The Whale Has Wings Vol 1 - Rebirth (10 page)

A second carrier, the Peter Strasser, is laid down as soon as the slipway is available.
It is clear that Germany fully intends to develop a naval air arm

Japan lays down the Zuikaku in May. The Japanese are using naval aircraft in China, and as a result some more details are emerging about them, those these are incomplete and often contradictory. The main current fighter, the A5M 'Claude', seems to be a very lightweight plane, probably very agile, but considered under-armed with 2 7.7mm machine guns, and its low weight suggests a fragile plane.

The B5 'Kate' torpedo bomber is being used in a bombing role. It again seems quite light, and from reports its performance is better than that of a Swordfish (but inferior to the replacements now under development)

The Aichi D1A 'Susie' is a biplane, and the performance of this dive bomber is considered unexceptional at best by current standards. There are rumours of a prototype replacement undergoing trials (given the codename 'Val'), but there is no evidence of its use in China

Chapter 8

The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Air Branch, which was to supply a great proportion of the naval pilots and observers who fought at sea from 1939 to 1945, had been formed in the Spring of 1938 as it was realised that even with the considerable expansion of the FAA numbers, both to form new squadrons and to reduce the RAF contingent, there would be a shortfall to man the new carriers coming into service this year. As a result of the increasing international tension, this branch was (nominally, at the moment) increased in size to allow for a war reserve of personnel to be built up.

At the end of 1937, the RAF had agreed that Coastal Command aircraft would be dedicated to that role, and would not be considered part of the RAF available for other actions. The Navy was less pleased to find that by the 1st April less than 2/3 of the calculated numbers would be available, and that this included what they considered obsolete type like the Anson.

They had already had issues with the RAF concerning Coastal Command, with some of the weapons supplied to it. The antisubmarine aircraft had a light bomb which was intended to be used to attack surface U-boats. The FAA considered this very sensible, and arranged to get a number to see what would be needed to fit them to a Swordfish (as they were expecting to supplement Coastal Command with these, especially outside of the UK). They were less than thrilled when tests in late 1938 showed that the bomb not only was useless, but was rather better at 'shooting down' the attacking aircraft than sinking the submarine. Fortunately no crew were killed in the trials , although one very experience FAA pilot was recorded as saying 'if the RAF's bombs were as effective against the enemy as they are against us, there wouldn't be a submarine threat"

The result of this debacle, which the RAF seemed to have little interest in investigating, prompted the navy to set up a group under a Cdr. Blackett , first to investigate and solve the problem of attacking a surfaced U-boat from the air, and second to work out ways to make sure this sort of fiasco didn't occur again. This was to lead, in late 1939, to the formation of the Navy's first
Operational Research department

On the 1st Feb
ruary, after the completion of the trials program, the decision is made to produce a number of prototypes of the Fairy Spearfish (with the Griffon engine). The navy would still prefer a radial engine, but the high-power Centaurus is seen to be not quite ready yet, and while the Griffon is both less powerful and an inline engine, the performance improvement over the Swordfish is impressive. They give Bolton-Paul advance notification that IF the planes trials conclude satisfactorily they will place an order for the Griffon powered SeaLance. They expect to be in a position early next year to choose the plane for carrier operations (and the loser will still be very useful as a land-based TBR plane)

On the 14th of February the German press announced the launch of the battleship Bismark. The navy expects her to be in service some time towards the end of 1940. Her sister ship, the Tirpitz, isn't launched until late June - she has been somewhat delayed due to the increased building priority given to the Graf Zeppelin, which is fitting out and expected to be starting her trials in the spring of 1940.

In March, the international situation starts to deteriorate with increasing speed.

On the 21st of March, Hitler reiterates his demands against Poland for the return of Danzig and the "Polish Corridor" to the Reich.

On the 22nd, Poland again refuses German demands for the return of Danzig and the "Polish Corridor."

The next day, German troops occupy the city of Memel, which is situated on the border of East Prussia and Lithuania. Poland warns Germany that any similar attempt to seize Danzig would mean war. Poland partially mobilizes its armed forces.

The situation in the British government is tense, with the arguments of the appeas
ement faction now being openly derided. On the 27th, at a Foreign Policy Committee meeting of the British Cabinet, the Ministers decide to side with Poland, rather than try for a multi-nation agreement involving the Soviet Union. Poland again rejects German demands that Danzig be ceded to Germany.

At the end of the month, France and Britain declare that they will stand by Poland. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces in an address to the House of Commons British support of Polish independence.

On the 1st of April, almost ironically, Franco declares the end of the civil war in Spain. All this means to Britain and France is that the Italian and German forces there will all be back home and ready for action again very soon

As a result of the annexation of Czechoslovakia and the renunciation by Hitler of the Anglo-German naval treaty, as well as the actions involving Poland, the government secretly approves the Audacious carrier design, despite the fact it
considerably exceeds the nominal displacement under the 1935 treaty. Naval law experts have pointed out that in any case it can always be declared as a battleship if need be.

The Audacious class is a design that DCN has been looking at for a couple of years as a successor to the Formidable class. It has been recognised that this class has pretty much reached what is possible under the 25,000t limit, and that any improvements will be minor. As carrier aircraft are only getting bigger, it is obvious that a bigger ship is needed.

The Audacious would displace 30,500t (in fact, after some changes due to early war experience, she would come in at around 32,000t). Engine power would be increased to match the speed of the earlier fleet carriers, and additional fuel would be carried. The air group was initially estimated at 66 planes (carried in hangers), but it was now expected that a deck park would be used more often to allow 72 (these would be the new, larger aircraft currently in development). Petrol supply and accommodation would be based around this number. To allow for further aircraft growth, the ship was designed to operate planes up to 25,000lb in takeoff weight. The hanger height remained at the 18' in the Formidable class (higher hangers were felt to add too much height to the ship, and increasing plane size meant reverting to the 16' hangers in the Ark Royal was too restricting.

The deck armour
remained unchanged at 1" (this was still sufficient to support the heavier planes), but the hanger deck was increased to 5 1/2", thought sufficient to keep out 1,000lm SAP bombs. Subdivision was tight, and the hanger was subdivided by armour doors into 2 sections as in the earlier ships. As a result of the wider beam required, the opportunity was taken to improve the TDS to handle a 1,000lb torpedo warhead.

This would be the first carrier with operation room facilities and radar designed in, and space was allocated to allow for future increases in the size these would require
, as this carrier was expected to be the command ship for a number of aircraft carriers when used in the strike role. The AA armament stayed at 8 twin 4.5" guns, but the light AA was increased from 8 octuple 40mm by an additional 4 quad 40mm, giving her 80 40mm guns. Additional 20mm guns would in fact be fitted during the war

Not only did the navy have to keep one eye constantly on Germany during the year, it was also a very busy time for the FAA as the plans laid over the last few year
s reached a peak. No less than five carriers of different types were to be completed during the year, and the training of the aircrews and men to support them was putting a great strain on the existing ships, bearing in mind all the other demands for training and preparing for war. The original intention had been to spread out the completion over the year, to allow for easier inclusion into the fleet, but the obvious war now approaching made it imperative to get them available for action as soon as possible.

First to complete was HMS Venerable in Jan 1939,
followed by HMS Formidable in May.

Working up these two ships engaged the FAA to the full, and in fact although the light carrier HMS Mars was completed in mid-June, she only went to sea with a single squadron to work-up, as the remaining available squadrons were earmarked for HMS Victorious , which completed in July.

HMS Glory had been deliberately delayed in order to accelerate the completion of HMAS Melbourne by the end of August, and in fact she completed and sailed for the West Indies with workmen and equipment still on board on August 21st - it was intended to get her clear of Europe and off to work up in a quieter area. As soon as she had done so she would sail to Australia to match up with her airgroup, the planes for which had been shipped out some weeks ago. In order to give them the maximum flexibility of use of the light carrier, the RAN had purchased 150 planes (split evenly between fighters, dive bombers and TBR) to allow them to support three squadrons. The Australian production line for the Goshawk wasn't ready yet, neither was the engine plant, but it was hoped they would both be ready before the end of the year. In the meantime the RAAF would be training up pilots on some of the spare naval fighters, as it seemed unlikely that the UK would be able to produce the complete order.

As a result of this HMS Glory would not complete until November
, but in any case the planes and pilots would not be available until the end of the year.

On the 19th August, intelligence reports indicate
d that up to 14 U-boats had left Germany to take up patrol stations in the North Atlantic. The Navy treats this as a war warning. Worse is to come

On the 23rd,
Germany and the USSR sign a non-aggression pact in Moscow. A severe blow to the hopes of Britain and France, and Poland’s death-knell, since one of the clauses agreed a split of the country between Germany and the USSR. It also gave Russia a free hand in the Baltic states and Bessarabia. Hitler now gives orders for the invasion of Poland to begin on the 26th August 1939. Another German pocket-battleship, this time the Deutschland, sails through the North Sea, without the British noticing.

Intelligence suggests that Germany will invade Poland at any moment. On the last day in August
the Royal navy is put on full alert. Army and navy mobilization is commenced, censorship of all communications to and from the British Isles is imposed, the Stock Exchange is closed, and civil airplanes are banned from flying over half of Britain

On September 3rd, Britain declares war on Germany.
Winston Churchill is appointed First Lord of the Admiralty.

Chapter 9

One of the uses that carriers (in particular the light carriers) had been intended for was to hunt and suppress submarines. There had been considerable discussion about the best way to do this, between the school of defending the convoys (and letting the submarines come to them), and that of hunting the submarines down, particularly those near to the UK, before they can actually sink any merchantmen and when the hunting group have complete freedom of action.

The Navy had allocated Colo
ssus, Vengeance, Argus and Hermes, with attendant destroyers, as four hunting groups to find and destroy any submarines found in coastal waters. This was considered especially important during the early part of the war, as many ships were not yet sailing in convoy. As well, the idea of hunting and sinking the enemy submarines at sea appealed to the new aggressive First Lord. Consideration had been given to using some of the fleet carriers as well, but the shortage of escorts meant that initially only four groups could be formed.

The policy was to be found to have unintended consequences, due partly to the fact that Germany had penetrated the RN codes, and had a reasonable idea of where the hunting groups were.

On 14th September an attack was made on HMS Vengeance west of the Hebrides by U.39. One torpedo missed, the other hit the carrier but did not explode (it was suggested later that this was due to a faulty magnetic exploder) The carrier was accompanied by three destroyers, and as a result the U.39 was attacked and sunk with all hands.

On the 16th September the carrier Argus was spotted in the Western Approaches by U.29, who had been alerted some days earlier that the carrier was worki
ng in the area. The U.29 fired four torpedoes, two of which hit the old ship which sank in 20 minutes, taking over 300 of her crew with her (the underwater protection of the old WW1 ship was nowhere near as good as that of a modern warship). Attacks by the destroyers were unsuccessful.

It was pointed out that in a few days we had lost one carrier and almost lost a second. As a result, the policy of hunting submarines in this way was terminated, and plans were made to have the light carriers pr
ovide close escort for convoys where they would have the protection of a greater number of escorts, and, somewhat brutally, be in the middle of the convoy protected by the bulk of the merchant ships. In the harsh logic of war, a merchant ship was far more expendable than a carrier.