Court-martial three types: Special, Summary, and General. In Herman Melville's novella "Billy Budd" (first published 1924), the title character is convicted at a drumhead court-martial of striking and killing his superior officer on board HMS "Indomitable", is sentenced to death, and is hanged. The novella has been adapted for the stage, film and television; notably in Benjamin Britten's 1951 opera "Billy Budd". In C. S. Forester's 1938 novel "Flying Colours", Captain Horatio Hornblower is court-martialed for the loss of HMS "Sutherland". He is "most honourably acquitted". Court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural "courts-martial" or "courts martial", as "martial" is a
HMS Indomitable (92) aggression in the Far East. However, given that the aircraft carrier was in the vicinity of Jamaica, on 3 November 1941, it seems unlikely that "Indomitable" could really have reached Singapore in sufficient time to provide air cover for the battle fleet. For that to have been achieved, it would have been necessary to order the ship to proceed to Singapore at a date earlier than 3 November. In the event, the other two capital ships, designated Force Z, did not have adequate air cover, and were sunk by Japanese aircraft when the Japanese landed in Malaya in December 1941.