title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: Sixteen Fleet Air Arm squadrons were posted aboard "Ark Royal" during her career; an average of five squadrons at any time. On entering service, most of "Ark Royal"s squadrons were equipped with either Blackburn Skuas—used as fighters and dive bombers—or Fairey Swordfish, for reconnaissance and torpedo bombing. From April 1940, squadrons equipped with Skuas were upgraded to Fairey Fulmars; like their predecessors, these were used as fighters and bombers. On occasion, the carrier operated Blackburn Roc fighter-bombers (from April 1939 – October 1940) and Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers (during October 1941); these were replacement aircraft used to boost squadron numbers. In June 1940, "Ark Royal" was host to 701 Naval Air Squadron, a training squadron which operated Supermarine Walrus reconnaissance amphibians.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939 had been presaged by Germany's U-boat fleet taking up positions off the British coast, where they could intercept British shipping. Within hours of the war starting, the passenger ship was torpedoed by , the first of over 65,000 tons of shipping sunk by U-boats during the first week of the war. "Ark Royal" was deployed with the Home Fleet in the North Western Approaches as part of a "hunter-killer" group, consisting of a flotilla of destroyers and other anti-submarine vessels grouped around an aircraft carrier; either , or "Ark Royal". Carrier-borne aircraft could increase the area searched for U-boats, but made the carriers tempting targets.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On 14 September, "Ark Royal" received a distress call from , which was away under pursuit from the surfaced "U-30". "Ark Royal" launched aircraft to aid the merchant ship, but was spotted by , which launched two torpedoes. Lookouts spotted the torpedo tracks and "Ark Royal" turned towards the attack, reducing her cross-section and causing the torpedoes to miss and explode harmlessly astern. Three F-class destroyers escorting the carrier began to depth charge "U-39", and forced her to the surface. The German crew abandoned ship before "U-39" sank—the first U-boat lost during the war. "Ark Royal"s aircraft reached "Fanad Head", which was in the hands of a German boarding party. The Skuas unsuccessfully attacked "U-30": two crashed when caught by the blast of their own bombs. The U-boat escaped after rescuing the boarding party and the pilots of the downed aircraft (both observers had drowned), and torpedoing the "Fanad Head".


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: "Ark Royal" returned to base in Loch Ewe, where she and her crew were inspected by Winston Churchill. The sinking of "U-39" was hailed as important to morale. However, the failed attack on "Ark Royal", and the successful attack on "Courageous" on 17 September, convinced the Admiralty it was too dangerous to risk aircraft carriers in this way, and carrier-centred hunter-killer groups were abandoned.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On 25 September 1939, "Ark Royal" helped rescue the submarine , which had been damaged by German warships off Horn Reefs, in the Kattegat. While returning to port with "Spearfish" and the battleships and on 26 September, the ships were located by three "Luftwaffe" Dornier Do 18 seaplanes. "Ark Royal" launched three Blackburn Skuas to disperse them; one Dornier was shot down in an event propagandised as first British aerial kill of the war (later it was learned that the pilot of a Fairey Battle achieved the first kill.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The air commander aboard "Ark Royal"—aware that the surviving Dorniers would report the location of the British ships—ordered the aircraft to be secured and the anti-aircraft weapons readied. Four Junkers Ju 88 bombers of the "Luftwaffe" bomber wing KG 30 soon appeared: three were driven away by anti-aircraft fire, but the fourth launched a bomb at the carrier. "Ark Royal" turned hard to starboard, heeling over and avoiding the bomb, which landed in the ocean off her starboard bow and sent a spout of water over the ship. The German pilots did not see if the carrier had been hit, and a reconnaissance flight later located the two battleships, but not "Ark Royal". Based on this information, the Germans incorrectly claimed that "Ark Royal" had sunk. To prove the German propaganda false before it had a negative effect on Britain's allies, Winston Churchill personally reassured United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the carrier was undamaged and invited the US naval attaché to view "Ark Royal" in dock. The British naval attaché in Rome was instructed to assure Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini that the ship was still in service. This was an embarrassment for Goebbels and Nazi propaganda.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: In October 1939, "Ark Royal" was redeployed to Freetown to operate off the African coast in the hunt for the German commerce raider . The carrier was assigned to Force K, and sailed with the battlecruiser to the South Atlantic. On 9 October, aircraft from "Ark Royal" spotted the German tanker "Altmark", which supplied "Graf Spee". The tanker was disguised as the US vessel "Delmar", which fooled the British into passing her by. On 5 November, "Ark Royal" captured the German merchant , which was attempting to reach Germany. The ship was later taken into British service as a cargo ship and renamed "Empire Ability". Several neutral merchant ships were also spotted by the carrier's aircraft, twice causing crews to believe they were under attack and abandon ship. A note explaining the situation was dropped in a bag to a Norwegian vessel's crew, and they re-boarded; an attempt to repeat this exercise with a Belgian crew failed when the bag was dropped down the ship's funnel.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On December 14, 1939, "Graf Spee" had put into Montevideo to repair damage received during the battle of the River Plate. Two Royal Navy cruisers followed the raider, and patrolled the harbour entrance while reporting "Graf Spee"s position to the fleet. "Ark Royal" and "Renown" were dispatched to join the British ships outside the harbour, but as they were 36 hours away, the British naval attaché came up with a plan to make the Germans believe that the two capital ships had already arrived. An order for fuel for "Ark Royal" was placed at Buenos Aires, west of Montevideo. This was leaked to the press, passed on to the German embassy in Montevideo, and given to "Graf Spee"s captain, Hans Langsdorff. This contributed to Langsdorff's decision to scuttle his ship.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: With "Graf Spee" sunk, "Ark Royal" remained in the Atlantic for a short time before escorting the damaged heavy cruiser back to Devonport Dockyard, where they arrived in February. Following this, "Ark Royal" proceeded to Portsmouth to take on supplies and personnel, before sailing to Scapa Flow. On arrival, she transferred her Blackburn Skuas to Naval Air Station "Hatston" to strengthen the anchorage's defences. "Ark Royal" was then assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet for exercises, departing Scapa Flow on 31 March 1940 and heading for Alexandria with the aircraft carrier . The carriers arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean on 8 April, but the exercises were cancelled a day later. The ships sailed to Gibraltar to await orders.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: German forces had invaded Norway as part of Operation Weserübung on 9 April, and had secured sections of the coast. Attempts by the Royal Navy to operate in support of British troops were unsuccessful; air attacks had overwhelmed the ships, sinking and nearly sinking . Realising that the British ships required air cover, but aware that the Norwegian coast was outside the range of British land-based aircraft, the Admiralty recalled "Ark Royal" and "Glorious" from the Mediterranean on 16 April.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: "Ark Royal" and "Glorious" arrived at Scapa Flow on 23 April 1940 and were immediately redeployed as part of Operation DX, sailing to Norway with the cruisers and and screened by the destroyers , , , , and . This was the first time the Royal Navy had deployed carriers with the primary purpose of providing fighter protection for other warships. The ships took up position on 25 April off the coast; "Ark Royal" positioned offshore to reduce the chance of air attacks. The carrier's aircraft conducted anti-submarine patrols, provided fighter support for other ships, and carried out strikes against shipping and shore targets. "Ark Royal" returned to Scapa Flow on 27 April to refuel and replace lost and damaged aircraft, before heading back on the same day with the battleship as escort. During the return, "Ark Royal" came under air attack from German Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 bombers operating from Norway. The carrier was undamaged, and resumed position on 29 April.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: By this point, the British high command had realised that they could not hold the Germans in southern Norway. The evacuation of Allied troops from Molde and Åndalsnes began, with "Ark Royal" providing air cover from 30 April. On 1 May, the Germans tried to sink the carrier, with numerous air attacks through the day. "Ark Royal"s fighters and a heavy anti-aircraft barrage drove off the enemy, and although several bombs were dropped at the carrier, none hit. The evacuations of Molde and Andalsnes were completed on 3 May, and the carrier was recalled to Scapa Flow to refuel and rearm. While in port, Captain Arthur Power left the ship for a promotion to the Admiralty, and was replaced by Captain Cedric Holland. On return to Norway, "Ark Royal" was told to provide air cover for operations around Narvik, including the landing of French troops on 13 May. She was joined on 18 May by the carriers "Glorious" and "Furious".


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: Despite these efforts, it was clear by the end of May that French forces were on the verge of collapse and Norway was a sideshow compared to the German advance to the English Channel. Operation Alphabet was instigated to move Allied troops from Narvik to Britain. "Ark Royal" and "Glorious"—screened by the destroyers , , , , and —sailed from Scapa Flow on 1 June to cover the evacuation, which commenced the next day. "Ark Royal" carried out air patrols and bombing raids from 3–6 June, before redeploying to Narvik on 7 June. The next day, "Glorious", "Acasta" and "Ardent" were sunk by the German battleships and while heading back to Britain. "Ark Royal"s aircraft failed to locate the German ships, which had returned to Trondheim.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The last evacuation convoy left Narvik on 9 June. Before the British ships could withdraw, a raid on Trondheim located "Scharnhorst". An attack by "Ark Royal"s Skuas took place at midnight on 13 June. The attack was a disaster: the escort destroyers and collided while "Ark Royal" was launching aircraft in fog and returned to England for repairs, eight of the fifteen attacking Skuas were shot down, while "Scharnhorst" escaped damage. "Ark Royal" returned to Scapa Flow the following day, and was reassigned to the Mediterranean Fleet.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: "Ark Royal" left Scapa Flow with the battlecruiser and three destroyers, arriving at Gibraltar on 23 June 1940. Here she joined Force H, under Sir James Somerville. After the capitulation of France there was concern that a French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir might fall under Axis control and tip the balance of power in the Mediterranean, affecting the whole war. "Ark Royal"s captain, Cedric Holland, had been the British naval attaché in Paris, and was sent to negotiate the surrender or scuttling of the French fleet. Force H was deployed outside the harbour, and when the French admirals refused to agree to the offered terms, opened fire on the French ships. During the attack on Mers-el-Kébir, "Ark Royal"s aircraft provided targeting information for the British ships. The French battleship escaped, despite attacks by Swordfish from "Ark Royal". Two days after the attack, aircraft from "Ark Royal" incapacitated the French battleship , which had been beached in the initial attack.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: Having reduced the possibility of a French challenge in the Mediterranean, Force H prepared for attacks on Italian targets, and sailed from Gibraltar on 8 July. The force was attacked by Italian bombers within eight hours of departing, and although Force H escaped damage, Somerville cancelled the raids and ordered the fleet to Gibraltar. During July, the British colony of Malta came under attack from the Italian air force, with Force H ordered to deliver Hawker Hurricanes to reinforce the island's air defences. Force H was deployed from 31 July – 4 August, with the carrier used to deliver the aircraft, while "Ark Royal" provided air cover for the fleet. On 2 August, "Ark Royal" launched a successful air attack against the Italian air base at Cagliari.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: Force H remained at Gibraltar until 30 September, when it escorted reinforcements for Admiral Andrew Cunningham's fleet to Alexandria. En route, diversionary attacks were planned on Italian air bases at Elmas and Cagliari to direct attention from both the reinforcement operation and a supply convoy sailing to Malta. The attacks were successfully carried out on 1 October, and the fleet reached Alexandria without significant attention from the Italian air force. From Alexandria, "Ark Royal" was detached and sent to West Africa to support British attempts to encourage Vichy French colonies to switch allegiance to the Free French. During negotiations, several Free French aircraft flew from "Ark Royal", but their aircrews were arrested at Dakar. Negotiations failed, and bombers from "Ark Royal" were directed against military installations during the unsuccessful British attempt to take Dakar by force. "Ark Royal" then returned to Britain for refit, docking in Liverpool on 8 October after being escorted by , and . The refit—which lasted until 3 November—included repairs to her machinery and the installation of a new flight deck barrier.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: Next, "Ark Royal"—accompanied by , , and —sailed for Gibraltar, arriving on 6 November. They were deployed with the rest of Force H to escort convoys from Gibraltar to Alexandria and Malta, performing several runs before being assigned to Operation Collar, one of 35 convoys to support Malta between 1940 and 1942, on 25 November. An Italian fleet—led by the battleships and —was dispatched to intercept the convoy. The Italian fleet was detected by a reconnaissance aircraft from "Ark Royal" and the carrier launched Swordfish torpedo bombers while the capital ships of Force H turned to meet the enemy. During the engagement, the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Italian destroyer was damaged, although it is uncertain if torpedoes from the bombers or British gunfire were responsible. The British mistook "Lanciere" for a cruiser, while the Italian commanders received incorrect reports that the cruiser had been hit. British attacks failed to damage any other Italian ships or sink the disabled destroyer, and a retaliatory attack by the Italian air force saw "Ark Royal" as the subject of multiple bombing runs, none of which hit. The battle had no clear result, although the British convoy reached its destination unscathed.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On 14 December 1940, "Ark Royal" and Force H were redeployed from Gibraltar to the Atlantic to search the Azores for commerce raiders. "Ark Royal" returned to the Mediterranean on 20 December, and escorted the battleship and merchant ships from Malta until 27 December. Force H then became involved in Operation Excess, a plan to move convoys through the Mediterranean to support the Western Desert Force, which was trying to push Italian land forces from Egypt into Libya. Over the next month, British control of the Mediterranean theatre was weakened, particularly by the entry of the "Luftwaffe" and the near-loss of the aircraft carrier . The Mediterranean Fleet was under pressure from Axis forces in the Eastern Mediterranean, while the British port at Gibraltar was likely to be lost if the Spanish chose to ally with the Germans instead of remaining out of the war. To relieve the Mediterranean Fleet, while demonstrating British strength to the Spanish, the Admiralty and Admiral Cunningham planned to use "Ark Royal"s Swordfish bombers in raids against Italian targets, supported by bombardment from heavy fleet units. The first bombing, on 2 January against the Tirso Dam in Sardinia, was unsuccessful, but "Ark Royal"s Swordfish bombers were more successful on 6 January, when they bombed the port city of Genoa. The carrier's aircraft also covered the battlecruiser "Renown" and battleship "Malaya" while they shelled the port. On 9 January, "Ark Royal" launched aircraft to bomb an oil refinery at La Spezia, and to lay mines in the harbour. Both operations were successful.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: In early February 1941, the battleships and headed into the Atlantic during Operation Berlin on the orders of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, commander of the German Navy. They were to disrupt Allied shipping and draw capital ships from other areas. On 8 March, Force H and "Ark Royal" were ordered to the Canary Islands to search for the battleships, and to cover convoys crossing from the United States. "Ark Royal" used her aircraft to search for captured ships returning to Germany under the control of prize crews. Three ships were located on 19 March: two scuttled themselves, while the third—SS "Polykarp"— reached France.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On the evening of 21 March 1941 a Fairey Fulmar from "Ark Royal" stumbled across "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" at sea. Because of a radio malfunction, the crew had to return to "Ark Royal" to report, by which time the German ships had escaped under fog. The next day, "Ark Royal" re-established air patrols in the hope of re-locating the raiders. During the day, a catapult malfunction destroyed a Fairey Swordfish; flinging the fuselage into the sea ahead of the carrier. Unable to stop, "Ark Royal" ran over the Swordfish and was overhead when the aircraft's depth charges detonated. "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" reached Brest without British harassment, while "Ark Royal" returned to Gibraltar for repairs, arriving on 24 March.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: "Ark Royal" spent April alternating between covering convoys and delivering aircraft to Malta and forays into the Atlantic to hunt commerce raiders. By May 1941, Erwin Rommel's "Afrika Korps" were driving through North Africa towards the Suez Canal, pushing the Western Desert Force before them. With British forces close to collapse and strategic locations threatened, the British High Command risked sending a reinforcement convoy across the Mediterranean to Alexandria. The convoy consisted of five large transport ships, escorted by "Ark Royal", the battlecruiser "Renown", the battleship , the cruisers , , , and , and screened by destroyers of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla. Prior to "Ark Royal"s departure, Captain Holland left to recuperate from stress and poor health, and was replaced by Captain Loben Maund. The convoy left Gibraltar on 6 May, and was detected by Italian aircraft. The convoy—limited to and escorted by so many capital ships—was such a tempting target that Italian and German aircraft were mobilised.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The British convoy came under air attack on 8 May, first by the Italian air force, then the German "Luftwaffe". Over the day, 12 of "Ark Royal"s Fairey Fulmars (the maximum number available) drove off over 50 aircraft, with the assistance of targeting information from "Sheffield"s radar and anti-aircraft fire from the escorts. During the initial waves, one Fulmar was lost, killing Flight Lieutenant Rupert Tillard and Lieutenant Mark Somerville; another was destroyed with the aircrew recovered, while several others were damaged. Consequently, only seven were able to face the main "Luftwaffe" force of 34 aircraft, while an attack just before dark was driven off by two aircraft and heavy fire from the ships. The convoy survived without serious damage: the only casualties were to mines, with the "Empire Song" sunk and "New Zealand Star" damaged but able to reach port. "Ark Royal" underwent another aerial attack on 12 May, during her return to Gibraltar. Later that month, she and fellow aircraft carrier "Furious" delivered Hawker Hurricanes to support Malta.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On 18 May 1941, the German battleship and heavy cruiser began Operation Rheinübung by breaking into the Atlantic to raid shipping. After sinking the battlecruiser "Hood" and damaging the battleship during the Battle of the Denmark Strait, "Bismarck" shook off her pursuers and headed for the French Atlantic coast. "Ark Royal", "Renown", and "Sheffield"—accompanied by destroyers , , , , , and —were dispatched to the Atlantic on 23 May to search for the battleship. On 26 May, a Swordfish from "Ark Royal" located "Bismarck" and began to shadow her, while the Home Fleet was mobilised to pursue.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: At the time of detection, the British ships were away and would not catch "Bismarck" before she reached Saint-Nazaire, putting her safely under the air cover of the "Luftwaffe" once in range and while being repaired at the Normandie drydock. Fifteen Swordfish bombers were armed with torpedoes and sent to delay the ship. "Sheffield", also shadowing "Bismarck", was between "Ark Royal" and "Bismarck". The aircraft mistook the British cruiser for their target and fired torpedoes. The torpedoes were fitted with unreliable magnetic detonators, which caused most to explode on contact with the water, while "Sheffield" evaded the rest. After realising his mistake, one of the pilots signalled 'Sorry for the kipper' to "Sheffield".


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On return to the carrier, the Swordfish were re-armed with contact-detonator warhead torpedoes, and launched at 19:15 for a second attack; locating and attacking "Bismarck" just before sunset. Three torpedoes hit the battleship: two detonated forward of the engine rooms, while the third struck the starboard steering compartment and jammed her rudder in a 15° port turn. "Bismarck" was forced to sail in circles until a combination of alternating propeller speeds was found which would keep her on a reasonably steady course which, in the prevailing force 8 wind and sea state, forced her to sail towards the British warships with almost no manoeuvring capability. The German battleship suffered heavy attack during the night of 26–27 May, and sank at 10:39 hours on 27 May.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: "Ark Royal" and the ships of Force H returned to Gibraltar on 29 May 1941. Despite the boost in Allied morale from the sinking of the battleship "Bismarck", the war in the Mediterranean was going against the Allies. Greece and Crete had fallen to the Axis Powers, and the "Afrika Korps" was preparing to launch a final push into Egypt. Malta remained an important stronghold in the Mediterranean, but was coming under increased pressure from Italian and German air attacks, and could no longer be supplied from the east since the fall of Crete.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: "Ark Royal" was pressed into service, delivering aircraft to Malta during several supply runs throughout June and July, and escorting the convoys of Operation Substance in July and Operation Halberd in September. Despite some losses, the convoys succeeded in keeping Malta supplied and fighting. The continued Allied presence in Malta was a considerable problem for Rommel in Africa, who was losing as much as ⅓ of his supplies from Italy to submarines and bombers based there. Adolf Hitler decided to send a flotilla of U-boats into the Mediterranean to attack Allied shipping, against the advice of "Großadmiral" Raeder.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On 10 November 1941, "Ark Royal" ferried more aircraft to Malta before returning to Gibraltar. Admiral Somerville had been warned of U-boats off the Spanish coast, and reminded Force H to be vigilant. Also at sea was Friedrich Guggenberger's , which had received a report that Force H was returning to Gibraltar.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: On 13 November, at 15:40, the sonar operator aboard the destroyer detected an unidentified sound, but assumed it was the propellers of a nearby destroyer. One minute later, "Ark Royal" was struck amidships by a torpedo, between the fuel bunkers and bomb store, and directly below the bridge island. The explosion caused "Ark Royal" to shake, hurled loaded torpedo-bombers into the air, and killed 44 year old Able Seaman Edward Mitchell, the only man to die in the sinking. The torpedo punched a hole in the ship's bottom and starboard side below the water-line after running deep and hitting the bilge keel, inboard of the side protection system. The hit caused flooding of the starboard boiler room, main switchboard, oil tanks, and over of the ship's starboard bilge. The explosion knocked out all internal communications and the starboard power train, causing the rear half of the ship to lose power.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: Immediately after the torpedo strike, Captain Maund ordered the engines to full stop, but with the communications knocked out had to send a runner to the engine room. The ship's continued motion enlarged the hole in the hull, and by the time "Ark Royal" stopped she had taken on a great deal of water and begun to list to starboard, reaching 18° from centre within 20 minutes. Considering the list of the carrier, and the fact that other carriers, including "Courageous" and "Glorious", had sunk rapidly with heavy loss of life, Maund gave the order to abandon ship. The crew were assembled on the flight deck to determine who would remain on board to try to save the ship while "Legion" came alongside to take off the rest. As a result, comprehensive damage control measures were not initiated until 49 minutes after the attack. The flooding spread unchecked, exacerbated by covers and hatches left open during evacuation of the lower decks.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: Water spread to the centreline boiler room, which started to flood from below, and power was lost shipwide when the boiler uptakes became choked; "Ark Royal" had no backup diesel generators. About half an hour after the explosion, the carrier appeared to stabilise. Admiral Somerville, determined to save "Ark Royal", ordered damage control parties back to the carrier before taking the battleship "Malaya" to Gibraltar to organise salvage efforts. The damage control parties re-lit a boiler, restoring power to the bilge pumps. The destroyer came alongside to provide power and additional pumps, while Swordfish aircraft from Gibraltar flew overhead to supplement anti-submarine patrols. The tug "Thames" arrived from Gibraltar at 20:00 and attached a tow line to "Ark Royal", but the flooding had caused the ship to list more severely. Rising water reached the boiler room fan flat, an uninterrupted compartment running the width of the ship. This forced the shutdown of the restored boiler.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The list reached 20° between 02:05 and 02:30, and when 'abandon ship' was declared again at 04:00, had reached 27°. "Ark Royal"s complement had been evacuated to "Legion" by 04:30; with the exception of Mitchell, there were no fatalities. The 1,487 officers and crew were transported to Gibraltar. The list reached 45° before "Ark Royal" capsized and sank at 06:19 on 14 November. Witnesses reported the carrier rolling to 90°, where she remained for three minutes before inverting. "Ark Royal" then broke in two, the aft sinking within a couple of minutes, followed by the bow.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: A Board of Inquiry was established to investigate the loss. Based on its findings, Captain Loben Maund was court-martialled in February 1942. He was found guilty on two counts of negligence: one of failing to ensure that properly constituted damage control parties had remained on board after the general evacuation, and one of failing to ensure the ship was in a sufficient state of readiness to deal with possible damage. The board tempered their judgement with an acknowledgement that a high standard was being expected of Maund, and that he was primarily concerned with the welfare of his crew.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The Bucknill Committee, which had been set up to investigate the loss of major warships, also produced a report. This report said that the lack of backup power sources was a major design failure, which contributed to the loss: "Ark Royal" depended on electricity for much of her operation, and once the boilers and steam-driven dynamos were knocked out, the loss of power made damage control difficult. The committee recommended the design of the bulkheads and boiler intakes be improved to decrease the risk of widespread flooding in boiler rooms and machine spaces, while the uninterrupted boiler room flat was criticised. The design flaws were rectified in the "Illustrious"- and "Implacable"-class carriers, under construction at the time.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The Board of Inquiry closed its report with the observation that "Ark Royal" had sunk east of Europa Point, the southernmost tip of Gibraltar. This was accepted as the wreck location for 60 years.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The location of the wreck was undetermined until mid-December 2002, when the wreck was discovered by an underwater survey company, C & C Technologies, Inc, using a sonar-equipped autonomous underwater vehicle, from Gibraltar, at about depth. The company had been contracted by the BBC as part of a documentary on maritime archaeology related to major battles of the Royal Navy. The "Ark Royal" wreck lies in two main pieces with the stern section sitting upright and the bow section upside down. of the bow is separated from the rest of the ship's hull. A large debris field, which includes the funnel and bridge island, parts of the ship that came loose as the carrier sank, and aircraft from the hangars, lies between the two hull sections. Analysis revealed that the port side of the ship hit the seabed first.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: The wreck was found further east than expected. Researchers originally thought the wreck had been carried by currents farther into the Mediterranean as she sank—that the ship had travelled eastwards underwater before reaching the seabed. The presence near the hull pieces of other debris, including a Swordfish bomber that was tipped off the flight deck before the ship rolled, proved this false. If the current had pushed the hull pieces any significant distance sideways as they sank, debris would have been spread over a much wider area. It seems though that eastward currents had affected her progress towards Gibraltar during the time she was under tow.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: Study of the wreck also showed that restarting the engines to provide power increased the stresses placed on the hull, adding to the flooding. Once power was then lost, it was impossible to prevent the ship from sinking—her fate was more the result of design flaws than of the actions of her captain.


title: HMS Ark Royal (91)

text: a. The Washington Naval Treaty (signed in February 1922) imposed a limit of 135,000 tons on total British aircraft carrier tonnage, with no one ship allowed to exceed 33,000 tons, and only two to exceed 27,000 tons. The London Naval Treaty (signed in April 1930) prevented signatories from constructing new capital ships, or converting existing capital ships into aircraft carriers, until 1937.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Rade Šerbedžija (, ; born 27 July 1946) is a Croatian actor, director and musician. He is known for his portrayals of imposing figures on both sides of the law. He was one of the best known Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is internationally known mainly for his role as Boris the Blade in "Snatch", his supporting roles in such Hollywood films as "The Saint", "", "", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1", and "Taken 2"; and for his recurring role as former Soviet Army General Dmitri Gredenko in Season 6 of TV action series "24".


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija’s work has earned widespread acclaim and accolades. He is a four-time recipient of the Golden Arena for Best Actor, Croatia’s highest filmmaking honors. He won the Critics Award for Best Actor at the 51st Venice International Film Festival for his performance in "Before the Rain" (1994). His performance in the Canadian film "Fugitive Pieces" (2007) was nominated for a Genie Award and Satellite Award. He was awarded the International Press Academy’s Mary Pickford Award, an honorary award “for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry”, in 2019. The same year, he won his second Vladimir Nazor Award for “Lifetime Achievement - Film Art”.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija was born in the village of Bunić in the Lika region of Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia. His parents were ethnic Serbs who fought in the Second World War as Partisans. Šerbedžija was raised as an atheist.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: In 1969, he graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts of the University of Zagreb and then worked as a theatre actor in the City Drama Theatre Gavella and at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. While still a student, Šerbedžija started to play leading roles in films and theatre productions. His stage roles included Oedipus and Richard III. His performance as Hamlet in 1974 in Dubrovnik catapulted him into stardom.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija landed his first major film role in 1968 in the Branko Ivanda-directed "Gravitation". He had various notable roles in Yugoslav films, among others in "Bravo maestro" (1978), "Journalist" (1979), "Banović Strahinja" (1981), "Kiklop" (1982) and "San o ruži" (1986). He was also among the leading actors in several TV series, such as in "Prosjaci i sinovi" (1971), "U registraturi" (1976), and "Putovanje u Vučjak" (1986).


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija taught as a professor at the University of Zagreb from 1979 to 1981 and at the University of Novi Sad from 1987 to 1991.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija was one of the most well-known actors in Yugoslavia, in addition to being one of the most beloved. Prior to leaving his home country, Šerbedžija had starred in over 40 films. He was also one of the main supporters of the KGPT Yugoslav theater, a project initiated to unite the different Yugoslav state theaters into a single troupe.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija is a four-time recipient of the Golden Arena for Best Actor at the Pula Film Festival; in 1978 for "Bravo maestro", in 1986 for "Evening Bells" ("Večernja zvona"), in 2010 for "72 Days" ("Sedamdeset i dva dana"), and "Fishing and Fishermen's Conversations" (2020).


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: In 2000, Šerbedžija founded the Ulysses Theater with Borislav Vujčić on the Brijuni islands. In a co-production between the Ulysses Theatre and the National Theatre in Belgrade, for his role in the 2019 adaptation of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", Šerbedžija received the Zoran Radmilović Award, the Croatian Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the Orlando Award.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: As war broke out in Yugoslavia, Šerbedžija initially moved to Serbia in 1992, then Slovenia before eventually spending some time London, England at the invitation of actor and friend Anthony Andrews. While in London, Šerbedžija met with Macedonian-American director Milcho Manchevski who cast him in his 1994 film "Before the Rain". The performance earned him a Critics Award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Prior to leaving Yugoslavia, Šerbedžija appeared in two films that were released in the West; "Hanna's War" (1988) and "Manifesto" (1989).


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija has had supporting roles in Hollywood films such as "", "Mighty Joe Young", "The Saint", "Eyes Wide Shut", "Snatch", and "Space Cowboys" among others. He is usually known for playing villains.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: He had a cameo in "Batman Begins"; he was asked to reprise his cameo role in "The Dark Knight", but declined.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: In 2001, he starred in a television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "South Pacific" as French plantation owner Emile de Becque. He also appeared in the BBC spy-thriller show "Spooks" for one episode as a villain. In 2005 he played Captain Blake in Rupert Wainwright's remake of "The Fog", and had a supporting role in the NBC science fiction series "Surface". In 2007 he played Athos Roussos in Jeremy Podeswa's feature film adaptation of Anne Michaels' novel "Fugitive Pieces".


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: His performance in the Canadian film "Fugitive Pieces" (2007) was nominated for a Genie Award and Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: In 2009 Šerbedžija was cast in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1" as the famous foreign wandmaker Gregorovitch. In 2014, Šerbedžija appeared in six episodes of "Downton Abbey" as Prince Kuragin, a Russian exile and long-ago lover of the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, portrayed by Dame Maggie Smith.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija is also known for his poetry readings and music. He has released four poetry books and four music albums. He recorded the award-winning ballad "Ni u tvome srcu" with Bosnian vocalist Kemal Monteno. While in London, Šerbedžija stayed at actress Vanessa Redgrave's residence and the two became friends. With Redgrave, Šerbedžija founded the Moving Theatre Company.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: In 2017, Šerbedžija signed the Declaration on the Common Language of the Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija married Ivanka Cerovac in 1969. They have a son, film director Danilo (b. 1971), and a daughter, actress Lucija (b. 1973). The couple divorced in 1987.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija met his second wife, Lenka Udovički, the sister of Serbian politician Kori Udovički, in Subotica in 1990 and they married in 1991. With his second wife, he has three daughters: Nina, Vanja, and Mimi. The girls grew up in London during their early years, then moved to California due to their father's acting career.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: Šerbedžija's parents left Vinkovci as Serb refugees for Belgrade in 1991, due to the Croatian War of Independence.


title: Rade Šerbedžija

text: In 1992, while at a club in Belgrade, an intoxicated youth swore at Šerbedžija, calling him "Serb traitor", then shot his gun in the air. The youth himself was from Lika, as was Šerbedžija. Šerbedžija took his wife and at the time, only daughter Nina, and left Zagreb and Belgrade, and settled in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Šerbedžija has called himself "Yugo-nostalgic", and in 2011, said that times were better in Socialist Yugoslavia than now. Šerbedžija owns property in London, Hollywood, California, Rijeka, and Zagreb. As of January 2011, he reportedly spends most of his time in Rijeka together with his wife Lenka.


title: Megumi Ogata

text: Ogata began working as a musical actress, attending the same classes alongside Rumi Kasahara and Shiho Niiyama. She used to be affiliated with Aoni Production. Because of her husky voice, she is often typecast as either young men and boys or tomboyish women (a famous example of this being Sailor Uranus, a popular character from "Sailor Moon", known for being a charming tomboy in her civilian form). It is also because of this that she is sometimes referred as "Aniki" ("Big Brother" in Japanese, usually used in gangs) by fans. She married for the second time on April 1, 2004, and appeared with Ichirou Mizuki on NHK's second anime song marathon on April 30.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: The F Word (released in some countries as What If?) is a 2013 romantic comedy film directed by Michael Dowse and written by Elan Mastai, based on TJ Dawe's and Michael Rinaldi's play "Toothpaste and Cigars". Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Megan Park, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis and Rafe Spall, it follows a young man and woman who meet and—because she has a boyfriend—decide to be "friends".


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: It premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2013, and was released in Canada on 22 August 2014. It was nominated for Best Picture at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Wallace works a dead-end job and lives with his sister and nephew in Toronto. He dropped out of medical school after discovering his girlfriend kissing their teacher and he has not been social for more than a year. He is convinced to attend his best friend Allan's party, where he meets Allan's cousin Chantry. That same night, Allan meets Nicole and they become enamored with one another.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Wallace and Chantry leave the party and he walks her home, where he learns that Chantry is in a relationship. Nevertheless, she gives him her phone number, but he decides against calling her. They later run into each other at a movie theater and end up having dinner. The two form an instant connection, discussing various topics such as the Fool's Gold sandwich. They decide to become friends and Wallace is soon invited to meet Ben, Chantry's long-term boyfriend, an attorney who works for the United Nations. Ben ends up in the hospital after Wallace accidentally knocks him out of a window. At the hospital, Wallace and Chantry encounter Wallace's ex-girlfriend, Megan. Ben later moves to Dublin for six months for work, and Chantry continues her work as an animator. While Ben is gone, Wallace and Chantry's relationship continues to develop. Wallace struggles with his desire to tell Chantry how he feels, much to Allan's dismay.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Allan and Nicole get married. After the reception, Chantry's younger sister Dalia tries to seduce Wallace in her car, but he does not reciprocate. Later on, Wallace and Chantry join Allan and Nicole for a bonfire on the beach and they decide to go skinny dipping. Allan and Nicole steal their clothes, forcing them to sleep naked together in a single sleeping bag. Feeling forced into an uncomfortable intimate situation, they express anger with their friends.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Feeling guilty, Chantry travels to Dublin to see Ben. She discovers that Ben has accepted more work commitments that require him to travel frequently and she decides to end the relationship. Meanwhile, Wallace decides to go to Dublin to express his true feelings. He encounters Ben who punches him in the face. He learns that Chantry has returned to Toronto and wants to meet. At a diner, Wallace tells Chantry about the trip and his feelings for her and she responds unfavorably, informing that she has accepted a work promotion and will be moving to Taiwan.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Heartbroken, Wallace considers going back to medical school and moving on with his life; however, he decides to attend Chantry's farewell party and they have a tearful goodbye. They finally admit to their mutual feelings after gifting each other Fool's Gold, and they kiss.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Eighteen months later, Wallace and Chantry return home from Taiwan after becoming engaged. They marry and contemplate the rest of their lives while sitting on Wallace's rooftop.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Elan Mastai's script was included in the Black List's 2008 survey.<ref name="/Film; production"></ref> Principal photography began mid-August 2012, in Toronto. A six-week shoot took place in Ontario, and ended with three days in Dublin, Ireland. The scene where Wallace runs into Chantry at a movie theater was filmed at the Royal Cinema. Most of the Toronto filming was within the East Chinatown, Leslieville and Riverdale districts, though other downtown regions were used in Toronto and Scarborough. The scene where Wallace and Chantry skinny dip was filmed at the Scarborough Bluffs.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Additional filming for a new ending took place in Toronto in November 2013. After testing the film with different focus groups, the filmmakers realized audiences wanted a more conclusive ending, and new scenes set 18 months later were shot. Radcliffe initially had reservations about changing the ending, but then felt "really happy with it". Producer Michael Dowse felt it was important to film in Toronto since the city hadn't been featured in many classic romantic comedies.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: Casey Affleck was originally attached to play the lead, but was replaced by Radcliffe. Radcliffe said it was important for him to have a role in the film as he had never starred in a contemporary movie and it was something he wanted to try. In an interview with Cineplex, he said that he and co-star Zoe Kazan improvised many of their lines to create a natural atmosphere between them.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: The film's worldwide distribution rights were acquired by Entertainment One and they handled the theatrical release in Canada and the United Kingdom. North American sales of distribution were obtained by the UTA.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: CBS Films bought the US distribution rights following the film's premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. They changed its US release title to "What If" when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) took issue with the implied foul word ("fuck") in "The F Word." The MPAA also strove for a PG-13 rating, according to producer David Gross, causing the name change in the United States. It was also retitled by Entertainment One for the UK, but the original title was retained for the Canadian release.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: "The F Word's" soundtrack was scored by A. C. Newman and features artists such as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Patrick Watson, Marsha Hunt, and the Parting Gifts. The album itself has 17 tracks, 13 of which were written by A. C. Newman.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: "The F Word" was considered "one of the hottest films" at the TIFF, who named one of Canada's Top 10 films of the year.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 74% based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Its narrative framework may be familiar, but "What If" transcends its derivative elements with sharp dialogue and the effervescent chemistry of stars Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100, based on reviews from 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter" gave a positive review of the film, remarking, "Hitting all the rom-com notes with wit and some charm, it'll be a crowd-pleaser in theaters and help moviegoers move on from seeing co-star Daniel Radcliffe only as the world's favorite wizard". Justin Chang of "Variety"wrote, "Roughly three parts charming to one part cloying, "The F Word" attempts and largely succeeds at pulling off a smart, self-aware riff on romantic-comedy conventions while maintaining a core of earnest feeling". Film.com gave it a 7.2 out of 10, noting that it was "elevated from an above-average romantic comedy to a movie worthy of being embraced by a generation of twenty somethings because it refuses to let its characters off the hook". JoBlo.com's Chris Bumbray said that the film "feels like it could be the Toronto answer to the Sundance breakout hit "500 Days of Summer". Like that movie, it takes a stale genre, and gives it a hip indie twist. It is director Michael Dowse's follow-up to "GOON", and just like that film, its hilariously foul script disguises a surprisingly soft, big-hearted centre". Betsy Sharkey of the "Los Angeles Times" thought it was "the best, and sweetest, of the filmmaker's work yet".


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: "The Guardian" initially scored the film two out of five stars, saying it was "really hard to finish" and "liable to leave you queasy" but a later review by a different reviewer scored the film four out of five stars describing it as a "light, delightful movie". Katherine Monk of "Postmedia News" reported that "It's a competent genre piece, but it's still a bland burger of a movie." and adding it is a movie that audiences have "...seen a hundred times before.". Eric Kohn of "IndieWire" wrote, "The movie primarily frustrates by doing nothing fresh. Careening toward an overly neat and tender resolution, ""The F Word"" lacks the gall to let its uncoordinated characters wind up victims of their situation". Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" remarked that ""What If" doesn't break new ground. But it has charm to spare, and Radcliffe and Kazan are irresistible. No ifs about it", giving it an overall positive review.


title: The F Word (2013 film)

text: The film has been criticized for having an entirely caucasian cast, despite being set in Toronto, with people of colour making up nearly half of Toronto's population. Alexandra Heeney of "The Seventh Row" writes "there's something very wrong with the fact that the entire cast is white". Criticism has also been leveled at the film for its repetitive attempts at humor through ableism.


title: Automatic for the People

text: Automatic for the People is the eighth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released by Warner Bros. Records on October5, 1992 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and on the following day in the United States. R.E.M. began production on the album while their previous album, "Out of Time" (1991), was still ascending top albums charts and achieving global success. Aided by string arrangements from John Paul Jones, "Automatic for the People" features ruminations on mortality, loss, mourning, and nostalgia.


title: Automatic for the People

text: Upon release, it received widespread acclaim from critics, reached number two on the US "Billboard" 200, and yielded six singles. "Rolling Stone" reviewer Paul Evans concluded of the album, "This is the members of R.E.M. delving deeper than ever; grown sadder and wiser, the Athens subversives reveal a darker vision that shimmers with new, complex beauty." "Automatic for the People" has sold more than 18million copies worldwide.


title: Automatic for the People

text: What would become "Automatic for the People" had its origins in the mixing sessions for R.E.M.'s previous album "Out of Time", held at Paisley Park Studios in December 1990. There, demos for "Drive", "Try Not to Breathe", and "Nightswimming" were recorded. After finishing promotional duties for "Out of Time", the members of R.E.M. began formal work on their next album. Starting the first week of June 1991, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry met several times a week in a rehearsal studio to work on new material. Once a month they would take a week-long break. The musicians would often trade instruments: Buck would play mandolin, Mills would play piano or organ, and Berry would play bass. Buck explained that writing without drums was productive for the band members. The band, intent on delivering an album of harder-rocking material after "Out of Time", made an effort to write some faster rock songs during rehearsals, but came up with less than a half-dozen prospective songs in that vein.


title: Automatic for the People

text: The musicians recorded the demos in their standard band configuration. According to Buck, the musicians recorded about 30 songs. Lead singer Michael Stipe was not present at these sessions; instead, the band gave him the finished demos at the start of 1992. Stipe described the music to "Rolling Stone" early that year as "[v]ery mid-tempo, pretty fucking weird [...] More acoustic, more organ-based, less drums". In February, R.E.M. recorded another set of demos at Daniel Lanois' Kingsway Studios in New Orleans.


title: Automatic for the People

text: The group decided to create finished recordings with co-producer Scott Litt at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, starting on March 30. The band recorded overdubs in Miami and New York City. String arrangements were recorded in Atlanta. After recording sessions were completed in July, the album was mixed at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle.


title: Automatic for the People

text: Despite R.E.M.'s initial desire to make an album of rocking, guitar-dominated songs after "Out of Time", music critic David Fricke noted that instead "Automatic for the People" "seems to move at an even more agonized crawl" than the band's previous release. Peter Buck took the lead in suggesting the new direction for the album. The album dealt with themes of loss and mourning inspired by "that sense of [...] turning 30", according to Buck. "The world that we'd been involved in had disappeared, the world of Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, all that had gone [...] We were just in a different place and that worked its way out musically and lyrically." "Sweetness Follows", "Drive", and "Monty Got a Raw Deal" in particular expressed much darker themes than any of the band's previous material and "Try Not to Breathe" is about Stipe's grandmother dying.


title: Automatic for the People

text: The songs "Drive", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", "Everybody Hurts", and "Nightswimming" feature string arrangements by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. Fricke stated that "ballads, in fact, define the record", and noted that the album featured only three "rockers": "Ignoreland", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", and "Man on the Moon".


title: Automatic for the People

text: "It pretty much went according to plan," Litt reported. "Compared to "Monster", it was a walk in the park. "Out of Time" had an orchestral arrangement—so, when we did "Automatic", judging where Michael was going with the words, we wanted to scale it down and make it more intimate."


title: Automatic for the People

text: "Song by song [...] the whole album is referencing the 1970s," recalls Stipe. 'Everybody Hurts' was inspired by Nazareth's cover of 'Love Hurts'. 'Drive' was an homage to David Essex and 'Rock On', especially that song's early glam rock production style.


title: Automatic for the People

text: The album name refers to the motto of Athens, Georgia, eatery Weaver D's Delicious Fine Foods. The photograph on the front cover is not related to the restaurant: it shows a star ornament that was part of the sign for the Sinbad Motel on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, near Criteria Studios, where the bulk of the album was recorded. The motel is still there, but the star is not since it was damaged in a hurricane. The slanted support where it was once attached is still present. "The album was going to be called "Star" at one point, hence the object on the cover that Michael had photographed and really dug," Scott Litt told "Mojo". "It helps to have some kind of focus in the studio, so the photo was stuck up." The star photograph is placed over an embossed image, which is also included inside the album's booklet distorted on a white background.


title: Automatic for the People

text: The interior jacket shows a two–three story circular platform that was the sign for the old Bon Aire Motel on the former Motel Row on Miami Beach. The Bon Aire and other motel row establishments have mostly been demolished for new high-rise condominiums.


title: Automatic for the People

text: The back cover features a photograph of an old building with the track listing written over at the same angle from which the building is viewed. Other photographs, taken by Anton Corbijn, feature the band members on a beach.


title: Automatic for the People

text: The compact disc release was originally issued in a jewel case with a translucent yellow CD tray, traded out with a then-standard opaque black tray on later pressings; the cassette shell was also issued with the same color. The yellow was made to match the color of the CD. The band would later use a similar method for "Monster", which was released with a metallic orange CD tray on early copies (though this matched the album cover).


title: Automatic for the People

text: "Automatic for the People" was released in October 1992. In the United States, the album reached No.2 on the "Billboard" 200 album charts. The album reached No.1 in the United Kingdom, where it topped the UK Albums Chart on four separate occasions. Despite not having toured after the release of "Out of Time", R.E.M. again declined to tour in support of this album. "Automatic for the People" has been certified four times platinum in the US (four million copies shipped), six times platinum in the United Kingdom (1.8 million shipped), and three times platinum in Australia (210,000 shipped). The album has sold 3.52million copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan sales figures . In 1993, the album has sold 1.7 million copies in the US, according to billboard's lists of 1993's best-selling albums domestically.


title: Automatic for the People

text: "Automatic for the People" yielded six singles over the course of 1992 and 1993: "Drive", "Man on the Moon", "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", "Everybody Hurts", "Nightswimming" and "Find the River". Lead single "Drive" was the album's highest-charting domestic hit, reaching No.28 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Other singles charted higher overseas: "Everybody Hurts" charted in the top ten in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.


title: Automatic for the People

text: A live, harder, version of "Drive" appears on the "Alternative NRG", recorded at Athens' 40 Watt Club on November19, 1992, during an invitation-only concert supporting Greenpeace Action. A re-recorded, slower version of "Star Me Kitten", featuring William S. Burroughs, was released on "".


title: Automatic for the People

text: In 2005, Warner Bros. Records issued a two-disc edition of "Automatic for the People" which includes a CD, a DVD-Audio disc containing a 5.1-channel surround sound mix of the album done by Elliot Scheiner, and the original CD booklet with expanded liner notes.


title: Automatic for the People

text: A 25th anniversary edition was released on November10, 2017, by Craft Recordings, featuring four discs of live recordings, demos, and the album remixed in Dolby Atmos, making "Automatic for the People" the first music release on this format.


title: Automatic for the People

text: R.E.M. biographer David Buckley wrote, ""Automatic for the People" is regarded by Peter Buck and Mike Mills, and by most critics, as being the finest R.E.M. album ever recorded." "Rolling Stone" gave the album five stars. Reviewer Paul Evans wrote, "Despite its difficult concerns, most of "Automatic" is musically irresistible." "Melody Maker" reviewer Allan Jones commented, "It's almost impossible to write about the record without mentioning the recent grim rumors concerning Stipe's health," in reference to the rumors at the time that the singer was dying of AIDS or cancer. Jones concluded his review by noting, "Amazingly, initial reactions to "Automatic for the People" in this particular vicinity have been mixed [...] Psshaw to them. "Automatic for the People" is R.E.M. at the very top of their form." Ann Powers, reviewing the album for "The New York Times", noted that only three of the songs on the album went beyond mid-tempo and said, "Only 'Man on the Moon' shines with a wit that balances R.E.M.'s somber tendencies." Powers finished her review by saying, "Even in the midst of such disenchantment, R.E.M. can't resist its own talent for creating beautiful and moving sounds. [...] Buck, Mills and Berry can still conjure melodies that fall like summer sunlight. And Stipe still possesses a gorgeous voice that cannot shake its own gift for meaning." Guy Garcia, for "Time", also noted the album's themes of "hopelessness, anger and loss". Garcia added that the album proves "that a so-called alternative band can keep its edge after conquering the musical mainstream" and that it "manages to dodge predictability without ever sounding aimless or unfocussed."


title: Automatic for the People

text: "Automatic for the People" placed third in the "Village Voice" Pazz & Jop year-end critics' poll. "The Village Voice"s Robert Christgau later gave the album a three-star honorable mention rating, indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure." The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 1994, but lost to Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard". It was later ranked number 247 in "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 249 in a 2012 revised list, and 96 in a 2020 reboot of the list. "Rolling Stone" also ranked it at number18 on its "100 Greatest Albums of the 90s" list. It was also voted number 6 in Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums" 3rd Edition (2000)"." In 2006, "British Hit Singles & Albums" and "NME" organised a poll of which, 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and "Automatic for the People" was placed at number 37 on the list. The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


title: Automatic for the People

text: "I'm not so crazy about 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite'," Buck reflected in 2001, "but overall I think it sounds great." Buck added in 2003, in regard to the song, "We included this song on "Automatic" in order to break the prevailing mood of the album. Given that lyrically the record dealt with mortality, the passage of time, suicide and family, we felt that a light spot was needed. In retrospect, the consensus among the band is that this might be a little too lightweight."


title: Automatic for the People

text: The 25th anniversary re-release of In 2017, Pitchfork called "Automatic for the People" an "nakedly emotional album consumed by the anxiety of aging, the inevitability of death, the loss of innocence, and the impossibility of holding on to the past"; in 2022, they ranked this album the 63rd best of the 1990s.


title: Automatic for the People

text: In 2017, Craft Recordings and Concord Music Group released a 25th anniversary edition with exclusive demos, live songs and a blu-ray disc with music videos and a promotional video.


title: Holiday Reinhorn

text: She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the author of "Big Cats", published by Free Press in 2005. "Big Cats" received largely positive notice in "Seattle Times", "Post Magazine", "Kirkus Reviews" and "Publishers Weekly". It was a Powell's bestseller.


title: Holiday Reinhorn

text: She is married to actor Rainn Wilson, whom she met while both were students at the University of Washington. The couple married on the Kalama River in Washington in 1995 and have one son, Walter. They are both adherents of the Baháʼí Faith. In 2009 Reinhorn was invited by Sean Penn's charity J/P Haitian Relief Organization to hold writing workshops for girls. While in Haiti she co-founded Lide (Haitian Creole for "leader" or "idea"), a foundation to support young women interested in writing and creative arts. Rather than the capital city, Port-au-Prince, Reinhorn chose the city of Gonaïves for its site, to "boost literacy and help the girls find dignity and learn life skills."


title: Lil Keed

text: Raqhid Jevon Render (March 16, 1998 – May 13, 2022), known professionally as Lil Keed, was an American rapper and songwriter. He was signed to Young Thug's record label YSL Records, as well as 300 Entertainment. His song "Nameless" reached number 42 on the "Billboard" Hip Hop/R&B Songs Airplay chart.


title: Lil Keed

text: Raqhid Jevon Render was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 1998, the fifth of seven children. Render grew up in Forest Park, later moving to Atlanta on Cleveland Ave. After the death of his close friend Rudy, Render started taking rapping seriously in 2016. Render had 6 brothers and 1 sister; his younger brother is rapper Lil Gotit.


title: Lil Keed

text: Despite his parents separating at an early age, both were present in Render's upbringing. During his teenage years, Keed worked briefly at Subway and McDonald's. Being close to a studio, Keed would record music almost on a daily basis. Render first started making music with his younger brother Semaja Render, posting songs online and scoring some regional hits in 2017. Render also had one daughter named Naychur.


title: Lil Keed

text: On July 23, 2018, Keed released his single "Slatt Rock" featuring Paper Lovee along with his mixtape "Trapped on Cleveland 2". In October 2018, Keed and his younger brother Lil Gotit featured in fellow rapper Lil Uzi Vert's song "Heavy Metal". On December 12, 2018, Lil Keed released another mixtape, "Keed Talk to 'Em", which featured the main single "Nameless", as well as "Balenciaga" featuring 21 Savage, "Red Hot" featuring Trippie Redd, and others. "Keed Talk to 'Em" also featured Lil Durk, Lil Yachty and Brandy.


title: Lil Keed

text: On March 11, 2019, Keed featured in Lil Gotit's single "Drop The Top." On March 14, 2019, Keed released the song "Move It", featuring fellow Atlanta based artist Offset. On March 27, 2019, Lil Keed was nominated for the 10th spot for the XXL Freshman cover. On April 24, 2019, Keed released his single "Oh My God." On May 6, 2019, Lil Keed released "Proud Of Me", featuring Young Thug. The song, along with the previously released single "Oh My God", accompanied his forthcoming debut studio album "Long Live Mexico". Keed stated the idea behind title of the album was inspired by his friend named Mexico who had died earlier in the year while Keed was on tour with Trippie Redd. On May 29, 2019, Keed released his new single "Pull Up", featuring Lil Uzi Vert and YNW Melly. The song was released from Young Thug's YSL Records and 300 Entertainment. On June 13, 2019, "Long Live Mexico" was released. It also featured artists such as Gunna, Lil Uzi Vert, Roddy Ricch, YNW Melly, and Young Thug. The album peaked at number 26 on the Billboard 200, and number 11 on the Hot Rap Albums Chart, becoming the highest charting project of his career.


title: Lil Keed

text: On July 18, 2019, Hoodrich Pablo Juan's new single "Drip Babies" was released on which Keed alongside Lil Gotit made guest appearances. On July 23, 2019, Lil Keed featured in Future's released single "Undefeated." On that same day, he released a music video for his "Long Live Mexico" single "HBS." The music video was directed by Cole Bennett. On August 14, 2019, the music video for Lil Keed and Guap Tarantino's collaborative single "Churches Peppers" was released on WorldStarHipHop. On September 3, 2019, Keed released his Mooktoven produced single "Saliva." On September 18, 2019, Keed released his single "Swap It Out" featuring Lil Duke. On October 17, 2019, a music video for Lil Gotit and Lil Keed's collaborative single "Brotherly Love" was released on behalf of Alamo Records. On November 7, 2019, 88GLAM and Lil Keed released their collaborative single "Bankroll." On November 27, 2019, a music video for Lil Keed's "Long Live Mexico" single "Snake" was released. On November 21, 2019, a music video of Young Scooter and Lil Keed's collaborative single "Trap Museum" was released on behalf of WMG. On December 6, 2019, Keed's collaborative single "Accomplishments" with Lil Yachty and Zaytoven was released along with a music video.


title: Lil Keed

text: On January 11, 2020, Keed announced his forthcoming second studio album "Trapped On Cleveland 3". On January 30, 2020, Keed's collaborative single "A-Team (You Ain't Safe)" along with Lil Yachty, Lil Gotit, and Zaytoven was released. It was the second single released off their forthcoming collaborative album "A-Team".


title: Lil Keed

text: On April 15, 2020, Keed released his single "No Dealings", accompanied with a music video. On May 15, 2020, Keed released his second single "Wavy"; however, the song did not appear on "Trapped on Cleveland 3", but the remix featuring American rapper Travis Scott did. On June 12, 2020, Keed released the single "Fox 5", featuring American rapper Gunna. Gunfire rang out during the filming of the music video for the song resulting in 2 people injured. On July 31, 2020, Keed revealed the release date and cover art for "Trapped on Cleveland 3". On August 3, 2020, he released another single titled "She Know", featuring American rapper Lil Baby. On August 7, 2020, Keed released his album "Trapped On Cleveland 3". The album features artists such as 42 Dugg, Future, Gunna, Lil Baby, Travis Scott, Ty Dolla Sign, and Young Thug. On August 11, 2020, Keed was included on "XXL"s 2020 Freshman Class.


title: Lil Keed

text: On October 27, 2020, Keed revealed the tracklist for his deluxe edition of Trapped On Cleveland 3. On October 30, 2020, he released the deluxe version with 18 more tracks featuring additional guest appearances from O.T. Genasis, Lil Gotit, Quavo, Lil Duke, Yak Gotti, and Chris Brown.


title: Lil Keed

text: According to XXL, Keed's style was frequently compared to Young Thug, as the two rappers both grew up on Cleveland Avenue and Keed was signed to YSL Records. Chicago Reader described Keed's style as similar to Young Thug's while incorporating his own distinct flow.


title: Lil Keed

text: According to Pitchfork, Keed used elements of Young Thug's versatile flows as a foundation, specifically the high-pitched delivery.


title: Lil Keed

text: According to an interview by WHTA Hot 107.9, Keed stated he was inspired listening to music by his neighbor Young Thug, as well as Chingy, Peewee Longway, and Big Bank Black.


title: Lil Keed

text: At the Rolling Loud Festival on May 11, 2019, in Miami, Florida, Lil Keed performed on the same stage as Young Thug, Chief Keef, Lil Wayne, and Comethazine. He was scheduled to perform at the Rolling Loud Festival in Oakland later on September 29, 2019. On September 14, 2019, Keed and Lil Gotit performed at The Novo theater in Los Angeles. Fellow rapper Drake was present and on stage alongside Keed throughout the performance. Young Thug and Lil Duke also briefly appeared on stage. On October 12, 2019, Keed performed in the Rolling Loud New York festival. Keed also performed at the A3C Festival in Atlanta on October 13, 2019. On October 27, 2019, Keed performed at the Mala Luna festival in San Antonio, Texas.


title: Lil Keed

text: On December 14, 2022, Keed's mother took to her Instagram to further clarify that Keed died a natural death.


title: Lil Keed

text: According to doctor's report, Keed died from natural causes with no drugs or alcohol found in his system, she said.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Nicole Heather Fried ( ; born December 13, 1977) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 12th Florida commissioner of agriculture since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Fried graduated from the University of Florida in 2003. She has previously practiced various forms of law, including corporate law, foreclosure defense, and public defense. Fried has also been a prominent lobbyist for the marijuana industry in the state of Florida.


title: Nikki Fried

text: She won the 2018 Florida commissioner of agriculture election, narrowly defeating state representative Matt Caldwell by less than 7,000 votes out of over eight million votes cast, a margin of 0.08%. Fried is the first woman to be elected to the position and was the only Democrat to win a statewide race in the 2018 Florida elections. During her tenure, she redesigned gas pump stickers, promoted a Florida gun law bill, partook in "Florida v. Georgia" over waters within the ACF River Basin, and appointed two lobbyists for the Florida Sugar Cane League.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried was selected as one of 17 speakers to jointly deliver the keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Fried did not seek re-election in 2022, instead running in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election; Fried was defeated in the Democratic primary by U.S. representative and former governor Charlie Crist.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Nicole Heather Fried was born December 13, 1977, in Miami, Florida, to Ronald, an attorney, and Lori, a stay-at-home mother. Her parents divorced when she was 13, leaving Fried and her younger sister to be raised primarily by their mother, who became a preschool teacher after the divorce. Fried graduated from Miami Palmetto High School.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried graduated from the University of Florida, where she was student body president and a member of Florida Blue Key, receiving her bachelor's degree in political science and her master's degree in political campaigning. In 2003, she received her Juris Doctor from the University of Florida.


title: Nikki Fried

text: After graduating, Fried worked at the law firm of Holland & Knight in Jacksonville, alongside Ashley Moody, a friend of Fried from the University of Florida who would later serve alongside her as the Florida Attorney General. Unhappy working as a corporate lawyer, Fried left Holland & Knight in 2006 and became a public defender for Florida's 8th circuit court, which covers much of North Central Florida, including Alachua County.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried was a foreclosure defense lawyer from 2009 until 2011, when she joined the law and lobbying firm of Colodny Fass. Among her major clients as a lobbyist were the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, the Walt Disney Company, Duke Energy, and HCA Healthcare.


title: Nikki Fried

text: In 2016, Fried established her own lobbying firm, called Igniting Florida, in Broward County. Her main clients were the School Board of Broward County and the statewide medical marijuana industry, which had recently blossomed following the passage of Florida Amendment 2, which legalized medical marijuana, in the 2016 elections.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried won the Democratic nomination for Florida commissioner of agriculture in 2018, easily defeating Jeff Porter, the mayor of Homestead and R. David Walker, an environmental activist, despite her primary opponents criticizing her for her past campaign contributions to Republicans.


title: Nikki Fried

text: In the general election, Fried faced off against the Republican nominee Matt Caldwell, a state representative from North Fort Myers. Fried ran on a platform in favor of removing obstacles to medical marijuana in Florida. She described herself as "a fierce advocate for expanding access to medical marijuana for suffering Floridians", and called for placing regulation of medical marijuana under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services rather than the Florida Department of Health.


title: Nikki Fried

text: During the campaign, Fried also pledged to "ensure full background checks are completed on gun permits", a task which falls under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Agriculture. Fried endorsed Amendment 4, a ballot initiative which restores voting rights for felons, excluding murderers and felony sex offenders.


title: Nikki Fried

text: On August 19, 2018, Wells Fargo announced it was closing Fried's campaign bank account because of her ties with medical marijuana. Fried's campaign transferred the $137,000 in the account to a new bank account with BB&T. However, on August 29, 2018, BB&T also announced the closure of Fried's campaign bank account on the same grounds.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried was endorsed by the "Tampa Bay Times", the "Sun Sentinel", and the "Palm Beach Post". Fried also received the endorsements of the Sierra Club, Equality Florida, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Brady Campaign, while Caldwell received the endorsements of business and industry groups, including the Florida Farm Bureau, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the Associated Industries of Florida.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried defeated Caldwell by an extremely narrow margin. While initial returns on Election Day showed Caldwell in the lead, by the completion of the count, Fried had narrowly taken the lead with a margin of just 0.06% of votes separating the two candidates. Following both a machine recount and a manual recount, Fried ultimately defeated Caldwell by 6,753 votes (0.08%) out of over eight million votes cast. Fried became the first Democrat to win the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture position since 1998, as well as becoming the only woman elected to the position. She was also the only Democratic candidate to win a statewide race in Florida in 2018.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Shortly after entering office in 2019, Fried's office redesigned the Florida Department of Agriculture's certified gas pump stickers, which verify to customers the gas pump is state approved. Previous commissioners had put their own names on the stickers for decades, but Fried was the first to put a color photograph of herself on the sticker. The Republican Party of Florida accused Fried of using taxpayer funds to increase her political exposure, and the Florida Legislature quickly passed a law limiting the taxpayer-funded stickers to only "a combination of lettering, numbering, words, or the department logo". The stickers were quickly replaced with a new design that did not have her photograph.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried opposed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, the free trade agreement that officially replaced the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, on the basis that it contained insufficient protections for Florida farmers.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried also crafted legislation with Democratic state representative Javier Fernandez targeting Florida gun laws. The bill, HB 809, would have required retention of fingerprint records, require proof of completion of firearms safety training for a license to be renewed and reduce the term for a concealed-weapons permit from seven to five years. It did not pass the legislature in 2019.


title: Nikki Fried

text: In August 2019, the Florida Department of Agriculture appointed two registered lobbyists for the Florida Sugar Cane League to consult on the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual Project Delivery Team, which was set to advise the United States Army Corps of Engineers on procedures for lake levels. Environmentalists called for lake levels to be lowered to prevent harmful discharges and red tides, while the sugar industry advocated for keeping levels high to avoid the threat of low water supply for farmers and municipalities. Republican U.S. representative Brian Mast, whose district includes part of Lake Okeechobee, sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers seeking the lobbyists' removal, alleging the appointments were an attempt to force sugar industry influence into the process. Seven Florida environmental groups, including Friends of the Everglades and Everglades Trust, called for the members to be removed and criticized their appointment. While Fried originally defended the appointments as expert consultants, she later fired their consulting firm and removed them from working on the project.


title: Nikki Fried

text: In December 2019, Fried abstained from a cabinet vote for the nominee for commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, Russell Weigel. However, Florida state law states that cabinet officials can not abstain from cabinet votes unless there is a conflict of interest. Fried said she had concerns over the transparency of the nomination and said her interpretation of the law did not mandate her to vote yes or no.


title: Nikki Fried

text: In 2020, Fried's office requested and was granted federal waivers to provide free meals to students, despite schools being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Later in 2020, Fried partly delivered the keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, joining 16 other speakers designated as "rising stars". Fried critiqued President Donald Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and reiterated the Democratic Party's commitment to fighting climate change.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Beginning in 2018, Fried was engaged in a lawsuit against the state of Georgia, claiming it was siphoning too much water for use from the Flint River, a part of the Apalachicola River system, which flows south into Florida before draining into Apalachicola Bay. The lawsuit alleged that Georgia's use of too much water caused an increase in salinity in the Apalachicola Bay estuary, subsequently causing the collapse of the estuary's oyster fishery, resulting in income and job losses of 98% of the value of Florida's oyster industry.


title: Nikki Fried

text: The lawsuit, initiated by the state of Florida in 2013 following a series of droughts, was dismissed in 2016 by special master appointed by the United States Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in "Florida v. Georgia" (2018) that the case should be reheard and reviewed.


title: Nikki Fried

text: In April 2021, the Supreme Court ruled 9–0 in favor of Georgia in "Florida v. Georgia" (2021). The unanimous opinion, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, stated that Fried had not provided sufficient evidence that Georgia's water use had resulted in the oyster fisheries' collapse. Fried had chosen not to present the testimony of either oceanographers or marine biologists, instead relying only on reports from hydrologists and statisticians.


title: Nikki Fried

text: On June 1, 2021, Fried declared her candidacy for governor of Florida in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election. She lost to Charlie Crist, a U.S. representative and the former governor of Florida, in the Democratic primary.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Before her entry into the race, Fried heavily criticized DeSantis, calling him an "authoritarian dictator who is borderline fascist", and attacked him for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his signing of an election reform bill that she called voter suppression. Fried also criticized the "rigged system in Florida", which she called corrupt and anti-democratic.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried differentiated herself from Crist, who has been a politician since his election to the Florida Senate in 1992, by taking the campaign slogan "Something New". She described Crist's former affiliation with the Republican Party and criticized him for his support for tough-on-crime legislation throughout his career. Fried blamed Crist for creating Florida's contemporary unemployment system, which collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the system was not created by Crist, but by his gubernatorial successor Rick Scott.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried is vocal about her practice of Judaism. While in high school, she was a participant in B'nai B'rith, a Jewish service organization. Fried also actively considered making aliyah to Israel and joining the Israel Defense Forces. After her election as agriculture commissioner, Fried was sworn into office using the first Hebrew Bible published in the United States.


title: Nikki Fried

text: Fried's fiancé, Jake Bergmann, is a prominent marijuana entrepreneur in Florida. Her relationship with him has been criticized as a conflict of interest, as Bergmann's business often results in dealings with the Florida Department of Agriculture.


title: Nikki Fried

text: In June 2020, Fried and Bergmann engaged in a verbal argument at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale resulting from a car accident in the hotel's parking lot. A security guard who witnessed the incident claimed Bergmann threw a trash can and shoved Fried, though Fried denies the latter. Fort Lauderdale Police Department escorted Bergmann off the property and a formal police report was filed; no arrest was made. Following the incident, Fried denied Bergmann was physically abusive to her and replaced a number of high-level staffers who criticized him.


title: Gillette

text: Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G).


title: Gillette

text: Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gillette Company, a supplier of products under various brands until that company merged into P&G in 2005. The Gillette Company was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer.


title: Gillette

text: Under the leadership of Colman M. Mockler Jr. as CEO from 1975 to 1991, the company was the target of multiple takeover attempts, from Ronald Perelman and Coniston Partners. In January 2005, Procter & Gamble announced plans to merge with the Gillette Company.


title: Gillette

text: The Gillette Company's assets were incorporated into a P&G unit known internally as "Global Gillette". In July 2007, Global Gillette was dissolved and incorporated into Procter & Gamble's other two main divisions, Procter & Gamble Beauty and Procter & Gamble Household Care. Gillette's brands and products were divided between the two accordingly. The Gillette R&D center in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Gillette South Boston Manufacturing Center (known as "Gillette World Shaving Headquarters"), still exist as functional working locations under the Procter & Gamble-owned Gillette brand name. Gillette's subsidiaries Braun and Oral-B, among others, have also been retained by P&G.


title: Gillette

text: The Gillette company and brand originate from the late 19th century when salesman and inventor King Camp Gillette came up with the idea of a safety razor that used disposable blades. Safety razors at the time were essentially short pieces of a straight razor clamped to a holder. The blade had to be stropped before each shave and after a time needed to be honed by a cutler. Gillette's invention was inspired by his mentor at Crown Cork & Seal Company, William Painter, who had invented the Crown cork. Painter encouraged Gillette to come up with something that, like the Crown cork, could be thrown away once used.


title: Gillette

text: While Gillette came up with the idea in 1895, developing the concept into a working model and drawings that could be submitted to the Patent Office took six years. Gillette had trouble finding anyone capable of developing a method to manufacture blades from thin sheet steel, but finally found William Emery Nickerson, an MIT graduate with a degree in chemistry. Gillette and other members of the project founded The American Safety Razor Company on September 28, 1901. The company had issues getting funding until Gillette's old friend John Joyce invested the necessary amount for the company to begin manufacturing. Production began slowly in 1903, but the following year Nickerson succeeded in building a new blade grinding machine that had bottlenecked production. During its first year of operation, the company had sold 51 razors and 168 blades, but the second year saw sales rise to 90,884 razors and 123,648 blades. The company was renamed to the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1904 and it quickly began to expand outside the United States. In 1905 the company opened a sales office in London and a blade manufacturing plant in Paris, and by 1906 Gillette had a blade plant in Canada, a sales operation in Mexico, and a European distribution network that sold in many nations, including Russia.


title: Gillette

text: Due to its premium pricing strategy, the Gillette Safety Razor Company's razor and blade unit sales grew at a modest pace from 1908 to 1916. Disposable razor blades still were not a true mass-market product, and barbershops and self-shaving with a straight razor were still popular methods of grooming. Among the general U.S. population, a two-day stubble was not uncommon. This changed once the United States declared war on the Central Powers in 1917; military regulations required every soldier to provide their own shaving kit, and Gillette's compact kit with disposable blades outsold competitors whose razors required stropping. Gillette marketed their razor by designing a military-only case decorated with U.S. Army and Navy insignia and in 1917 the company sold 1.1 million razors.


title: Gillette

text: In 1918, the U.S. military began issuing Gillette shaving kits to every U.S. serviceman. Gillette's sales rose to 3.5 million razors and 32 million blades. As a consequence, millions of servicemen got accustomed to daily shaving using Gillette's razor. After the war, Gillette utilized this in their domestic marketing and used advertising to reinforce the habit acquired during the war.


title: Gillette

text: Gillette's original razor patent was due to expire in November 1921 and to stay ahead of an upcoming competition, the company introduced the New Improved Gillette Safety Razor in spring 1921 and switched to the razor and blades pricing structure the company is known for today. While the New Improved razor was sold for $5 () – the selling price of the previous razor – the original razor was renamed to the Old Type and sold in inexpensive packaging as "Brownies" for $1 (). While some Old Type models were still sold in various kinds of packaging for an average price of $3.50, the Brownie razors made a Gillette much more affordable for the average person and expanded the company's blade market significantly. From 1917 to 1925, Gillette's unit sales increased tenfold. The company also expanded its overseas operations right after the war by opening a manufacturing plant in Slough, near London, to build New Improved razors, and setting up dozens of offices and subsidiaries in Europe and other parts of the world.


title: Gillette

text: Gillette experienced a setback at the end of the 1920s as its competitor AutoStrop sued for patent infringement. The case was settled out of court with Gillette agreeing to buy out AutoStrop for 310,000 non-voting shares. However, before the deal went through, it was revealed in an audit that Gillette had been overstating its sales and profits by $12 million over a five-year period and giving bonuses to its executives based on these numbers. AutoStrop still agreed to the buyout but instead demanded a large amount of preferred stock with voting rights. The merger was announced on October 16, 1930, and gave AutoStrop's owner Henry Gaisman controlling interest in Gillette.


title: Gillette

text: The Great Depression weakened Gillette's position in the market significantly. The company had fallen behind its competitors in blade manufacturing technology in the 1920s and had let quality control slip while over-stretching its production equipment in order to hurry a new Kroman razor and blade to market in 1930. In 1932, Gillette apologized for the reduction in blade quality, withdrew the Kroman blade, and introduced the Blue Blade (initially called the Blue Super Blade) as its replacement. Other Gillette introductions during the Depression years were the Brushless Shaving Cream and an electric shaver that was soon discontinued due to modest sales.


title: Gillette

text: In 1938 Gillette introduced the Thin Blade, which was cheaper and about half the weight of the Blue Blade, even though it cost almost as much to manufacture. The Thin Blade became more popular than the Blue Blade for several years during the Second World War due to high demand of low-cost products and the shortage of carbon steel. Beginning in 1939, Gillette began investing significant amounts on advertising in sports events after its advertising in the World Series increased sales more than double the company had expected. It eventually sponsored a radio program, the "Gillette Cavalcade of Sports", which would move to television as well as that medium expanded in the late 1940s. While the "Cavalcade" aired many of the notable sporting events of the time (the Kentucky Derby, college football bowl games, and baseball, amongst others) it became most famous for its professional boxing broadcasts.


title: Gillette

text: Though competition hit Gillette hard in the domestic market during the Great Depression, overseas operations helped keep the company afloat. In 1935 more than half of Gillette's earnings came from foreign operations and in 1938 – the worst of the Depression years for Gillette, with a mere 18 percent market share – nearly all of the company's $2.9 million earnings came from outside the United States. AutoStrop's Brazilian factory allowed Gillette to start expanding into the Latin America. In England the Gillette and AutoStrop operations were combined under the Gillette name, where the company built a new blade manufacturing plant in London. In 1937, Gillette's Berlin factory produced 40 percent of Germany's 900 million blades and retained a 65 to 75 percent share of the German blade market.


title: Gillette

text: The Second World War reduced Gillette's blade production both domestically and internationally. As a result of the war, many markets were closed off, German and Japanese forces expropriated the company's plants and property, and Gillette's plants in Boston and London were partially converted for weapons production. In 1942, the War Production Board ordered Gillette to dedicate its entire razor production and most blade production to the U.S. military. By the end of the war, servicemen had been issued 12.5 million razors and 1.5 billion blades. Gillette also assisted the U.S. Army in military intelligence by producing copies of German razor blades for secret agents venturing behind German lines so that their identities wouldn't be compromised by their shaving equipment. The company also manufactured razors that concealed money and escape maps in their handles, and magnetic double-edge blades that prisoners of war could use as a compass.


title: Gillette

text: During the post-war years, Gillette began to quickly ramp up production by modernizing its major manufacturing plants in the United States and England, expanding the capacity of several foreign plants, and re-opening plants closed during the war. The company opened a new plant in Switzerland and began manufacturing blades in Mexico City. Sales rose to $50 million in 1946 and in 1947 Gillette sold a billion blades. By 1950, Gillette's share of the U.S. blade market had climbed to 50 percent. During the 1950s, the company updated and in some cases moved some of its older European factories: the Paris factory, for example, was moved to Annecy.


title: Gillette

text: In 1947 Gillette introduced the Gillette Super Speed razor and along with it the Speed-pak blade dispenser the company had developed during the war. The dispenser allowed the blade to be slid out of the dispenser into the razor without danger of touching the sharp edge. It also had a compartment for holding used blades.


title: Gillette

text: In 1948 Gillette bought the home permanent kit manufacturer The Toni Company and later expanded into other feminine products such as shampoos and hair sprays. In 1955 the company bought the ballpoint pen manufacturer Paper Mate and in 1960 they introduced Right Guard aerosol deodorant. Gillette bought the disposable hospital supplies manufacturer Sterilon Corporation in 1962.


title: Gillette

text: Television advertising played a big part in Gillette's post-war growth in the United States. The company began TV advertising in 1944 and in 1950 it spent $6 million to acquire exclusive sponsorship rights to the World Series for six years. By the mid-1950s, 85 percent of Gillette's advertising budget was used for television advertising. The company also advertised the Toni product line by sponsoring the TV show Arthur Godfrey and His Friends and the 1958 Miss America contest and its winner.


title: Gillette

text: Although Gillette's immediate priority after the war was satisfying U.S. demand and later diversifying its domestic business, the company pursued expansion in foreign markets that showed potential for growth, such as Latin America and Asia. However, the Cold War restricted Gillette's operations in many parts of the world and closed entire markets the company would have otherwise entered in Russia, China, Eastern Europe, Near East, Cuba, and parts of Asia. More and more countries demanded local ownership for foreign enterprise in exchange for continued operation or entry into their markets. Outside the U.S. and European markets, Gillette spent time and money building manufacturing facilities and distribution networks in anticipation that the markets would eventually be opened up and nationalistic restrictions lifted. Some of Gillette's joint ventures included a 40 percent Gillette 60 percent Malaysian mini-plant operation that began production in 1970, and an Iranian manufacturing plant with 51 percent government ownership. The Iran plant was one of Gillette's largest and most modern factories until the Iranian Revolution of 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini rose into power and American businesses were targeted as enemies of the new government, forcing Gillette to abandon the operation and withdraw from the country.


title: Gillette

text: In 1960, Gillette introduced the Super Blue blade, the company's first coated blade, and the first significantly improved razor blade since the Blue Blade of the 1930s. The new blade was coated with silicone and in Gillette's laboratory testing produced much more comfortable and close shaves by reducing the blade's adhesion to whiskers. Super Blue was a success and sold more than the Blue Blade and Thin Blade combined. By the end of 1961, Gillette's double edge blade market share had risen to 90 percent and the company held a total razor blade market share of 70 percent.


title: Gillette

text: In 1962, roughly two years after the introduction of the Super Blue blade, Wilkinson Sword introduced the world's first razor blade made from stainless steel. According to users, the blade stayed sharp about three times longer than the best carbon steel blades – including Gillette's. Wilkinson's introduction took Gillette by surprise and the company struggled to respond as its smaller rivals, Schick and the American Safety Razor Company, came out with their own stainless steel blade. However, during the development of the silicon coating for the Super Blue blade, Gillette had also discovered the method of producing coated stainless steel blades that Wilkinson Sword was using and managed to patent it before Wilkinson did. The English company was forced to pay royalty to Gillette for each blade it sold.


title: Gillette

text: Gillette hesitated in bringing its own stainless steel blades to market as Super Blue had been a huge success and replacing it with a longer-lasting blade would have reduced profits. The company eventually brought the Gillette Stainless blade to the market in August 1963, about a year after Wilkinson's stainless blades. As a result of the affair, Gillette's share of the double-edge blade market dropped from 90 percent to about 70 percent.