"furious" loaded 55 aircraft, mostly crated hawker hurricane fighters of no. 73 squadron raf, in liverpool on 7 november 1940 sailing for takoradi, gold coast on 15 november 1940 where they were flown off or off-loaded on 27 november with the ultimate destination of egypt. during this time, she retained only six skuas of 801 squadron for her own protection. "furious" was back in liverpool by 15 december where she embarked 40 more hurricanes for takoradi. she sailed on 21 december 1940 joining with convoy ws5a and the small carrier "argus". the encountered the convoy on 25 december 1940, but little damage was inflicted by "admiral hipper" before she was driven off by the escorts. no air strike could be flown against the german cruiser because the swordfish were embarked in "argus" with bombs that they could not carry and their torpedoes were aboard "furious". after "furious"s skuas had flown off to search for "hipper", space was made to land the swordfish to load the torpedoes, but the skuas could not locate "admiral hipper" because of the poor visibility. "furious" reached takoradi on 10 january 1941 arriving back in britain on 5 february 1940 where she was given a brief refit. she made another ferry trip to takoradi on 4 march, carrying 12 fairey fulmars of 807 squadron and six swordfish of 825 squadron for self-defence.