SUPREMACY OF AIR ARM

Southland Times, Issue 23393, 28 December 1937, Page 8

SUPREMACY OF AIR ARM

LESSON OF NAVAL EXERCISES MOCK BATTLE IN NORTH SEA AND CHANNEL LONDON, November 3. Flying-boats, forming the equivalent of general reconnaissance squadrons stationed on the coast, were engaged for 24 hours last week in locating and shadowing a hostile “Redland” fleet through the North Sea and Channel zones. Four battleships, two cruisers, and two aircraft carriers of the Home fleet represented the enemy. Against them “Blueland” could muster no surface warships; she depended entirely on 23 submarines of the Second, Fifth, and Sixth flotillas, and the reconnaissance aircraft. Redland, on the other hand, was handicapped by complete lack of destroyers, which normally provide warning and protection in waters where submarine attacks are likely; the search for under-water craft devolved therefore upon the 81 aeroplanes in the two aircraft carriers. The duty of the flying-boats was to find the warships and follow them through the night, so that the submarine commander might place his craft to the best advantage for the attack in the early morning. They were open to the attacks of fighter aeroplanes sent off from the carriers, which also provided an aerodrome from which scouting aircraft might be launched to search for and. destroy the submarines. This year “sea and air” exercises have demonstrated the value of aircraft in location of surface and underwater warships. The July trade defence and coastal defence exercises showed how nearly impossible it is for a fleet to escape detection from the air. In a vivid communique the Admiralty recognized air power as the dominant factor in modern warfare. One “enemy” cruiser was located and adjudged destroyed by bombing before it had spent more than an hour or two in the war zone. Subsequent events showed clearly that a country well equipped with shipbome aeroplanes and long range reconnaissance aircraft need not fear surprise by an enemy fleet, and that it could afford a high degree of protection to mercantile shipping nearing its shores.