The H.M.S. Hermes was the first aircraft carrier in the British Royal Navy. Although construction of the aircraft carrier started in 1918, it was commissioned only in 1923, far too late for it to play any part in WWI. The carrier served in the Far East, based at Wei-Hai-Wei (China Station) during the inter-war years. It only returned twice to Britain to be refitted in 1928 and 1934. The H.M.S. Hermes was destroyed in battle in 1942 by Japanese aircraft off the coast of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka).
