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Dyndal, Gjert Lage (2009) Land Based Air Power Or Aircraft Carriers? the British Debate About Maritime Air Power in the 1960S

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Dyndal, Gjert Lage (2009) Land Based Air Power Or Aircraft Carriers? the British Debate About Maritime Air Power in the 1960S Dyndal, Gjert Lage (2009) Land based air power or aircraft carriers? The British debate about maritime air power in the 1960s. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1058/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Land Based Air Power or Aircraft Carriers? The British debate about Maritime Air Power in the 1960s Gjert Lage Dyndal Doctor of Philosophy dissertation 2009 University of Glasgow Department for History Supervisors: Professor Evan Mawdsley and Dr. Simon Ball 2 Abstract Numerous studies, books, and articles have been written on Britains retreat from its former empire in the 1960s. Journalists wrote about it at the time, many people who were involved wrote about it in the immediate years that followed, and historians have tried to put it all together. The issues of foreign policy at the strategic level and the military operations that took place in this period have been especially well covered. However, the question of military strategic alternatives in this important era of British foreign policy has been less studied. This dissertation discusses such high-profile projects as the TSR.2 and F.111, prospective VTOL aircraft and not least the CVA-01 fleet carrier, but most of all it focuses on the issue of military strategy. The rivalry between the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force was largely about the questions of carrier aviation versus land-based air power – and which strategic option would best answer the British need to maintain influence as the garrisons were being scaled down. The Royal Navy argued for replacement fleet carriers for their mobile seaborne strategy, while the Royal Air Force argued that land-based air power would be as effective and far less costly. By using this underlying strategic debate as the framework for understanding more specific debates on aircraft, ships and weapon systems, this dissertation aims to bring new light to our understanding of the dramatic restructuring and altered priorities these two military services saw during the 1960s. The story may be divided into three broad periods: From 1960 until mid 1963, it was a conceptual debate on ‘Carrier Task Forces’ and a concrete alternative ‘Island Strategy’. This ended in July 1963 with a Cabinet decision in favour of new fleet carriers. However, the Royal Air Force and the Treasury kept fighting this decision. Their continued resistance, together with the new Labour Government with Denis Healey as Secretary of State for Defence, changed the decision of 1963. The highpoint of the debate on carrier aviation and land-based air power came during 1965-66, ending with the decision of February 1966 to cancel the CVA-01 and gradually phase out the existing carrier fleet. Denis Healey then used the arguments for land- based air power as a rationale for the decision. The dissertation rounds off with a discussion of the planned phase-out of the existing carrier fleet. However, the story saw a different end than planned, as new strategic challenges in home waters came about and the evolving VTOL Harrier aircraft and the ‘through-deck cruisers’ gave new possibilities. This is a historical study of the British debate about maritime air power and strategic alternatives in the 1960s. However, the detailed story and arguments used for and against both alternatives should clearly have relevance to any conceptual debates on carrier and land-based air power. 3 Table of contents Introduction.............................................................................................................................................6 Chapter 1: Carrier Task Forces and the Island Strategy, 1960-63...................................................26 CARRIER TASK FORCES .......................................................................................................................27 THE ROYAL AIR FORCE ‘I SLAND STRATEGY ’..........................................................................................35 THE 1962-63 ENQUIRY ........................................................................................................................48 THE CAPABILITIES IN QUESTION ............................................................................................................54 CHAPTER CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................65 Chapter 2: The debate on Carriers and the Island Strategy ............................................................68 SCEPTICISM FROM THE TREASURY .......................................................................................................68 THE AIR MINISTRY CRITIQUE OF THE CARRIER TASK FORCE CONCEPT ...................................................71 THE ADMIRALTY CRITIQUE OF THE ISLAND STRATEGY ............................................................................76 THE DEBATE FOLLOWING THE 1962-63 CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR ’S ENQUIRY ......................................79 APPROVAL OF THE CARRIER .................................................................................................................88 CHAPTER CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................91 Chapter 3: A new framework – a new debate on maritime air power .............................................94 FROM CONSERVATIVES TO LABOUR , OCTOBER 1964 ............................................................................94 NATO STRATEGY ................................................................................................................................96 A CARRIER PROGRAMME WITHOUT A FOOTHOLD ..................................................................................107 LAND BASED AIR POWER ; ECONOMICALLY AND STRATEGICALLY FEASIBLE .............................................116 CHAPTER CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................126 Chapter 4: The fate of the CVA-01, 1965-66.....................................................................................128 HEADING FOR CANCELLATION .............................................................................................................128 THE DEFENCE WHITE PAPER OF 1966 ...............................................................................................135 THE PLANNED RUN -DOWN OF THE CARRIERS .......................................................................................139 CHAPTER CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................145 Chapter 5: The Soviet naval build-up, in the shadow of Britain’s ‘East of Suez’ pre- occupation ..........................................................................................................................................148 THE SOVIET NAVY .............................................................................................................................148 SOVIET FIGHTING FOR THE NORWEGIAN SEA .......................................................................................157 SOVIET SSBN’ S AND AN ESTABLISHED OCEAN -GOING FLEET ................................................................164 GORSHKOV ’S RISING NAVY OF THE 1960 S...........................................................................................169 BRITISH PERCEPTION OF THIS RISING SOVIET NAVAL CHALLENGE .........................................................175 CHAPTER CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................179 Chapter 6: NATO strategy changing, and the demand for a new maritime posture ...................180 NATO’ S ‘F LEXIBLE RESPONSE ’ STRATEGY OF 1967............................................................................180 ‘E XTERNAL REINFORCEMENTS OF THE FLANKS ’...................................................................................185 THE BRITISH MARITIME SURVEILLANCE AND ASW FORCES ...................................................................191 CHAPTER CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................199 Chapter 7: The British heading home, 1968-72 ...............................................................................201 A HASTY RETREAT FROM EAST OF SUEZ .............................................................................................202 BRITAIN , THE SOVIET NAVY AND NATO STRATEGY ..............................................................................206 THE FATE OF THE CARRIER TASK FORCE CONCEPT...............................................................................209 THE FATE OF THE LAND -BASED AIR POWER OPTION ..............................................................................214 CHAPTER CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................216
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