HMS Thunder Child HMS Thunder Child HMS "Thunder Child" is a fictional ironclad torpedo ram of the Royal Navy, destroyed by Martian fighting-machines in H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" whilst protecting a refugee rescue fleet of civilian vessels. Torpedo rams were constructed in the 1870s and 1880s after the ramming and sinking of the "Re d'Italia" at the Battle of Lissa in 1866 by the Austrian flagship, "Ferdinand Max". Despite the Italian warship being stationary at the time, the successful attack influenced naval thinking for the next few decades. The result was specially designed low profile, fast, armoured vessels equipped
HMS Ark Royal (R09) HMS Ark Royal (R09) HMS "Ark Royal" (R09) was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1979, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the first aircraft carrier to be equipped with angled flight deck at its commissioning; her sister ship, , was the Royal Navy's first angle-decked aircraft carrier after modification in 1954. "Ark Royal" was the only non-United States vessel to operate the McDonnell Douglas Phantom at sea. "Ark Royal" was the sister ship to , which was initially named HMS "Audacious", hence the name