The Navy Vol_49_Part1 1987 - Navy League of Australia

Sparrows Among The HawksSbipkwd Rviaim oj Hie SmaSUbi Havm, I9I9-I939by Q. D. LAYMANHE story of the development of shipboard aviation between the world wars has been toldT repeatedly, but almost always from the standpoint of its major practitioners, Britain, Americaand Japan and usually linked to the history of the flight-deck carrier. Its more modest role in thesmaller navies has, in general, been ignored, although many of these fleets strove to develop ashipboard air arm within the limits imposed upon them. 1The most fundamental and obvious of those limits was economicFinancial restrictions ruled out the flight-deck carrier, the budget of asmall navy could not be stretched to afford a vessel so costly to build,equip, man and maintain, desirable although such a ship might beconsideredEconomics also accounts for the seemingly strange fact that manyaircraft of the smaller navies were of foreign manufacture and/or designThe aerial needs of a small navy did not generate a significant marketdemand for such a highly specialised product as the naval airplane Sucha craft would be purchased in so small a number as to make the expenseof designing, testing and manufacturing it a risky investment, even in anation with a developed indigenous aircraft Industry (which not allnations covered in this study possessed in the 1920s and '30s) It wastherefore usually expedient tor a small navy to obtain its aircraft from aforeign manufacturer that had suitable models in production (or couldreadily put them back Into production), or have foreign designs ofproven performance built domestically under licence This was also thecase with the shipboard catapult, a machine with an even more restrictedmarket, the only catapults seen on small-navy vessels in the 1930s wereof British. German and Italian manufacture.rhe economic factor became even more Influential during theworldwide depression of the early 30s As national budgets reeled underits impact, the flight-deck carrier became even more of an Impossibility,even the seaplane tender turned into a luxury item, and it Is noteworthythat not a single such vessel was placed on contract by a small navy after1931Economics aside, the development of shipboard aviation in thesmall navies, like naval aviation in general, was influenced bygeography, potential enemies, naval tactical thinking, and nationalpolitical and defence policy A navy with overseas colonial possessionsto protect, for instance, would find it useful to equip with aircraft itswarships that would have to function beyond range of Land-based planes(it would also favour the long-range flying boat, but that consideration isoutside the limits of this study) A navy designed purely for coastaldefence would, on the other hand, find the shipboard airplane of far less.The fortunes of shipboard aviation also were affected in severalnations by the establishment of independent air forces under whhichnavies lost operational and administrative control of thetr aircraft and airpersonnel Typically, the new force put Its naval commitment Into asmall-strength, shore or harbour-based "co-operation" unit In no casedoes there appear to have been a military or strategic need for the newservice; the Independent air forces were political creations generated bythe claims of "air power" propagandists Not all navies suffered by losingcontrol of their air branches In this manner — some of the co-operationunits performed very well — but all too often the new service becameindifferent to naval needsAs a result of all the foregoing factors, the pace, pattern and size ofshipboard air components varied considerably from nation to nationThe one common denominator was the seaplane, which In the absenceof the flight-deck carrier was the only type of aircraft that could functionfrom a ship, rhe total disappearance of the naval seaplane for the pastthree decades has often caused the importance accorded it between theworld wars to be forgotten. But for most of that period it was regarded asa virtually equal partner of the carrier-based landplane. and during the1920s it had not yet begun to lag so drastically behind the landplane inperformance — a gap that was to start to doom it during World War IIalthough it still played a useful role to the very end of that conflictFor the smaller navies, then, shipboard aviation was a modest affairof seaplanes carried by warships and/or auxiliaries, only in a fewInstances by special vessels. Sometimes the ships were modified — frommoderately to drastically — to suit them for carnage and operation ofaircraft, but very often not. With that in mind, let us take a took at theaircraft earned by ships of the small navies and at the ships thai carriedthemIfWQENTINflI 1928 six British Faltey IMF Mk IIIM floatplane- were ordered loruse on the battleships MORENO and RIVADAV1A which carriedthem at times although lacking catapults These aircraft were alsooperated occasionally by the Italian-built cruisers ADM] RANTE BROWNThe Australian National Line. Making waves.There's a confident new look about ANL as it meets thechallenges of a highly competitive industry in Australia andoverseas.Today's ANL offers clients efficient, diverse servicesservices we'll expand and improve even further.Our fleet has been rationalised and streamlined Newmanagement has been appointed and commercial strategiesdeveloped to sharpen our competitive edge. Our ShippingAgencies and Terminals and Stevedoring divisions are nowseparate trading entities, each aggressively promoting theirPage Thirty-lourrespective agency and terminal services to other shipping lines.as well as ANL.An efficient, innovative and competitive Australianshipping industry can provide more jobs 3S tor for Australians asnore ashoreand at sea. As Australia's national earner.ANL has a vital role to play in thereuitalisation and future growthof the industry. ANLToday's ANL-your ANL-is £•,££*; ISS 11 **shipshape and ready for the challenge ww-. VO»KM ?r ~r * Tft mtm Trtr. AAJOM4 »THE NAVY January, 1987January, 19(7I A ARGENTINA Note Seagull V emboritedTHE NAVY