HMS Vindictive (1918)

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HMS Vindictive was a Royal Navy aircraft carrier built between 1916–1918. She was a converted Hawkins class cruiser, previously named HMS Cavendish. She was commissioned on 1 October 1918, and converted back to a cruiser in 1924 as the first Royal Navy cruiser with aircraft catapult gear. Vindictive subsequently became a training ship in 1937, and repair ship in 1939. In this role she served in the South Atlantic from 1940–42, followed by a stint in the Mediterranean Fleet from 1943–44, ending up in the Home Fleet and reserve in 1945 before being scrapped.

In July 1919 HMS Vindictive was dispatched to the Baltic Sea to support attacks on the major Bolshevik naval base at Kronstadt, Russia. On 17 August–18 August 1919, eight aircraft flying off from Vindictive carried out bombing and strafing attacks on gun and searchlight crews protecting the naval base, suppressing the defences and thereby enabling Royal Navy motor torpedo boats to attack naval vessels in the base. As a result, two battleships and the depot ship Pamyat Azova were sunk.