The Navy Vol_49_Part1 1987 - Navy League of Australia

SHELL PAPUA NEW GUINEAPTYLTDPort Moresby — Lae — Rabaul — HoniaraSHELL FIJI LTDSuva — Apia — Nuku' AlofaSOCIETE SHELL PACIFIQUENoumea — Port Vila — SantoSHELL (PACIFIC ISLANDS) LTDPago Pago — Guam — MicronesiaServing the Australian Defence Forces throughout the South PacificTelephone: (03) 609 5671Inserted in the interests of Australia s DefencePage Thirty-six THE NAVY January, Vand VEINTE CINCO DE MAYO ahei the vessels' delivery ,n 1931 Thecruisers were originally equipped with fined catapults on Ihe forecastle inIhe manner of many Italian cruisers ol Ihe period, with aircraftaccommodation on the deck below Unlike the IIIFs so widely employedm the British Navy, ihe Argentinian Eaireys were powered by 450 hpLorraine LVmch engines They were later re englned with 560 hpArmstrong Panthet VI radials. changing their appearanceThese planes were unpopular, being unwieldy and slow and ateast once ,n 1932 ADMIRANTE BROWN embarked an AmericanVought 02L1 IA floatplane Either or both cruisers also earned BritishSupermanne Walruses from lime to time 'Dunng modification of the cruisets at the Puerto Belgrano NavalArsenal in 1943 the vessels' fixed catapults were removed and replacedby midship turntable catapults the fotecastle hangar being converted tocrew quarters, and midship aircraft handling ctanes installed Thereafterthe cruisers carried Amen, in Grumman JF 2 amphibians from a groupof eight putchased before World War II Nominal aircraft capacity wastwo but it appears that lack of accommodation space tesultcd tn onlyone being earned normallyThe Bnnsh built ciuiset LA ARGENTINA came equipped with acatapult and two Supermar.ne Seagull V amphibians fas the ubiquitousWalrus was first called! upon dellve-y in 1939 This equipment wastelained until the 1950s, but was temoved before the ship went int..inactive reserve for eventual discardBAUSTRALIAY Ihe end of World Wat I three ships of the Royal AustralianNavy serving with Ihe British Giand Fleet were equipped with= , *£Z£L ~ '*"b "" e ""'"' AUSTRALIA and Ugh. cruisersMELBOURNE and SYDNEY (Earlier, the Ikjht cruise, BRISBANF hadearned a seaplane briefly while searching for the German commercetaidet WOLF I Then planes were left behind when Ihe RAN shipsreturned to home waters postwar, pending formation of an Australiannaval an armIn 1920. a Brtlish Avro 504K floatplane ol Ihe Australian Army AirCorps was experimentally carried by AUSTRALIA, being transferred toMELBOURNE when the battle cruiser paid off Difficulties of operationunder tropical conditions caused ihe experiment to be abandoned inNovember 1920 The next year the first specifically Australian navalaircraft were acquired - s«x Fairey HID floatplanes that went Into servicew,th the newly formed Royal Australian Air Force, successor to theArmy Air Corps One of these was operated by the ex-British sloopGERANIUM (transferred to the RAN in 1919) dunng survey work alongthe Great Bamer ReefThe IIIDs were the aircraft the RAN seaplane carrier ALBATROSSwas originally designed to operate and some ol that ships dimensionsand internal arrangement were detetmined by their size and weightALBATROSS, although designed by the Directorate of NavalConstruction In Br-ialn was built in Aushalia She was essentially a moremodern version of the Bntlsh ARK ROYAL of 1914 - toomler fasletbetter armed, better arranged for aircraft carnage and handling althoughfinancial strictures prevented initial installation of Ihe catapult she wasdesigned to mount 'By Ihe lime ALBATROSS was commissioned. January 1929the Fairey floatplane, had been replaced by six Supermarine Seagull IIIHying boats, and these formed Ihe new vesselss aerial complement Onesimilat plane, a Wackett Widgeon, was also embarked bnelly for nials inJanuary. 1987THEHMAS ALBATROSS1929 Although thtee mote Seagull Ills were acquired laie. by 1931 iheudeteriorating performance made it apparent that a reptacemenl wasneeded. In the inletim ALBATROSS operated only (our ol themNo replacement anctafl had amved by 1933 when, lor financialreasons. ALBATROSS was placed in reserve at Sydney, where sheremained lor the next live years Met Seagulls were transferred to theheavy cruisers AUSTRALIA and CANBERRA, which still lackedcatapults and had to handle them by craneALBATROSS was not entirely inactive during hei reserve penndbut served as a maintenance, luelling and mooring has*' for seaplanes inSydney harbour In early 1936. as a preliminary to recommissioningshe was finally fined with a catapult and with it carried out trials ol theSupeimarlne Seagull V llaler called the Walrusl RAN requirementreportedly figured in the design of this aircraft. 24 of which were orderedby Australia soon alter Ihe prototype lust llew in 1933 Seagull Vsleplaced the Seagull Ills on AUSTRALIA and CANBERRA aflei Ihecruisers were equipped with catapults in 193S and 1936 respectivelyAlthough six Seagull Vs wete assigned lo ALBATROSS, heiproposed recommissioning was abandoned and she was transferred tothe Royal Navy In part paymenl fot the light ctuiset APOLLO, renamedHOBART in the RAN The catapult equipped HOBART, along wilhlight cruisers SYDNEY (exPHAETONl and PERTH lex AMPHIONl allcarried singk- Seagull Vs alter then Itansfet to Austtalia from Ihe RoyalNavyAlthough designed to accommodate nine alrcralt. ALBATROSSnevei earned more than six while in Auslialiar, service, not until eatly1942. while serving with the RN. did she embark a lull complement olnineTCANADAIE Royal Canadian Navy lacked an air arm from 1919. when theRcyal Canadian Naval Ait Service established ihe previous yearwas disbanded, until after World War II. and did not possess anaviation vessel until the aircraft carrier WARRIOR was transferred fromthe Royal Navy in 1946In 1934. however. Canadian attention was attracted lo a proposedsmall but fast seaplane earner designed by John I Thorneycroft and Coas a private venture This was a 3000 ton. 28 knot vessel to be armedwith three 4 7 inch guns and four light AA guns and carry sevenseaplanes Aircraft were to be launched from a forecastle catapult andrecovered either by an aft crane or by Hem mat drawn up an inclinedramp reaching to the waterline at the extreme stern Plans for this vesselwere requested by the Canadian navy's chief of staff, but lack of fundsruled out any serious consideration of constructionACHILEMONG the small number of aircraft acquired by Ch.le'sSERVICIO DE AVIACTION NAVAL soon after itsestablishment in 1919 were British Short 184 and SopwithBaby floatplanes, but a report in BRASSEY'S that one of the Shorts wasembarked on battleship ADMIRANTE LATORRE In the 1920s forexperiments with aerial spotting for gunfire has been denied Howeverthe old armoured ciuiser GENERAL OH1GGINS did carry one or moreof the Babies brieflyA turntable catapult was mounted on ADMIRANTE LATORREsquarterdeck during her 1929-31 modernisation in Great Britain, and thebattleship subsequently carried a Fairey IMF. four of which were stationedNAVYP»»je Tr.lrty-.wvwi