It was replaced by theFleet Air Arm, initially consisting of those RAF units that normally operated from ships, but emerging as a separate unit similar to the original RNAS by the time of theSecond World War.
On 21 July 1908 CaptainReginald Bacon, who was a member of the Aerial Navigation Sub-Committee, submitted to theFirst Sea LordSir John Fisher that a rigid airship based on theGermanZeppelin be designed and constructed by the firm ofVickers. After much discussion on theCommittee of Imperial Defence the suggestion was approved on 7 May 1909.[2] Though Bacon had been intended as the Superintendent of Construction, his departure from the Royal Navy in November 1909 saw the role fall to his protegee at the Naval Ordnance Department, CaptainMurray Sueter. Consequently, Sueter was the first Royal Navy officer assigned to a naval air project.[3]
On 21 June 1910, Lt.George Cyril Colmore became the first qualified pilot in the Royal Navy. After completing training, which Colmore paid for out of his own pocket, he was issued withRoyal Aero Club Certificate Number 15.[4]
In November 1910, the Royal Aero Club, thanks to one of its members,Francis McClean, offered the Royal Navy two aircraft with which to train its first pilots. The club also offered its members as instructors and the use of its airfield atEastchurch on theIsle of Sheppey. TheAdmiralty accepted and on 6 December theCommander-in-Chief, The Nore promulgated the scheme to the officers under his jurisdiction and requested that applicants be unmarried and able to pay the membership fees of the Royal Aero Club. The airfield became the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch.[5] Two hundred applications were received, and four were accepted: LieutenantC. R. Samson, LieutenantA. M. Longmore, Lieutenant R. Gregory and LieutenantE. L. Gerrard,RMLI.[6]
Commander C. Samson of the RNAS takes off fromHMS Hibernia in his modifiedShorts S.38 “hydro-aeroplane” to be the first pilot to take off from a ship underway at sea - 9 May 1912.
After prolonged discussion on the Committee of Imperial Defence, the Royal Flying Corps was constituted byRoyal Warrant on 13 April 1912. It absorbed the nascent naval air detachment and also theAir Battalion of theRoyal Engineers.[7] It consisted of two wings with the Military Wing making up the Army element and Naval Wing, under Commander C. R. Samson. A Central Flying School staffed by officers and men of both the navy and the army was created atUpavon for the pilot training of both wings, and opened on 19 June 1912 under the command of CaptainGodfrey Paine, a naval officer.[8] The Naval Wing, by the terms of its inception was permitted to carry out experimentation at its flying school at Eastchurch.[9] The Royal Flying Corps, although formed of two separate branches, allowed for direct entry to either branch through a joint Special Reserve of Officers, although soon the Navy inducted new entries into theRoyal Naval Reserve.[10] In the summer of 1912, in recognition of the air branch's expansion, CaptainMurray Sueter was appointed Director of the newly formedAir Department at the Admiralty.[11] Sueter's remit as outlined in September 1912 stated that he was responsible to the Admiralty for "all matters connected with the Naval Air Service."[12]
In the same month as the Air Department was set up, four naval seaplanes participated inArmy Manoeuvres. In 1913 a seaplane base on theIsle of Grain and an airship base atKingsnorth were approved for construction. The same year provision was made in the naval estimates for eight airfields to be constructed,[13] and for the first time aircraft participated in manoeuvres with the Royal Navy, using the converted cruiserHermes as a seaplane carrier.[14] On 16 April ten officers of the naval service graduated from the Central Flying School.[15] As of 7 June 44 officers and 105 other ranks had been trained at the Central Flying School and at Eastchurch, and 35 officers and men had been trained in airship work.[16] Three non-rigid airships built for the army, theWillows,Astra-Torres and theParseval were taken over by the navy.[17] On 1 July 1914, the Admiralty made the Royal Naval Air Service, forming the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps, part of the Military Branch of the Royal Navy.[18][19] Promotions to the rank were first gazetted on 30 June 1914.[20]
Sopwith Triplanes from No. 1 (Naval) Squadron, in Bailleul, France. The aircraft nearest the camera (N5454) was primarily flown by aceRichard Minifie.
By the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the RNAS had 93 aircraft, six airships, two balloons and 727 personnel.[21][22] The Navy maintained twelveairship stations around the coast of Britain fromLongside,Aberdeenshire, in the northeast toAnglesey in the west. On 1 August 1915 the Royal Naval Air Service officially came under the control of the Royal Navy.[23] In addition to seaplanes, carrier-borne aircraft, and other aircraft with a legitimate "naval" application the RNAS also maintained several crack fighter squadrons on the Western Front, as well as allocating scarce resources to an independent strategic bombing force at a time when such operations were highly speculative.Inter-service rivalry even affected aircraft procurement. Urgently requiredSopwith 1½ Strutter two-seaters had to be transferred from the planned RNAS strategic bombing force to RFC squadrons on the Western Front because the Sopwith firm were contracted to supply the RNAS exclusively. This situation continued, although most of Sopwith's post-1915 products were not designed specifically as naval aircraft. Thus RNAS fighter squadrons obtainedSopwith Pup fighters months before the RFC, and then replaced these first withSopwith Triplanes and thenCamels while the hard-pressed RFC squadrons soldiered on with their obsolescent Pups.[24]
RNAS officer dropping a bomb from aSSZ class airship during the First World War.
On 1 April 1918, the RNAS was merged with the RFC to form theRoyal Air Force.
At the time of the merger, the Navy's air service had 55,066 officers and men, 2,949 aircraft,[26] 103 airships and 126 coastal stations.
The RNAS squadrons were absorbed into the new structure, individual squadrons receiving new squadron numbers by effectively adding 200 to the number so No. 1 Squadron RNAS (a famous fighter squadron) becameNo. 201 Squadron RAF.
The Royal Navy regained its own air service in 1937, when theFleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force (covering carrier borne aircraft, but not the seaplanes and maritime reconnaissance aircraft ofCoastal Command) was returned to Admiralty control and renamed the Naval Air Branch. In 1952, the service returned to its pre-1937 name of the Fleet Air Arm.
The main "naval" roles of the RNAS (ignoring for the minute the service's direct field "support" of the RFC) were fleet reconnaissance, patrolling coasts for enemyships andsubmarines, and attacking enemy coastal territory. The RNAS systematically searched 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2) of the Channel, the North Sea and the vicinity of the Strait of Gibraltar for U-boats. In 1917 alone, they sighted 175 U-boats and attacked 107. Because of the technology of the time the attacks were not very successful in terms of submarines sunk, but the sightings greatly assisted the Navy's surface fleets in combatting the enemy submarines.
It was the RNAS which provided much of the mobile cover usingarmoured cars, during the withdrawal fromAntwerp to theYser, in 1914 (see RNAS Armoured Car Section below). Later in the war, squadrons of the RNAS were sent toFrance to directly support the RFC. The RNAS was also at one stage entrusted with the air defence of London. This led to its raids on airship stations in Germany, in places as far from the sea as the manufacturing site atFriedrichshafen.
Before techniques were developed fortaking off and landing on ships, the RNAS had to useseaplanes in order to operate at sea. Beginning with experiments on the old cruiserHMS Hermes, specialseaplane tenders were developed to support these aircraft. It was from these ships thata raid on Zeppelin bases atCuxhaven,Nordholz Airbase andWilhelmshaven was launched on Christmas Day of 1914. This was the first attack by British ship-borne aircraft; the first ship-borne aircraft raid was launched by theJapanese seaplane carrierWakamiya on 6 September. A chain of coastal air stations was also constructed. This was followed with theTondern raid, again against Zeppelins, which was the first instance of carrier launched aircraft.
Archie Low – British aeronautics pioneer and early flying instructor. Designer of the Vickers F.B.5. and Vickers E.F.B.1.. Served onHMS Engadine andHMS Ben-my-Chree 1915 to 1916
Edward Maitland – aviation pioneer, Officer Commanding the Captive Balloon Detachment
Richard Peirse – later Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse, KCB, DSO, AFC, AOC Palestine/Trans Jordan 1933–36, C-in-C Bomber Command 1940–42, C-in-C RAF India 1942–44, C-in-C SEAC air forces from creation until 1944.
Charles Rumney Samson – initial commandant of the RFC Naval Wing, led the first armoured car units on the Western Front, later Air Officer Commanding RAF units in the Mediterranean
SirFrederick Sykes – initial commander of RFC Military Wing, officer commanding RNAS at Gallipoli & later, controller-general of Civil Aviation and Governor of Bombay
John Weston – South Africa's first aviator. First World War service in France, Eastern Mediterranean (Mudros, Lemnos) and with British Naval Mission to Greece[29]
Squadron CommanderE. H. Dunning attempting to land hisSopwith Pup on the flying-off deck ofHMS Furious,Scapa Flow, 7 August 1917. He was killed on another attempt later that day when his aircraft veered off the flight deck and into the sea.
HMS Empress,HMS Engadine,HMS Riviera,HMS Vindex andHMS Manxman, all converted Channel ferries. The first three ships each carrying three seaplanes were the "striking force" of the first naval air attack, the raid onCuxhaven on 25 December 1914. HMSVindex had a take-off ramp fitted and was the first operational ship to launch a wheeled aircraft.
HMS Ben-my-Chree, a fast Isle of Man ferry converted to a seaplane carrier that served in theGallipoli Campaign.Ben-My-Chree supplied the aircraft that made the first successfulaerial torpedo attack against ships. A Short seaplane flown by Flt Cdr C. H. K. Edmonds carried a 14-inch torpedo between the floats which was dropped from a height of 15 feet, hitting and sinking a Turkish ship.Ben-my-Chree was sunk by Turkish artillery in 1917, but without loss of life.
HMS Ark Royal also served at Gallipoli, and continued service after 1918. She was renamedPegasus in 1934, to release the name for the new modern aircraft carrierArk Royal.
HMS Campania was an ex-Cunard liner.[32] Although she was much larger than those before her, the 120 foot take-off ramp was not sufficient for wheeled aircraft to take off. She sank in theFirth of Forth 5 November 1918, after a collision[33] withHMS Royal Oak.
HMS Manica, a converted tramp steamer equipped with the Navy's first kite balloon observation platform for gunnery spotting during the Dardanelles campaign.
HMS Nairana, a converted passenger ship with a take-off ramp.[34]
HMS Furious, a convertedbattlecruiser, with an 18-inch gun aft and a flying-off deck forward. She was rebuilt as a through-deck carrier after 1918 and served inWorld War II.
HMS Argus, laid down as theItalian linerConte Rosso in 1914, was completed as a carrier with a full flight deck in September 1918.
The first informal use of armoured cars by the RNAS was when CommanderCharles Samson, on withdrawing The Eastchurch Squadron from Antwerp to Dunkirk, used the squadron's unarmoured touring cars to provide line of communications security and to pick up aircrew who had been forced to land in hostile territory. Commander Samson's younger brother Felix saw the possibilities when he armed one car with aMaxim gun and ambushed a German car nearCassel on 4 September 1914. Commander Samson then had a shipbuilder in Dunkirk, Forges et Chantiers de France, add boilerplate to his Rolls-Royce and Mercedes vehicles.[35]
The Admiralty set up the UK's first mechanised armoured land force, The Naval Airmans Armoured Car Force,[citation needed] to support the Marine Battalions fighting as infantry in France and Flanders. Established with 60 fighting vehicles in September 1914, 18 x Rolls Royce, 21 x Clement-Talbot and 21 Wolsey armoured cars supported by 40 non-fighting vehicles, 4 x Wolsey ambulances, 8 x cars to carry spare parts, 8 x general service cars and 20 lorries it had its headquarters in 48 Dover Street, London and Depot at Wormwood Scrubs.[36]
By November 1914 the Force had become the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division (RNACD) with a planned expansion to 23 squadrons. In the end it mustered 20 active squadrons, 3 equipped with armoured cars , 7 with mixed armoured cars and lorries, 5 with motorcycle-combinations, 3 with armoured lorries, 1 experimental squadron (No.20) and an emergency squadron formed in Alexandria using armoured car sections from N.. 3 and 4 Squadrons not landed in the Dardanelles.
As trench warfare developed, the armoured cars could no longer operate on theWestern Front and were redeployed to other theatres including theMiddle East,Romania andRussia. In the summer of 1915 the 12 squadrons were disbanded and the army took over control of 4 squadrons of armoured cars, with the units coming under the command of the Motor Branch of theMachine Gun Corps.[37]
On formation in December No. 1 Squadron was put on defence of the East Coast.[38] No 2, commanded byHugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, arrived in France in March 1915. The firepower of the Armoured Cars was reinforced bySeabrook lorries (three per squadron) armed with 3-pounderHotchkiss guns.[38]
No 3 and No. 4 Squadron, with Rolls Royce Armoured Cars were sent toGallipoli but spent most of their time there protected in trenches until they were removed to Egypt - where the terrain was more favourable - to protectthe canal and operate in theWestern Desert.Squadrons of the RNACD were used inGerman South West Africa (Rolls Royce Armoured Cars) and inBritish East Africa (Lanchester Armoured Cars with British ArmyLeyland lorries, later reinforced with a section of Rolls Royce from SW Africa).[38]
In 1915, a RN armed steamer theSSTara and SSMoorina had been sunk off the North African coast by the German submarineU-35, he survivors had ended up in Senousi hands and taken inland toBir Hakiem. In 1916 the Duke of Westminister took a force of nine armoured cars, three Ford cars with Lewis gun armament, and 28 other cars and ambulances onan operation to recover them.[38] After travelling 100 miles across the desert, the column reached the location where the Senousi gave up the captives without a fight.[39]
TheRNAS Armoured Car Expeditionary Force consisted of 3 squadrons formed from 15 and 17 Squadrons plus volunteers from disbanded units underOliver Locker-Lampson, sent to Russia in 1915, the Caucasus in 1916 and Galicia in 1917. It was transferred to Royal marines' control in November 1917 before leaving Russia in early 1918.[citation needed]
However, RNAS experience of the Western Front would not be lost,No. 20 Squadron RNAS was retained under Naval control to further develop armoured vehicles for land battle, these personnel later becoming the nucleus of the team working under theLandship Committee that developed thefirst tanks.[citation needed]
Before the poutbreak of War, the navy was charged with the home defence of Britain, which must inevitably mean the prevention of an invasion by sea or air, whilst the army was responsible for offensive action overseas. As part of Britain's defences, the role of the naval air operations was seen to be to prevent enemy invasion by air (specifically by Zeppelin airships), to locate enemy shipping that might pose a threat, and to develop bomber capabilities against enemy airship sheds or harbour installations.[citation needed]
Until June 1914 Naval air development had been managed from Eastchurch Naval Air Station, whilst operations were the responsibility of each Naval Port Officer in Charge. The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was formally created on 1 July 1914 with HQ at Eastchurch. On 26 August 1914 a section of the RNAS, under Wing Commander Samson, was ordered to move to Ostend, Belgium, to support the Belgian Army in defending the Channel ports. A few days later a second section was sent to Dunkirk to support the French Army. On 10 September 1914 the various sections of the RNAS were designated as Squadrons with a high degree of operational autonomy:[69][page needed]
No. 1 Squadron at Dunkirk supporting the French army;
No. 2 Squadron at Eastchurch engaged in Home Defence and;
No. 3 Squadron at Ostend supporting the Belgians.
On 11 March 1915 No.3 Squadron was despatched to the Aegean to support the army in the Dardanelles Campaign.
The RNAS reorganised their operations on 21 June 1915 into Wings, each with a number of subsidiary Squadrons lettered as Squadrons a, b, c etc.[69]
No. 1 Wing (formerly No. 1 Squadron) was at St Pol near Dunkirk on reconnaissance and offensive operations over the Channel.
No. 2 Wing (No. 2 Squadron) was now mainly carrying out defensive operations against Zeppelins from British aerodromes.
No. 3 Wing (No. 3 Squadron) was in the Dardenalles providing naval support and
No. 4 Wing based at Eastchurch was responsible for training and aircraft testing.
Each Wing included both land-based aircraft and seaplanes as required.
In August 1915 No.2 Wing was sent to the Aegean to reinforce No. 3 Wing, and No. 4 Wing took on the Home Defence duties. In January 1916 No.3 Wing was withdrawn from the Middle East and disbanded, but it was reformed soon after as a specialist bomber force and sent to Belfort on the Western Front charged with disrupting German industrial production sites.[citation needed] Further Wings were created over the following months:[citation needed]
Wings 4 and 5 were expanded from Wing 1 in France, the former being fighters and the latter having bombing duties.
Wing 6 was formed for patrolling theAdriatic Sea, but was expanded toMalta by 1918.
The Wing denominations began to be dissolved in November 1916 when No.1 Wing was divided into three independent units designated as 1, 2 and 3 (Naval) Squadrons. Nos. 4 and 5 Wings were similarly broken up into separate Squadrons on 31 December 1916 and by the end of March 1918, when the RNAS was absorbed into the newly formed RAF, only No.2 Wing in the Western Mediterranean was still in operation. On the 1st April 1918 Squadrons of the RNAS took Squadron numbers in the RAF by adding '200' to their RNAS numbers.[70][page needed] It was not however until September 1918 that the Squadrons serving in the Eastern Mediterranean, still lettered A to D, and Z, formally adopted their RAF Squadron numbers they had been allotted. Then Squadron A became Squadron 222; Squadron B became Squadron 223; Squadron C became Squadron 220; and Squadron D became Squadron 221 of the RAF. Squadron Z was transferred to the RoyalGreek Navy.[citation needed]
In the RNAS both pilots and observers held appointments as well as their normal Royal Navy ranks, and wore insignia appropriate to the appointment instead of the rank. The insignia consisted of standard Royal Navy cuff stripes corresponding to their normal ranks, surmounted by an eagle (for pilots) or a winged letter "O" (for observers). In addition, Squadron Commanders and Squadron Observers with less than eight years' seniority had their insignia surmounted by two eight-pointed stars, one above the other, while Flight Commanders and Flight Observers had their insignia surmounted by one such star.
^In the biography of his father,Winston Churchill,Randolph S. Churchill gives the following breakdown: "At the outbreak of war ... there were 39 aeroplanes, 52 seaplanes, a few small airships and about 120 pilots"Churchill, Randolph.Winston S. Churchill. Vol. II. p. 697.
^Fletcher, David (1987).War Cars. British Armoured cars in the First World war. PO Box 276, London SW8 5DT: HMSO Publications Centre. pp. 14–18.ISBN0-11-290439-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
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Royal Naval Air Service
