HMS Vindex (D15) was a Nairana-class escort carrier of the Royal Navy that saw service during the Second World War.

When construction started in 1942 she was intended as a merchant ship, but was completed and launched as an escort carrier, entering service at the end of 1943.

[2] Escort carriers were designed to protect convoys of merchant ships from U-boat and aircraft attack.

[3] Following the successful conversion and operation of HMS Activity, the Admiralty decided to take over three more merchant ships while they were still under construction and convert them into escort carriers.

[4] The three ships chosen were being built at three different shipyards Harland and Wolff in Northern Ireland, Swan Hunter in England and John Brown & Company in Scotland.

[7] Propulsion provided by diesel engines connected to two shafts giving 11,000 hp (8,200 kW), which could propel the ship at 17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h).

[10] Leaving Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland on 9 March 1944, the 2nd Escort Group moved to the area believed to hold the highest concentration of U-boats.

[12] Weather conditions were still not good for flying, and in the following days a Swordfish returning from a night patrol landed in the sea alongside the carrier and the crew were reported missing, believed killed.

The pilot managed to get the aircraft into the air, circled around while jettisoning his depth charges, and landed again without mishap.

Landing on the heaving deck was just as dangerous as taking off: two Sea Hurricanes and two Swordfish missed the arrestor wires and ended up crashing into the safety barriers.

[15] During the second deployment by Vindex her aircraft had flown over 400 sorties in 13 days, but the strain on the aircrews began to show and only 35 per cent of the original Swordfish crews were still with the ship when they returned to port.

The system employed the Air Directing Officer guiding aircraft to within 5 mi (4.3 nmi; 8.0 km) of the ship.

This version of the biplane had a Rocket-assisted take off system (RATOG) and a new ASV radar in a dome on the underside of the aircraft.

[18] Russian convoy JW 61 which sailed on 20 October had for the first time three escort carriers, Vindex, Nairana and Tracker.

Nairana had 835 Naval Air Squadron with 14 Swordfish IIIs and six Wildcat VIs on board for what would be their first Arctic convoy.

[20] Vindex's inexperienced squadron lost a Wildcat pilot when his plane crashed into the sea attempting to land back on board.

[21] From March to August 1945 the ship was part of the British Pacific Fleet attached to the 30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron.

They renamed her Port Vindex keeping part of her name to honour her wartime service and converted into a refrigerated cargo ship on the United Kingdom to Australia route.