Britain's Great "Little Navy"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 211, 6 September 1941, Page 11 (Supplement)

Britain's Great "Little Navy"

WINTER warfare brings increasing activity for the little ships that serve and supply the Roval Air Force—ships that make up Britain's "little navy." These vessels, manned and operated by the personnel of the R.A.F., are rather small for naval vessels—most of them are onlv 20 to fiO feet in length, but they do Valiant duty. The vessels include high-speed launches for rescuing airmen from crashed planes, armoured targetboats which dart courageously over the waters to give British pilots real practice in bombing ships, and pinnaces to supply flying-boats ana to lay flare paths on ihe water for seaplanes alighting at night. The work done by the little ships is always dangerous, and on most of the vessels machine-guns must be carried to ward off enemy plane attacks. Mammoth seas and punishing gales frequently add to the terrors of the war, for the boats must often sail many miles offshore in the unsafe waters of the North Sea or the Atlantic to pick up pilots reported down.