April, Vampire was ordered to escort the British aircraft carrier from Ceylon, as the Japanese presence in the area was likely to become dominant. Loss Following the Japanese Fast Carrier Task Force's attack on Colombo in early April, Hermes and Vampire were ordered to depart Trincomalee to avoid a follow-up strike. Sailing on 8 April, the two ships avoided the aerial bombing of the port early the next morning, but were spotted and attacked by 85 Japanese Aichi D3A Val dive bombers escorted by 9 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter carrier aircraft at 10:35. Hermes was attacked by 45 bombers and sustained 40 hits or very near misses and was lost within twenty minutes. Vampire came under attack by 16 Vals and claimed to have shot down at least one aircraft but was hit or near missed by all sixteen 250 kg bombs, breaking in half and sinking 10 minutes after Hermes, her ensign the last to submerge. Despite the ferocity of the attack, Vampires commanding officer and eight sailors were the only fatalities. The survivors from both Hermes and Vampire were recovered by the hospital ship Vita. Vampire was awarded five battle honours for her wartime service: "Calabria 1940", "Libya 1940–41", "Greece 1941", "Crete 1941", and "Indian Ocean 1941–42". Citations References Further reading External links Royal Australian Navy webpage for HMAS Vampire (I) V and W-class destroyers of the Royal Navy Ships built on the Isle of Wight 1917 ships World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom V and W-class destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean World War II destroyers of Australia Destroyers sunk by aircraft Maritime incidents in April 1942 Ships sunk by Japanese aircraft