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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1065.PDF
MAY 31ST, 1945 F L.IG HT 585 it was vulnerable. It must be fast and it could not be heavily armoured. When flying-off or landing-on aircraft it had to steam steadily into wind, and that might take it far away from the protection of the heavily armoured and heavily armed battleships. It was generally believed that its aircraft could not hold their own against shore- based aircraft. This was never more than a half-truth ; for, while carriers cannot even yet accommodate the heaviest type of bomber, their fighters (except, perhaps, the Japanese) were always masters of any bombers sent against them. It has also been found that carrier-borne fighters can well hold their own against shore-based fighters. At first the Royal Navy insisted that its fighters must be two-seaters, so as to relieve the pilot of the responsibility of navigating. Now single-seaters are used^ with very satisfactory results. Italy and Japan However, Mussolini and his Fascist Ministers, whose object was to dominate the Mediterranean, decided not to build carriers. They believed that their purpose could be Jihieved by a Navy working with long-range bombers, provided that the latter had plenty of bases. The Royal Navy, however, sent carriers into the Mediterranean, and scored heavily by doing so. Not much is known yet about Japan's naval policy in late years; but it is thought that she believed in having large numbers of small car- riers. It was with carrier aircraft that she struck her treacherous blow at Pearl Harbour. Once the United States began to arm in earnest, her policy was to build many carriers, and large ones. The great distances between her bases and the islands seized by Japan made such a policy inevitable. Until forward bases could be seized American shore-based bombers could not be brought into action; and until Japanese naval power had been reduced such bases could not be seized. The American policy was vindicated in an almost startling manner. The battle of the Coral Sea, which removed the danger of invasion from Australia, was won entirely by the aircraft from the American carriers. The guns of the warships never fired a shot. In the battle of Midway Island the Japanese sent short-based bombers and fighters against the American fleet, but the fighters from the carriers had the best of -it. It may be mis- leading to draw too sweeping a conclusion from that. There is no doubt that the American pilots were better than their opponents, and the victory probably depended more on the-men than on the machines. But we must return to the Mediterranean. At the regrettable, but inevitable, affair at Oran, it was first demonstrated that torpedoes dropped from the air could do serious damage to a capital ship. The victim was the attle cruiser Bunkerque. She was afterwards repaired. Taranto it was shown that ships in harbour need MERCHANT SHIP FIGHTER UNIT : A Hurricane readyfor catapulting from the deck of a C.A.M. ship. When fuel was exhaustecTthe pilots baled out and were picked up outof the sea. elaborate protection if they are to be kept safe from torpedo-carrying aircraft from a carrier. At the battle of Matapan the Italian ships were faster than the British, and would certainly have escaped if torpedo-aircraft from H.M.S- Formidable had not flown ahead of Admiral Cun- ningham's fleet. The superior speed of the Italian ships was thereby made unavailing. As a result the battleship Vittoreo Veneto was badly damaged by a torpedo, and the British fleet came up in time to sink the cruisers Pola, Zara, and Fiume with gunfire. But there were many Italian forces at sea, and the Formidable had not enough aircraft to maintain touch with them all and at the same time to build up a striking force strong enough to deal with the crippled battleship. So the Vittoreo Veneto got back to her base. The lesson from this action is that a fleet needs as many carriers as possible, and large ones at^J,fca.t- Qnp cannot have too. many aircraft in the,^kf^This isp&rtirularly tru> "when the enemy aircraft are shore-based anaXhej^ftlJfe are likely to out- The capsized hull of the German battleship Von Tirpitz, which was turned over in Tromso Fiord by Lancasters of Bomber Command using 12,000-lb. bombs.
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