Her first mission was to locate the which had left its anchorage in Kaafjord in early October. "Implacable" departed Scapa Flow on 16 October, and a section of her Fireflies spotted the battleship off Håkøya Island near Tromsø two days later. No attack was mounted because the carrier lacked any single-seat fighters aboard to escort the strike aircraft, although they did damage a cargo ship before returning home. On 16 October, the Supermarine Seafires of 887 and 894 Squadrons of No. 24 Naval Fighter Wing landed aboard. In late October she participated in Operation Athletic off the Norwegian coast, where her aircraft sank six ships and damaged a German submarine for the loss of one Barracuda, while conducting the Royal Navy's last wartime torpedo attack. On 1 November Captain Charles Hughes-Hallett relieved Mackintosh and assumed command of the ship. The Barracudas were replaced by the Seafires of No. 30 Naval Fighter Wing, which consisted of 801 and 880 Squadrons, on 8 November and the Seafires provided air cover for minelaying operations by escort carriers from 11 to 21 November. The next day, Admiral Sir Henry Ruthven Moore, Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, hoisted his flag in "Implacable" and the ship set sail to hunt for a convoy that had been reported near Alsten Island (Operation Provident) with the Seafires and Fireflies of 801, 880, and 1771 Squadrons aboard. Bad weather prevented aircraft from being launched until 27 November, but they located the convoy and sank two merchantmen, including , and damaged six others. MS Rigel was used as a German prisoner of war (POW) transport and the sinking resulted in more than 2,500 dead, mostly POWs. Upon her return to Scapa on 29 November, Moore lowered his flag, but Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, second in command of Home Fleet, hoisted his flag on 6 December for Operation Urbane, another minelaying operation during which her Fireflies helped to sink a German minesweeper. Dalrymple-Hamilton transferred his flag off "Implacable" when she returned to Scapa on 9 December. On 15 December she began a refit at Rosyth preparatory to her transfer to the British Pacific Fleet, which included augmenting her light AA armament.