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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0342.PDF
iSo Airciaft carrier H M.S. Indefatigable passing throughthe Suez Canal on its way to join the Eastejir Fleet. On the deck are Spitfire Ills and Firames. REPORT ON CARRIERS AWS- M>gp. Their Good Work in the East : They Consjjjute~-50 pei^Qent. of/British NavaL Strength in the Pacifiy^he Fairey Firefly in\Vnon By B. J. HURREN WHEN Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, C.-jg^Pacific Fleet, said recently in New Zealand thataircraft carriers constituted about half the strength of big ships in British naval forces in the Pacific, he lifted the veil of secrecy which has all too long masked im- portant changes in air power at sea. We have heard so much of the so-called Forgotten Army in Burma that we have become blinded to a forgotten Navy and Air Forces in the Far East. For.evidence exists that carrier-borne air fleets of the Navy will be increasingly in the picture. The Americans' use of carrier aircraft has made a pro- found impression on naval and air thought. None of their brilliant operations could have been undertaken without their carrier forces, which have been responsible for all their positive achievements in the Pacific. Information so far released indicates that the U.S. Navy has more than 100 carriers in being at sea, whilst the British Navy can call on some 50 carriers, the majority of which are of the Escort type of adapted merchant ship. This disparity must arise since the American operations in the Pacific are so completely dependent on sea power, whereas British operations in the; Middle East, Medi- terranean, Burma and _against Germany use the sea as a means of auxiliary communication as opposed to battle action. Admiral Fraser's statement follows close on news of a series of actions against oil plant in Sumatra. Since December 20th, 1944, four attacks have been made there, culminating in a highly successful blow against the Soengei Geroug refinery on January 29th. Earlier, the Paldjoe and Pangkalan-Brandan (Medan) refineries had likewise been attacked. The significant thing about these attacks is that they were all made by naval aircraft. It is gratifying to see ^irefly is adding to its initial laurels, and took a conspisioous part in the ground-strafe work. These aircraft also acted as escorts to Avenger bombers, and shared the air defence of the East Indies Force warships (the battleship King George V and the cruisers Argonaut, Black Prince, Euryalus and others) with Seafires, Hellcats and—of course—the A.A. defences of the ships themselves. Attack by naval aircraft has, in the Pacific zone, become so everyday that the new role imparted to a fleet is not generally appreciated. Until this war, sea power was paradoxically at once the most powerful arm and most insufficient. It was most powerful Against key ports. In a bombardment of, say, Genoa, Naples or Alexandria, it was without equal in striking power. But such cities as Cairo, Florence, Berlin or any other important centre out of range of guns borne on a sea platform, were immune to naval attack. Long-range Artillery The surprise, concentration and punch packed in a fleet's guns has now been extended by naval aircraft. It is quite certain that the series of attacks on the Sumatra oil re- fineries could not have been mounted from warships alone ; and the true effect of the aircraft carriers with the fleet is to 'open" the range of attack up to 100 miles inland ... a factor of tremendous significance against protected harbourages such as Tokyo and as already seen at Taranto. The value of this extended assault power was of especial import in Sumatra. At the Palembang oil works there was the only machinery in the East Indies before the war for refining fuel for aviation use. Palembang output was computed at 3,000,000 tons of petrol, kerosene, lubri- cating oils and bitumen ; and 80,000 tons of this figure concerned 100 octane fuel. If, as reports indicate, this Sumatra plant was wrecked, it imposes on the Japs the
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