea Fury and Firefly carried the load, strafing and bombing bridges, railways and troops. The best-known episode came in August 1952, when four Sea Furies of 802 Squadron from HMS Ocean met eight MiG-15 jets and one MiG was destroyed. Lieutenant Peter “Hoagy” Carmichael was officially credited, though another pilot, Sub-Lieutenant Brian Ellis, later said the kill was his. It was one of very few piston-fighter victories over a jet, but it did not change the fact that the war belonged to jets and that the navy’s were not yet good enough. Outcome Armistice of 27 July 1953. The date is given as 8 or 9 August 1952 in different sources, and the credit for the MiG kill is disputed between Carmichael and Ellis.
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| The Suez crisisOperation MusketeerFleet Air Arm | 1956 | Egypt | Hawker Sea Hawk, de Havilland Sea Venom, Westland Wyvernand 3 more | 1,600 | ||
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Struck Egyptian airfields and ground targets from three carriers and flew the first British helicopter assault. Suez was the Fleet Air Arm’s biggest post-war strike operation. Eagle, Albion and Bulwark flew Sea Hawks, Sea Venoms, Wyverns and Skyraiders against Egyptian airfields and vehicles; six Sea Hawk squadrons took part, and the carriers generated sorties faster than land-based aircraft flying from Cyprus and Malta. On 6 November helicopters from the light carriers Ocean and Theseus flew 45 Commando ashore at Port Said, the first time British forces were lifted by helicopter directly into a combat zone. Militarily it worked; politically it was a disaster, and the operation was halted within days. It also showed that the new jets needed bigger carriers than Britain could afford for long. Outcome A ceasefire came within days of the landings and British forces later withdrew, under heavy international pressure. Wikipedia’s claims about Egyptian aircraft destroyed are not repeated because they could not be checked against Egyptian sources. A Wyvern is reported to have fired on British Marines by mistake.
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| Kuwait, Borneo and Adenend-of-empire operationsFleet Air Arm | 1961–1967 | Indonesia (Borneo confrontation) | de Havilland Sea Vixen, Westland Wessex | |||
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Carrier cover for Kuwait in 1961 and Tanganyika in 1964, commando helicopter support in the Borneo confrontation and cover for the withdrawal from Aden. In 1961 Sea Vixens flew patrols over Kuwait when Iraq threatened to annex it; in 1964 aircraft from HMS Centaur covered Royal Marines in Tanganyika. In Borneo, about 55 Wessex helicopters carried troops and supplies against Indonesian-backed guerrillas, up to 16 men or 4,000 pounds at a time, into jungle clearings no road reached. In 1967 Sea Vixens helped cover the withdrawal from Aden. These were small operations, but they are why the navy went on to value the commando carrier and the troop-carrying helicopter. Outcome Iraq did not move on Kuwait; the Borneo confrontation ended in 1966; Britain left Aden in 1967. Figures on Wessex numbers in Borneo are approximate.
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| The Falklands WarOperation CorporateFleet Air Arm | 1982 | Argentina | British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS1, Westland Sea King, Westland Wessexand 2 more | |||
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Provided the task force’s only fighter cover with Sea Harriers from Hermes and Invincible, plus anti-submarine, troop-lift and strike helicopters. The Falklands was the Fleet Air Arm’s war. With the big carriers gone, the task force relied on the Sea Harriers of 800 and 801 Squadrons in Hermes and Invincible. 800 Squadron’s history credits it with 17 Argentine aircraft; the type as a whole is credited with 20 shot down (Wikipedia’s article on the Argentine air forces counts 21); none was lost in air combat. Six Sea Harriers were lost to ground fire and accidents; Lieutenant Nick Taylor was killed on 4 May and Lieutenant-Commander Gordon Batt on 23 May. The helicopter effort was bigger still: more than 150 helicopters took part. On 25 April Wasps and a Lynx damaged the submarine Santa Fe at South Georgia; on 3 May a Lynx fired the first Sea Skua in combat. Sea Kings and Wessex carried troops and stores ashore, and the loss of Atlantic Conveyor on 25 May took three of four Chinooks and five or six Wessex with her. Outcome Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. Kill totals differ (17 for 800 NAS; 20 or 21 for all Sea Harriers) and are British counts. Argentina claimed at the time and still claims that it hit HMS Invincible on 30 May 1982; no evidence of damage has been produced, according to the British account. British deaths in the war were 255 and Argentine 649.
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| The Gulf WarOperation GranbyFleet Air Arm | 1991 | Iraq | Westland Lynx HAS3 | 25 | 0 | |
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Lynx helicopters from British warships attacked Iraqi naval vessels with Sea Skua missiles. The Royal Navy’s war in 1991 was fought at sea, and its most visible air contribution was the ship’s Lynx. Operating from destroyers and frigates in the northern Gulf, Lynx helicopters hunted Iraqi fast attack craft and minelayers and fired 25 Sea Skua missiles, 18 of which were confirmed as hits. The small, radar-guided missile had first been fired in anger in the Falklands nine years earlier; in 1991 it did much of the work of dismantling the Iraqi navy. Outcome Coalition victory; much of Iraq’s navy was put out of action. Hit figures are Coalition assessments.
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| BosniaOperations Deny Flight and Deliberate ForceFleet Air Arm | 1993–1995 | Bosnian Serb forces | British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS1 | 1 | ||
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Sea Harriers from British carriers flew combat air patrols and close air support for the UN and NATO. The Invincible-class carriers took turns in the Adriatic while NATO enforced the no-fly zone over Bosnia. On 16 April 1994 a Sea Harrier from HMS Ark Royal, called in by UN forces to attack a tank near Goražde, made several passes and was hit by a Bosnian Serb shoulder-launched missile. The pilot ejected and was rescued. The lesson was that the Sea Harrier needed precision weapons and better electronics, and the Royal Navy added the Paveway II laser-guided bomb. Outcome The Dayton agreement ended the war in late 1995. The pilot’s name and the missile type are given differently in secondary accounts and are not repeated here.
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| KosovoOperation Allied ForceFleet Air Arm | 1999 | Federal Republic of Yugoslavia | British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA2 | 0 | ||
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Sea Harriers from HMS Invincible flew in the NATO air campaign; the carrier’s helicopters helped refugees. HMS Invincible, commanded as a task group by Rear-Admiral Alan West, took Sea Harrier FA2s to the Adriatic for NATO’s air war over Kosovo, while her helicopters helped refugees. The carrier had also flown in Operation Bolton over southern Iraq in 1997–1999. It was the last campaign in which the Navy’s own fighter flew in a NATO air war before Joint Force Harrier took over. Outcome Yugoslav forces withdrew from Kosovo in June 1999. Sortie numbers for the Sea Harriers over Kosovo were not verified.
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| Sierra LeoneOperation PalliserFleet Air Arm | 2000 | Revolutionary United Front | British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA2, British Aerospace Harrier GR7 | 0 | ||
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Harriers from HMS Illustrious flew reassurance and reconnaissance patrols over Freetown. HMS Illustrious arrived off Sierra Leone on 14 May 2000 as Britain intervened to evacuate civilians and shore up the UN mission against the Revolutionary United Front. Harriers from the carrier flew reassurance patrols over Freetown and reconnaissance for the UN force, a small but early demonstration of the joint Harrier force formed that April. Outcome The British intervention helped stabilise the UN mission. Details of individual squadrons embarked were not verified.
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| The Iraq WarOperation TelicFleet Air Arm | 2003–2009 | Ba’athist Iraq | Westland Sea King HC4, Westland Sea King ASaC7 | 2 | ||
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Commando helicopters landed the Royal Marines on the Al-Faw Peninsula; Sea King airborne early warning helicopters flew from HMS Ark Royal. HMS Ark Royal went to the Gulf in 2003 as a helicopter carrier and flagship. The Commando Helicopter Force carried 3 Commando Brigade onto the Al-Faw Peninsula in the opening phase, while Sea King ASaC7s watched the battlefield from the air. Early in the war two of 849 Squadron’s Sea Kings from Ark Royal collided in poor visibility and seven men were killed, six of them from the squadron and one an American officer on exchange. The CHF went on to serve in the long occupation of southern Iraq. Outcome The Iraqi government fell in April 2003; British combat operations ended in 2009. The exact date of the collision is not given because it was not confirmed in the sources checked.
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| AfghanistanOperation HerrickFleet Air Arm | 2006–2014 | Taliban | British Aerospace Harrier GR7/GR9, Westland Sea King HC4 | |||
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RAF-owned Harriers flown by 800 NAS and the Naval Strike Wing, and Commando Helicopter Force Sea Kings. With its own fighters gone, the Navy took its turn in Joint Force Harrier’s long deployment to Kandahar: 800 Squadron, re-formed with RAF Harrier GR7s in March 2006, deployed to Afghanistan that September, and the Naval Strike Wing formed from 800 and 801 Squadrons in 2007 followed. The Commando Helicopter Force also played a major part in Operation Herrick with its Sea King HC4s. This was naval aviation fighting a land war from land bases, which kept pilots in practice but did nothing to keep carrier skills alive. Outcome British combat operations in Helmand ended in 2014. Deployment dates for individual naval squadrons were not all verified. |
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| LibyaOperation EllamyFleet Air Arm | 2011 | Libya (Gaddafi government) | Westland Sea King ASaC7, Westland Lynx | 0 | ||
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Sea King ASaC7s of 857 NAS flew surveillance from HMS Ocean, which also carried Army Apache attack helicopters. HMS Ocean joined the Libyan campaign at the end of May 2011 with four Army Air Corps Apaches and two Sea King Mk7 airborne surveillance helicopters of 857 Squadron, which flew along the coast around Misrata, Sirte and Benghazi. With Ark Royal decommissioned and the Harriers gone, it was a helicopter carrier, not a strike carrier, that Britain could send. Outcome The Gaddafi government fell and NATO operations ended in October 2011. The Apaches belonged to the Army Air Corps and are not counted as Fleet Air Arm.
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| Iraq and Syria from HMS Queen ElizabethOperation Shader and Carrier Strike Group 2021Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force (joint Lightning Force) | 2021 | Islamic State | Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II | 1 | ||
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F-35Bs of the joint Lightning Force (617 Squadron) and the US Marine Corps flew strike missions against Islamic State from HMS Queen Elizabeth. Carrier Strike Group 2021 sailed in May with eighteen F-35Bs — RAF 617 Squadron, mixed-manned with naval personnel, and US Marines — and five air squadrons in all. From June the jets flew strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria from the eastern Mediterranean, the first combat missions from HMS Queen Elizabeth and, according to the ship, the first by US aircraft from a foreign carrier since 1943. The group returned on 9 December 2021 after seven months and 44 countries. In November one F-35B was lost at sea; the pilot was recovered safely. Outcome The first combat missions from a British carrier since 2010. Wikipedia dates the first strikes to 18 June 2021; the UK Defence Journal reported them on 22 June. The crash is dated 16 or 17 November in different sources. The strike aircraft belonged to 617 Squadron (RAF); 809 NAS had not yet recommissioned.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Royal Navy Museums: Flying into fire – Eugene Esmonde and the attack on BismarckEsmonde’s medals on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton.
- UK Defence Journal: British aircraft carrier returns home (9 December 2021)CSG21: seven months, 3,700 personnel, nine ships, a submarine, five air squadrons; one F-35B lost, pilot safe.
- UK Defence Journal: First combat missions flown from HMS Queen Elizabeth (22 June 2021)617 Squadron and US Marine Corps F-35Bs (18 in all) strike Islamic State under Operation Shader.
Figures verified 2026-09-30. Back to the Fleet Air Arm.