CV Ark Royal Variant 1.  Post 1940 version. 
The World War II aircraft carrier Ark Royal was the third ship of her name in history, and the first to be planned and built as an aircraft carrier. She was less than three years in service with the Royal Navy, but saw a great amount of action during the first two years of World War II. A period of time in which the Ark Royal was almost permanently at sea. In September 1939, she was engaged in patrol operations in the North sea. In October she was sent to the South Atlantic to assist in the search of the Graf Spee. During the German invasion of Norway (April-June 1940), the Ark Royal was employed too. Later, she provided support during the attack against the French warships at Mers-el-Kebir, and took part in several convoy operations and air strikes against Italian bases in the Mediterranean. However, Ark Royal's most notorious action was the key role she played during the chase of the battleship Bismarck in May 1941. Her Swordfish torpedo bombers crippled the German battleship, thus allowing Admiral Tovey's force to engage and sink her. Ark Royal then resumed her operations with Force H in the Mediterranean, but on 13 November 1941 she was torpedoed and sunk by U81 near Gibraltar.