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Military Innovation and Carrier Aviation— 2017PGS 4/13/98 10:26 PM Page 97 Crashed VE–7 on USS Langley, 1925. Military Innovation and Carrier Aviation— Naval Historical Center An Analysis USS Langley leading task group in the Philippines, 1944. Naval Historical Center Autumn/Winter 1997–98 / JFQ 97 2017PGS 4/13/98 10:26 PM Page 98 ■ CARRIER AVIATION By JAN M. VAN TOL interesting things at sea. While proponents of air- craft as independent strike weapons were a mi- he first part of this article, which ap- nority, aviators were already well accepted by the peared in the last issue of JFQ, charted commanding officers of ships. Flying was not re- the historical development of British garded as a bad tour, though it is noteworthy that and American carrier aviation, with most aviators continued to do traditional ship- T board tours. particular emphasis on the complex interplay of technological, operational, and organi- zational factors. The second part treats legislation requiring commanding officers of key questions on how this revolution succeeded in the U.S. Navy and was carriers to be aviators created career paths rather less successful in the Royal Navy and what that implies for military innovation. Risk was further reduced by establishing an Among questions considered are: institutional home for champions and a venue ■ How quickly did those who grasped the vision for experimenting with new capabilities and con- move from a vague to a clearly-defined vision? How cepts of operation. This led to a viable career path quickly did change take place? that kept officers employed when their few years ■ Which mattered more to making progress, indi- of flying ended. (There were inevitably too many viduals or groups? pilots for the available senior billets. There was ■ What were the barriers to change and how were concern over the future of aviators who were not they overcome? selected to be commanders or executive officers.) ■ Did change depend on having a particular The establishment of the Bureau of Aeronautics enemy? in 1921 and the legislation passed in 1925 requir- ■ How important was competition? ing commanding officers of aircraft carriers, sea- ■ How important was a consciousness of the new concept’s potential? plane tenders, and naval air stations to be avia- tors created career paths. The British case was simpler. If one wished to fly during the interwar period he joined the Royal Air Force where advancement was based on belief in the strategic bomber. Maritime flyers were not usually on a fast track. Even after reestablishment of a Fleet Air Arm, aviation duty was something separate from principal shipboard duties. In short, in the Royal Navy there were better ways to the top than through aviation. Bureaucratic factors, while perhaps necessary, were not by themselves sufficient to ensure the fu- ture of aviation. On personal and intellectual levels in the 1920s, there was great enthusiasm over technology, particularly in the field of aviation. Prominent in the accounts of this period was the sense of adventure among those who wanted to Naval Historical Center fly. The newspapers were filled with stories of barn- Mustin (fourth from storming and aviation firsts. Together with images right) at Pensacola, Then and Now of aviators as the only glamorous warriors of World 1914. War I, this inevitably made flyers an elite group in What was it like to be a junior officer follow- the eyes of the public. ing World War I? An aviator? A senior naval offi- There was professional excitement as well. cer vis-à-vis a carrier aviator? Most junior officers The debate over the role of airpower generated by who sought naval careers considered which spe- General Billy Mitchell, the media, and others was cializations were best for advancement. Many of- prolonged and serious if raucous. Many of the ficers wanted to minimize professional risk. propositions about airpower were prima facie not Perceptions of present and future relevance trivial, including questions about the future via- minimized that risk. In the early 1920s, there was bility of battleships. Other events such as the ample evidence that aircraft could do militarily mass production of automobiles and expansion of electricity, if not directly relevant to aviation, Commander Jan M. van Tol, USN, is commanding officer of USS O’Brien further stimulated interest in technical solutions and formerly served in the Office of Net Assessment within the Office and applications. All this suggested in the early of the Secretary of Defense. 1920s that naval aviation had a future of its own. 98 JFQ / Autumn/Winter 1997–98 2017PGS 4/13/98 10:27 PM Page 99 van Tol Flying-off platform on turret of USS Arizona, 1921. Naval Historical Center Whiting (third from left), 1918. Naval Historical Center They knew they would not participate in the next paradigm so they had less incentive to get in- volved. Moreover, having done well in compari- son to their peers, seeing the paradigm under which they served slowly becoming less relevant was hard to accept on a personal level and may have led to a certain skepticism. But though they continued to serve, they still influenced fellow of- ficers and the flags under whom they worked and were a source of resistance to change. Then there are those who continued to serve as senior captains or flag officers. They had to Naval Historical Center make decisions on the future of the service and Japanese cruiser nature of combat. They faced a choice between Tsugaru being bombed continuing with proven systems and methods or in experimental attack What was it like to be a senior officer then, shifting resources to new concepts which might (photo obtained by with responsibility for evaluating new concepts have been promising but difficult to realize. The Billy Mitchell during foreign inspection, that might supplant or change the paradigm in latter involved both opportunity cost and risk of 1924). which he had served? There would appear to be failure. Such choices would seem particularly dif- two types of senior officers whose views mattered ficult in a time of budgetary constraint. One finds in different ways. The first were those serving in this kind of conundrum facing the General Board key billets but who would not reach flag rank. in the 1920s and 1930s as it weighed the value of battleships versus carrier aviation. So what en- abled senior officers to make the choices they did about naval aviation in the 1920s? Autumn/Winter 1997–98 / JFQ 99 2017PGS 4/13/98 10:28 PM Page 100 ■ CARRIER AVIATION Army “bombing” USS Alabama with white phosphorus, 1921. Naval Historical Center HMS Furious after conversion from light battlecruiser. Naval Historical Center The intellectual tradition of relying on an rank because they knew the answers. In short, experimentalist approach to tactics and technol- young and innovative would-be naval aviators ogy allowed for evaluating evidence in making had little reason for optimism regarding receptiv- operational and technical judgments. By implica- ity to their ideas. tion, the feeling that serious ideas ought to get a hearing undoubtedly encouraged would-be inno- Ideas for Carriers vators. As the potential of aviation increased, se- Aircraft potential for spotting for battleships nior officers gave it their support. was noted very early by Britain and America. It The Royal Navy, by contrast, lacked an addressed how to shoot accurately when spotting equivalent intellectual tradition. The British only was no longer possible from the shooting ship established a naval staff shortly before the war (using other ships has the drawback of exposing and then at the insistence of civilian leaders. Staff them to enemy fire). The value of scouting from colleges in Britain did not have the standing of the air was underlined by its absence at Jutland the Naval War College during that period, nor and presence (zeppelins) on subsequent occasions were assignments to them desirable, whereas which enabled the German fleet to avoid battle many future American flag officers attended and with the Royal Navy. served on the staff at Newport. The Royal Navy was more hierarchical, with the putative pre- sumption being that flag officers reached that 100 JFQ / Autumn/Winter 1997–98 2017PGS 4/13/98 10:29 PM Page 101 van Tol Vought VE-7 landing on board USS Langley. Naval Historical Center Naval Historical Center USS Langley, 1923. Other uses for aircraft were driven by specific could win engagements in minutes. He started tactical problems. Rifles then machine guns were with the idea of light aircraft carried and mounted in friendly aircraft to stop enemy air- launched from battleships, then moved to craft from doing reconnaissance in 1914. Air- launching and recovering them with a special air- dropped torpedoes were used to reach anchored craft-carrying ship. Sometime before 1917 he ad- enemy ships when the Dardanelles were blocked vocated the use of aircraft to attack in support of to friendly ships in 1915. Zeppelins and seaplanes friendly battleships. It is not clear why he made found the enemy battle fleet at sea in 1916. Sub- this leap, but he discussed such ideas with W.S. marine and airship bases were bombed a year Sims and others. After war broke out Mustin re- later. Targets too distant for land-based forces sponded to an appeal by the Secretary of the were attacked from the sea in 1918. All these Navy for war-winning ideas by suggesting bomb- ideas were tried in World War I combat. ing of land targets from sea-based platforms. This Lieutenant Commander Henry Mustin came and a similar proposal by Lieutenant Ken Whit- up with novel ideas for employing aircraft on his ing, assigned to Pensacola during Mustin’s tenure, own.
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