Editing Courageous-class aircraft carrier (section)

=== ''Glorious'' ===
Force J, including ''Glorious'', was organised to hunt for the {{ship|German pocket battleship|Admiral Graf Spee}} in the Indian Ocean. They were not successful, and ''Glorious'' remained in the Indian Ocean until December when she was transferred to the Mediterranean.

''Glorious'' was recalled to the Home Fleet in April 1940 to provide air cover for British forces landing in [[Norwegian Campaign|Norway]].<ref>Burt 2012, p. 285</ref> [[Gloster Gladiators]] of [[No. 263 Squadron RAF]] were flown aboard to be transferred to Norwegian airbases. ''Glorious'' and ''Ark Royal'' arrived off central Norway on 24 April where 263 Squadron was flown off and their organic aircraft attacked targets in the [[Trondheim (city)|Trondheim]] area before ''Glorious'' had to return to Scapa Flow on 27 April to refuel and embark new aircraft. She returned on 1 May, after failing to load new aircraft because of poor weather. The task force was under heavy air attack by the [[Luftwaffe]] all day and was withdrawn that evening.<ref>Haarr, pp. 143–154</ref>

''Glorious'' returned on 18 May with six [[Supermarine Walrus]] [[Amphibious aircraft|amphibious]] [[flying boat]]s of [[701 Naval Air Squadron|701 Squadron]] and 18 [[Hawker Hurricane]]s of [[No. 46 Squadron RAF]]. The Walruses were flown off to [[Harstad (town)|Harstad]], but the airfield in [[Skånland Municipality]] was not yet ready for the Hurricanes and they were still aboard when ''Glorious'' returned to Scapa on 21 May. ''Glorious'' came back to the [[Narvik (town)|Narvik]] area on 26 May and the Hurricanes were flown off.<ref>Haarr, pp. 261–262</ref>

British forces were ordered withdrawn a few days later. The evacuation (''[[Operation Alphabet]]'') began in the north on the night of 3/4 June, and ''Glorious'' arrived off the coast on 2 June to provide support. She carried only nine Sea Gladiators of [[802 Naval Air Squadron|802 Squadron]] and six Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers of [[823 Naval Air Squadron|823 Squadron]] for self-defence, as it was hoped to evacuate the RAF fighters if possible. Ten Gladiators of 263 Squadron were flown aboard during the afternoon of 7 June and the Hurricanes of 46 Squadron were also flown aboard without any significant problems in the early evening despite having a much higher landing speed than the biplanes.<ref>Haarr, pp. 308–310</ref> This was the first time that high performance monoplanes without [[tailhook]]s had been landed on an aircraft carrier.<ref name=h61>Howland, p. 61</ref>

Captain [[Guy D'Oyly-Hughes]] requested and was granted permission to proceed independently to Scapa Flow in the early hours of 8 June. On the way back across the [[North Sea]], ''Glorious'' and her two escorting destroyers, {{HMS|Acasta|H09|2}} and {{HMS|Ardent|H41|2}}, were found by the two German battleships {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}}.<ref>Haarr, pp. 329–330</ref> No [[combat air patrol]] was being flown, no aircraft were spotted on the deck for quick take off and there was no lookout in the [[crow's nest]].<ref>Howland, p. 52</ref> The German heavy ships sank all three British vessels with most of their crews, although ''Acasta'' managed to torpedo ''Scharnhorst'' before she was sunk. Only 43 men from ''Glorious'' survived.<ref>Rohwer, p. 26</ref>