an escort carrier deck armed with torpedoes or enough depth charges and fuel to be useful, and the .303 calibre machine guns on the Sea Hurricane were ineffective against the armoured German reconnaissance aircraft. Operation Torch HMS Avenger, , and left Scapa for Greenock on 16 October 1942. Avenger still had the two Sea Hurricane squadrons on board, with two new aircraft armed with 20 mm cannon. Avenger was tasked with providing air cover for one of the convoys carrying the British assault force for Operation Torch. Once off North Africa she would join the covering force for the landings, with , three cruisers, and five destroyers. On arrival on 8 November 1942, the Supermarine Seafires from Argus and Avengers Sea Hurricanes provided air cover for the landings. Between 8–10 November Avenger flew 60 fighter missions. On 9 November, she had a near miss by a torpedo from an He 111, and from 10 to 12 November she was laid up with engine problems before sailing for Gibraltar. HMS Avenger was torpedoed and sunk with a heavy loss of life (516 perished) by under the command of Kapitänleutnant Adolf Piening on 15 November 1942, just west of Gibraltar. Struck by only one torpedo, she quickly sank. Only twelve members of her crew were rescued. Notes Footnotes Citations References Kenneth Chappelle External links Illustration of intended Moore McCormack appearance HMS Avenger at Royal Navy research archive HMS Avenger at Fleet Air Arm archive Avenger-class escort carriers 1940 ships World War II aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom Ships built by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Maritime incidents in November 1942