The navy had been suffering some terrible losses. Germany had invaded Greece at the beginning of 1941; the British army had retreated to Crete. In May German paratroopers had landed there and attempted to send troop ships in support of them. There were very heavy casualties on both sides, with most of the German troop ships sunk by the Royal Navy, but the Germans managed to capture the airfield on Crete and from that moment the battle was lost. Reinforcements arrived by air and, at about the same time that we had been flying over Bismarck, Admiral Cunningham in Alexandria was told to organize the evacuation of British troops from the beaches on Crete. We had almost no air cover and the Luftwaffe really went for the warships, whose only defence was the anti-aircraft guns on the cruisers and battleships. The carrier that had been sent to replace Illustrious, HMS Formidable, suffered damage from several bombs at the beginning of the German campaign and, like Illustrious before her, had to leave for repairs in a US shipyard.
