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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1494.PDF
AUGUST 2ND, 1945 FLIGHT "3 H.M.S. Barham lists to port after being hit by a salvo qfc*forpedoes at close range. Battleships as Anti~Aircraft ear Misses and Direct Hits zchanisejX Air Warfare If- By B. /. HURREN • / .DURING the past few days, a public rdbently demged with election political clap-trap has Had itself sup- plied in bulk with enough material tosjirovide _a, score of prolegomena on which to base post-waif textbooks on tactics and strategy. As it is unlikely that all of this information, issued piece- meal by officialdom, has been assimilated and mentally correlated, it is daily becoming clear that the issue of the battleship "To Be or Not To Be" is looming sharply. But first—the facts. On the news reels an awe-inspiring fihja has shown the last hours of the battleship H.M.S. Bpmam. The sinking is a horrific sight, and a most moving one to a race of seamen. The dramatic passing to eternity of this mag- nificent ship was all over in four minutes. A stately emblem of British sea power under way in an open sea in the Eastern Mediterranean, she disappeared completely, less than five minutes later, after a fantastic explosion. Four torpedoes from a lurking submarine put paid to her —^———^^—^— existence. The significant thing about this film—for those who have eyes to^e£e—is that there is palpa^Ty no nir cover or even sea escort to this mighty ship. She went without protection and paid the penalty. The date was November, 1941. A few weeks before the release of this information IN this article our contributor states his belief that air power has altered the function of the battleship. He also stresses the fact that during no action in this war have the opposing navies and their air arms simultaneously come to grips. The^theory of capsizing warships by under-woter explosions from near misses by super heavy bombs (exclusively dealt with in Flight as long ago as November, 1944,) is further discussed. He is wrong in his statement that no bombs pierced the Tirpitz. Readers will remember that we recently published a photograph of the exit hole of a large piece of a 12,000 pounder. accountsiafdiluted form were permitted concerning the strike^fTtalian midget submarines against the battleships 'en Elizabeth and Valiant, in Alexandria harbour. Both of these ships were heavily damaged and were ren- dered hors de combat for many months. .They were struck, and crippled, three weeks after Barham was sunk. In between these terrible blows at British sea pov^er, two other shin* of the first line had likewise paid the penalty of laefc of air'protection. They were the battle- ships Prince of Wales and Repulse, sunk by torpedoes from Jap aircraft in Malayan waters whilst sailing devoid of all air protection. We can thus chalk on the board what everyone in the Navy and many in the R.A.F. have long known. Five British battleships were sunk or very heavily crippled in the space of only a month at the outside. And these dreadful events occurred after a year of almost unrelieved defeat when (as a famous English Admiral remarked many years ago) England needed a ——^——^^— victory. So far as any reasonableassessment can be made, it did not seenyto affect the issueof the war one jot. It was, one might say, a sea Dunkirk—and the undoubted defeats made no more difference,superficially, than did that military defeat on land inFrance in 1940. The next interesting revela-
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