AIR POWER v. SEA POWER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 15 June 1940, Page 3

AIR POWER v. SEA POWER

DEDUCTIONS FROM WAR SO FAR [British Official Wireless] RUGBY, 13th June. | The experience of the war so far has demonstrated that except in confined waters air power does not appear to ; offer a serious challenge to sea power, 1 and even in confined waters the results have not been spectacular. So far only two war vessels larger and better pro- 1 ; tected than destroyers have been sunk ; in an air attack—the British light . cruiser Curlew and a German cruiser J 'Unk in Bergen harbour. The opinion expressed in informed . circles is that the actual destruction of ; ships by air attack lias so far not . proved very successful. Another aspect of the question is : whether air power can prevent naval f. forces from operating. If this were ‘ J true then air power would defeat sea power just as surely as if it were able 1 to send all the warships to the sea bot--1 tom. In this respect consideration of the re-embarkment of the B.E.F. at , Dunkirk is of value. In this operation ‘ large numbers of destroyers and small ] craft were engaged. The operation las- . ted several days and nights, and the ships were often at anchor for long periods. Although sea power in this cose had the devoted co-operation of ; air power, it is true that the British air ■ power was inferior in numbers to the ■ Nazis. Further, the Nazi Air Force • was closely based and able to deliver ■ continuous attacks. In spite of this the evacuation operation was a brilliant • success, and although losses occurred ’ these were surprisingly small. It ap- | nears that planes alone can neither de- ; stroy battle fleets nor materially hin- | der naval operations.