Formidable: Arthur Flint's War Against Tirpitz and the Kamikazes

by Terry Crowdy

HMS Formidable was a British aircraft carrier during the Second World War. One of four Illustrious-class carriers, Formidable was an armored carrier, able to withstand air attacks, guarding its precious aircraft hangar with an armor-plated flight-deck. As well as its squadrons of fighters and torpedo bombers, Formidable was armed with sixteen 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns, mounted in eight turrets. When action stations sounded, in one of these turrets, sweating in the tropical heat due to heavy asbestos anti-flash gear, lifting shells from the hoist to the gunner, while frantically turning the air into a ‘plum pudding’ of smoke and flame to smash the enemy kamikaze from the sky, was the author’s grandfather, Arthur Flint. Illustrated with almost 200 contemporary photographs throughout, Formidable is a memorial to the voyages and service of Arthur Flint and his shipmates during the war, from the Battle of Matapan, the landings in North Africa, Sicily and Salerno, to the arctic hunt for Tirpitz, before Formidable steamed east to Sydney in 1945 and joined the British Pacific Fleet, fighting alongside the Americans at Okinawa and the final assault against Japan.

247 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 6, 2023

About the author

Terry Crowdy was born in London in 1970. Initially a re-enactor, his interest in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars led to writing for specialist magazines, and then to book authorship.

Reviews

[Andrea Di Bernardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terry Crowdy ha una solida reputazione come storico napoleonico. "Incomparable" e "Marengo", a mio avviso sono i suoi libri migliori, ma in passato aveva spesso deviato da questo periodo, scrivendo anche di altri temi e situazioni. In questo caso , Crowdy attinge ad una storia personale, quella del nonno materno Arthur Flint, imbarcato sulla Formidable, una delle portaerei britanniche classe Illustrious dell'ultima guerra. Queste 4 portaerei rappresentarono la forza principale di attacco aeronavale nel pacifico, ma la Formidable partecipò anche alla "Caccia alla Tirpitz" che viene descritta nel libro. Flint partecipò alla seconda commissione della nave. Crowdy ha avuto modo di trattare i temi navali in altri libri, quindi non è esattamente un neofita, ma la cosa che ho apprezzato del suo libro è che non si perde in dettagli tecnici navali e narra benissimo allo stesso modo le azioni in mare. Va detto che in quel periodo la portaerei diventava la nave centrale nelle strategie navali, sostituendo in questo la corazzata. La descrizione della vita a bordo, con Flint che faceva parte di una classe di marinai nota come "stewards" e che erano in forza all'"Accountant branch" e non quindi dei veri e propri marinai (ed infatti vestivano una divisa forse più elegante ma non da marinaio) , è estremamente piacevole. Flint, per via della sua vista fu smistato in questa classe, ma durante una crisi, come succederà con gli attacchi dei Kamikaze, anche egli doveva andare a combattere nel posto stabilito. La parte più severa della guerra della Formidable fu infatti ad oriente, quando per supportare la strategia americana di invasione delle varie isole sino a giungere a quelle giapponesi, anche la Royal Navy fu impiegata. E lì, nella parte dedicata ai due attacchi che subì la Formidable si intuisce anche l'attenzione di Crowdy per le procedure anti incendio, che è anche la sua occupazione per gli "Historic Royal Palaces". Si intuisce nel racconto di Crowdy tutta la sua professionalità che però non distoglie dalla narrativa degli eventi concitati e tragici. "Formidable" quindi è un libro che narra di un microcosmo quale può essere una nave , sebbene una portaerei assomigli più ad una piccola cittadina. Lo fa attraendo il lettore e tenendolo incollato alla pagina, con i racconti dei grandi scontri aeronavali della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, con precisione e piacevolezza, ma anche trattando con grande sensibilità il racconto dei semplici marinai e di suo nonno Arthur Flint.
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Terry Crowdy has a solid reputation as a Napoleonic historian. "Incomparable" and "Marengo" are in my opinion his best books, but in the past he had often deviated from this period, also writing about other themes and situations. In this case, Crowdy draws on a personal story, that of his maternal grandfather Arthur Flint, embarked on the Formidable, one of the British Illustrious-class aircraft carriers of the last war. These 4 aircraft carriers represented the main air-naval attack force of the British in the Pacific, but Formidable also participated in the "Hunt for the Tirpitz" which is described in the book. Flint participated in the ship's second commission. Crowdy has covered naval themes in other books, so he's not exactly a neophyte, but the thing I liked about his book is that he doesn't get lost in technical naval details and narrates the action at sea equally well. It must be said that in that period the aircraft carrier became the central ship in naval strategies, replacing the battleship in this. The description of life on board, with Flint who was part of a class of sailors known as "stewards" and who were under the "Accountant branch" and therefore not real sailors (and in fact wore a perhaps more elegant uniform but not as a sailor), is extremely pleasant. Flint, because of his eyesight was sorted into this class, but during a crisis, as will happen with the Kamikaze attacks, he too had to go to fight in the appointed place. The most severe part of the Formidable's war was in fact in the east, when the Royal Navy was also employed to support the American strategy of invasion of the various islands up to the Japanese ones. And there, in the part dedicated to the two attacks that the Formidable suffered, one can also sense Crowdy's attention to fire prevention procedures, which is also his occupation for the "Historic Royal Palaces".In Crowdy's story, one can sense all his professionalism which, however, does not distract from the narrative of the agitated and tragic events. "Formidable" is therefore a book that tells of a microcosm which can be a ship, although an aircraft carrier looks more like a small town. It does so by attracting the reader and keeping him glued to the page, with the stories of some of the great air and naval battles of the Second World War, with precision and pleasantness, but also by dealing with the tale of simple sailors and his grandfather Arthur Flint with great sensitivity.

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, enjoyed reading every minute of it. Terry Crowdy, a British Military writer heretofore focusing on Anglo European topics tells us about the British Pacific Fleet at the end of WWII fighting the Japanese, using the memories of his grandfather, Arthur Flint as a lens. Flint was a Steward on board the British aircraft carrier Formidable, an officer's waiter and valet role, serving with the Fleet Air Arm Squadrons that formed the strike force for the fleet. Flint is the central character of the book- but the telling of his story means that Crowdy is chronicling Formidable's whole War after 1942- until VJ day and beyond. Since history buffs will recall that Formidable was part of the Royal Navy's war to keep the Nazi Raider Tirpitz inert in Norway- there's a lot of action in this book. The story is interesting, Crowdy's style is compelling, and the b/w photos and maps help to illustrate an aspect of Britain's naval war many readers may not have known about.

British Carriers were smaller than American ones, but had one better feature- armoured flight decks. This had been an effective feature in European waters , but would prove a real boon in fighting the Japanese and their Kamikaze onslaught. The American Admirals who had thought the British Fleet would be a hindrance to the American effort, came to rely on the Brits to carry out Carrier raids on some tough targets. This was the largest, most potent fleet the British Navy was ever to put to sea- now sort of a footnote to the American Fleet that dwarfed it. Going deep on one carrier and her crew in this massive effort was fascinating, especially given the enormous challenges the Brits overcame to operate as a Task Force of the greater Allied fleets. Used to slower paced operations and smaller strike forces in the Atlantic, the Brits ramped up their techniques and tactics to operate well with their American Cousins, and defeat the Japanese terror weapon.

There are some adult themes, and some graphic injury passages that make this a good book for the Junior reader over 13/13 years. For The Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, this is a font of interesting information. Gamers get a look at both how Kamikaze attacks were defended, and also how Carrier Air Strike forces were used and sustained during the later Pacific War. Modelers get a lot of information that will assist with build/diorama development for this fleet, and Fleet Air arm in general. The Military Enthusiast gets a deep dive on a really forgotten part of the War- Britain's late War Pacific Push. The content on the immediate post war missions of the Carriers, often taking veterans or POWs back to their home bases, was also really interesting. I think the personal interest will make this book as accessible to general readers as it will be for the history buff/military history audience.