On 17 September 1939, the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-29 while conducting an anti-submarine patrol in the Western Approaches.

Britain had been at war with Germany for only two weeks. The Royal Navy was using aircraft carriers and their aircraft to search large areas of sea for U-boats threatening British shipping. Courageous, accompanied by destroyers, was one of the carriers assigned to the work.

The arrangement carried a serious risk. A carrier searching for submarines could itself become a submarine’s target.

During the afternoon, Courageous responded to reports of German submarine activity. Some of her aircraft were sent out, and destroyers were drawn away from the carrier while pursuing another U-boat.

U-29, commanded by Otto Schuhart, approached Courageous. That evening it fired torpedoes at the carrier. Two struck.

The Admiralty war diary recorded the attack at 8.20 p.m. and stated that Courageous sank within twelve minutes. Of a complement of 1,260, 518 were lost. British ships picked up the survivors.

Courageous was the first Royal Navy warship lost to enemy action during the Second World War, and the first British aircraft carrier lost in the conflict.

The sinking demonstrated the weakness of using large fleet carriers as submarine hunters. Their aircraft could cover considerable areas of sea; however, the carriers themselves were valuable targets that needed protection from the submarines they were trying to find.

The Royal Navy withdrew its fleet carriers from this type of anti-submarine patrol.