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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1780.PDF
SEPTEMBER 6TH, 1945 FLIGHT -61 In the meantime, the desperate need for air cover at sea was met by the makeshift Escort carriers, which weremerchant vessel hulls with a "roof" for flying. They were patently vulnerable to attack, yet they succeeededby their great mobility and element of £*frprise in bringing off a number of coups against the enemy's best defencesalong the Norwegian littoral, in the S. France landings (1944). a* Salerno, in the Aegean, and later in the FarEast, as well as superb service in the fury of the North Atlantic convoy battles. Deck Armour Whilst the heavily armoured large fleet carriers were building, the U.S. Navy had undertaken a simply astonish ing programme of carrier construction ; yet a programme which hinged on the equivalent of Illustrious class carriers backed up by escort carriers. In other words, the British favoured heavily armoured decks, and the Americans dis- carded that idea. The most serious threat to the carriers, of both fleets, came in the closing-in attacks leading up to th^assault on Japan. American and British carriers un<fc?rwerft the ordeal of suicide air attacks by Jap fanatics. The wisdom of the British Admiralty then became apparent; for whereas both 'American and British carriers were struck, and set afire, the Americans suffered major casualties and losses whilst the British carriers were hors de combat tor no more than a few hours. On the other hand, there was in the staff minds the a priori assumption that if you can protect the fleet from air attack then you would not need the costly (in man- hours and materials) process of building heavily armoured ships, although by this time the Americans had decided to build such vessels in the shape of 45,000-ton super- carriers. ' J To achieve air protection where tire fleet wanted it and when it wanted it, the aircraft carrier stood proven as the best means of reaching this end. In a direct step the answer to more air cover was to build ships larger than the Escort carriers yet without the refinements of the large Fleet carriers. There has thus emerged an intermediate class, called the Light Fleet Carrier, of which first details have now been released. It has been announced that the Colossus, Venerable, Vengeance and Glory are in service with the British Pacific Fleet, whilst other references have disclosedthe existence of the Leviathan, Powerful, and Ocean. The Light Fleets have many ititeresting features. Theydisplace 14,000 tons and have a top speed of 25 knots. Their complement of aircraft k given as 33, made lipof attack, reconnaissance and fi^nter aircraft. This figure, which may be regarded as a mean, is interesting It closelyapproaches the nominated 40 of the Large Fleet carriers, although the ships are of half the tonnage of the Big 'Uns.With aircraft parked ahead of the crash barrier, and with a strong complement of major and minor spares, it is likelythat the Light Fleets could much exceed the nominal 33 aircraft. The new carriers are, in essence, merchant hulls withService flight deck and superstructure. Space is far from lavish: the ward room might well be less than half thatavailable in the Illustrious class. The deck, however, is generously free of obstructions and runs to a maximumof 695ft Clear Landing Area But the most noticeable thing is the absence of guns and gunnery paraphernalia along the sides of the JMght deck. Gone are the nets, the jutting barrels of giyira. thfi range-finders and ammo store bins. In place the air pilot has a clear run ; ten arrester wires across the deck give him more than enough opportunity to touch down short of the crash barrier extending athwartships by the bridge superstructure. Internally, the technical pool system first introduced in the large carriers is an especial feature, considerably simplifying maintenance and repair work. Some of the uglier characteristics of the Escort and other new carriers have gone: one may mention, perhaps, the departure of steel mirrors from the cabins and the increase in height along the gangways so that those over 5ft. in height can now proceed without ducked—or bumped—heads. These innovations augur well. They speak of a new outlook Jm the Nayy, and are the outward manifestation of the hard toil in that Department of the Admiralty known by the mystic letters D.A.C.R., meaning Direc- torate of Airfields and Carrier Requirements, This was one of the departments introduced by •Vice-Admiral Boyd when Fifth Sea Lord. It carries a number of officers with flying experience in war in aircraft carriers, many of them H.M.S. Glory, another of the Royal Navy's 14,000-tonLyfht Fleet carriers. As distinct from the-Escort carriers, tile light fleet units are all British built. Compared tw'th some of the earlier carriers these new ships havepresentable lines.
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