AIR BOMBERS

Hokitika Guardian, 9 May 1936, Page 6

AIR BOMBERS

RULE THE WAVES TO-DAY

(Major J. G. Struthers, D.S.C.,' who contributes this article, was one of the most successful of British war- ■ time air aces. Decorated in ~ 1917 after 2000 hours flying, he /'spent most of his time locating and destroying from the air enemy submarines. He writes with unrivalled; knowledge of the vulnerability of /urfa-« and under-sea craft in air attack).

That cine of the most wbndeiful creations of science, bnanned by the finest personnel in the world, the battleship, should be doomed is' a tragedy. ./’ The fact, however, must be face’ll and our losses cut at once. She has had iher day; and a glorious one it has been, but the decline that began in 1914 has been rapid, and tleship is one of our greatest All surface vessels are attack from three dimensions: the air; below the surface; and on the surface -r-tlie danger being in the order given. The, larger the vessel /he more vulnerable to attack, and the mere venturing forth in war time of' sucijyg>yast ffnd costly fortress as a battleship is attended by such varied dangers as to be a nightmare to those responsible for her safety-. ;- ;; ' - r

Escape impossible.

Once the battleship was ■ /supi/ifie; now, relays of), aircraft. t° ns of bombs and , abrial /effpedoes, su)>f vspeed skiffs ~,capable of 75; knots and carrying 'torpedoes,; and submarines would be .on her track, each of them capable of sending the £7,000,000 nlfisti'fpiece to the bottom. Escape a(l would be impossibly ■ i: ;-M v hat ■ 'fife. j we doing! e ■To ‘ sperid -' ififiny millions mn Jj'S... shi*P| while starving our ewifaf' defence/the air arm/ ’!' {

This squandering of our resources must cease, and what,is retrieved, must be used to build. the weapon designed to fight the enemy in the element he will attack in: that is. the air. / . , During the late war I served for. most of the time in the Aerial A,nti-Sub-marine Patrol rouncl, the coasts ol l3iitain from the Scillies to the Shetlands, and in the Mediterranean. The duties were principally the :es6oiting of convoys in and out of the clanger zones and the hunting of submarines,; and here I would point out that no cases of successful submarine attack occurred when the convoy was under airship escort. ;/ , '

Extreme Peril.

Flying often from dawn to dusk, and sometimes all night, with convoys, ample -time was available ,to observe and consider all types of crafY. from battleship to submarine, from ocean liner to coastal tramp; and the-thous-and and one incidents relative to every -.conceivable situation, .afloat, spiking or sunk, !.,!,•/-' What impressed, me most ..was/ tlie extreme vulnerability, ol surface) sels and the chances the subihurlne then had that were,; not. taken./• /. Although I bombed a'few submarines my experience was that some carelessness on .the part of the submarine/con r tributed largely in each’case, and that the submarine was the most dangerous weapon of the H rea f W ar> '„. .. : Had Gerifiany built, submarines .. instead of' battleships;, before 1914, (she would have forced us to conclude peace before Jutland, But we were gtveh time to e.volye a reply to the few submarines she hurriedly built later; and although embryonic our aircraft served its purpose;*-".' >v ; s / - ■ • ■

Submarine Bombed.

One morning,* when escorting a convoy down, the English Channel, a recall to bitee- owing to gale blowing necessitated leaving the ponvoy. When we were only ten miles away, a large vertical explosion was seen, so our course was altered.at,full speed. It.was then'found’tlrnt a vv^png-.submarine liad' i! advantage iff* tile air "full]' fepiVrtur|| to torpedo the t ty6sseT’ : fii ! 1 tie| ponvoy—and undeimt% |of' the escorting s trattV' The submarine was the damage had been done, and thp ship, an Italian, sank. . ( On another occasion on patrol about 5 a.m., an explosion was seen on thp liomon. This j turned out to be tfrb torpedoing of a large French merchant?man. JSearch was made at once for the submarine, and live hours later it was seen taking up a position for anothel 1 attack and was bombed; But ..for the air patrol it would have delivered its second and fatal blow', in spite of the presence of some seventeen (surface vessels which were by.- th4-time escorting the stricken vessel to port. These little incidents occurred"more than 20 years ago, with aviation in its infancy. How much more could be accomplished, now with the air weapon so greatly developed? ..! • The submarine problem, ItJijjhi(a? .ter--rible menace, is reduced to within reasonable limits if we have aircraft in sufficient numbers. This we have not to-day. ■ - 'v.

ideal Target.

Our ideas .on the convoy system will need to be amended in view of tremendous developments .in aviation. Convoys present an idea’l;i|arget l’roni the air, and I often think; of, mv; impressions one spring morning , an' 18, jwhen after on all-night vigil oi? Orkneys with an east-bound convoy, daybreak arrived revealing a wonderful scene beneath. ■ | A west-bound convoy was approach'-' , ing, and as each threaded its way-