AIRCRAFT AND THE ROYAL NAVY, 1908-1918

Aircraft and the Royal Navy, 1908-1918, describes the assimilation of aircraft into the British Navy, from the unsuccessful attempt to build a rigid airship in 1909-11 through the creation of the world's first aircraft carrier, the Argus, and the first air-sea naval force, the Grand Fleet of late 1918. This is not an operational history. Relying primarily on Admiralty, Air Ministry, and Grand Fleet records, private papers, and memoirs, the author discusses naval policy, administration, personalities, development of aircraft and techniques for using them at sea, and identification and performance of a number of aviation roles in wartime.;The potential of German naval Zeppelin airships to scout for their battle fleet, and bomb installations, stimulated creation of the Royal Naval Air Service (R.N.A.S.). Burdened with Home air defense when war broke out, the R.N.A.S. became involved in long-range bombing to destroy Zeppelins on the ground. This led ultimately to naval planes bombing German factories from a base in central France. This aberration, combined with rivalry between Navy and Army air services for aircraft supply, in which the Navy refused to compromise, resulted in amalgamation of the competitors in the Royal Air Force. This seriously damaged naval aviation during 1918.;In 1917-18, anti-submarine warfare became the paramount (and most successful) duty of naval aircraft. And in 1918 airplanes carried on warships gave the fleet an effective anti-Zeppelin force.;With existing designs the British could have created a large carrier-borne torpedo bomber force to attack the German fleet in its harbors, foreshadowing the air raids on Taranto and Pearl Harbor in 1940-41, but lack of interest in the Admiralty and the Air Ministry delayed the first aircraft carrier and its torpedo squadron until October 1918.;"The admirals" are shown to be more than the uniformly conservative and unimaginative group portrayed by some historians. Bad luck and lack of opportunity in some roles prevented naval aviation from achieving spectacular successes which might have converted more admirals. The naval hierarchy did not so much hold back the airmen (though there was that) as they failed to actively help them go forward.