This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The Royal Naval Air Service and the Evolution of Naval Aviation in Britain, 1914-1918 Howlett, Alexander Lucas Nathaniel Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 24. Sep. 2021 Department of Defence Studies King’s College London The Royal Naval Air Service and the Evolution of Naval Aviation in Britain, 1914-1918 Alexander L. N. Howlett Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2019 Abstract The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was a transformative military organisation that established the role of aviation within the Royal Navy during the First World War. The history of the RNAS, despite its immense significance, remains compartmentalized into specialized studies, ultimately overshadowed by the historiography of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the early Royal Air Force (RAF). The important RNAS practitioners who developed Britain’s naval aviation between 1914-1918 have as a result been marginalized in comparison to the better known history of the Fleet Air Arm, the organisation that ultimately succeeded the RNAS in the interwar period and beyond. This thesis unifies the historiography of Britain’s First World War naval aviation, and reassess the significance of the administrators and practitioners who created Britain’s naval air power. Utilizing a thematic approach this thesis evaluates the successes and failures of Britain’s naval aviation development during the First World War. Through an examination of the history of the RNAS, the thesis considers the evolution of four aspects of Britain’s naval aviation: airpower for the fleet, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), the Royal Navy's pioneering introduction of long-range bombing, and the maritime air defence of Britain. The thesis concludes that the RNAS functioned not only as an auxiliary to the Navy's existing and traditional roles, but also changed the fundamental manner in which operations were conducted, whether at sea, over land, or in the air. The RNAS pioneered many of the aspects of naval aviation and airpower that are considered core roles of naval air forces today, however, the practitioners who made possible this revolution in warfare and the administrators who oversaw it remain relatively obscure. Wartime prioritization, technological improvement (and limitations), inter-service debate and indeed personal and service-wide rivalries, all shaped the Royal Navy’s approach to naval aviation. The thesis argues that a gradual transformation occurred over the course of the war, with naval aviation emerging from an uncertain auxiliary to a decisive instrument. 2 Acknowledgements My thesis advisor Dr. Tim Benbow deserves the most credit for encouraging me to complete this thesis. Tim provided incisive feedback, ensured the project stayed manageable and on time, tirelessly read all of the draft files, and provided invaluable wisdom and support along the way. My secondary advisors, Professor Andrew Lambert and Dr. Christina Goulter, have both helped me more than they know. Andrew has been a friend since we first met in his graduate naval history seminar in 2008, and his example, guidance and enthusiasm have shaped my approach to historical writing and scholarship ever since. Andrew has been an inspiration. Christina encouraged me to approach the project holistically, and reminded me not to shy away from controversial topics, of which the history of Britain’s naval aviation certainly has its share. Her own pioneering research on the RNAS and RAF helped steer me in the right direction. Special thanks is due to a number of individuals, all of whom helped me in ways both large and small. I owe particular thanks to Jordan Marliave, Guy Birks, T. J. Linzy, Jason and Shaun Campbell, Ryszard, Matt and Mike Krukowski, Timothy Choi, Louis Halewood, Mike Thornley, James Boxall, Daragh Markham, Darren Oke, David Zhou, Matthew Bento, Anna Brinkman-Schwartz, Paul Garfinkel, Weiting Guo, David Kohnen, John Abbatiello, Ross Mahoney, Dennis Haslop, Reda Hassan El Ashi, Steven Klein, James Pugh, Andre Gerolymatos, Roxanne Panchasi, James Goldrick, Matthew Seligmann, Duncan Redford, John Ferris, David Morgan-Owen, Lewis Pulsipher, Nicholas Jellicoe, B. J. Armstrong, Innes McCartney, Eric Grove, Trent Hone, Christopher Bell, Laurence Burke, Alan James, Nicholas Rodger, and all of the staff at every archive I visited, where my requests were always met with encouragement and accommodation. My wonderful family, a source of bottomless love and amazement, deserve more credit than I can express. My parents, Michael and Rebecca, both specialists in their respective fields, volleyed ideas and literature my way, and were always willing to listen. My sister, Anna, was there for me when I needed her, and our adventures have always been exceptional. Thanks is also due to Brian, Maureen, Rebecca, Alicia, and Daniel Chatfield, Sean Howlett, Matthew and Kyle Lorimer, the greatest family anyone could hope for. Lastly, I offer humble thanks to Leah, my brilliant and herculean wife and companion, whose dedication and depth of knowledge are incomparable. Without the love of my family, friends, and colleagues, this thesis simply would not exist. 3 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Table of Contents 4 Glossary of Abbreviations 6 Chapter One: Introduction 8 Research Question 10 Thesis Contribution 12 Source Material and Scope 12 Thesis Structure 16 Chapter Two: Literature Review 21 Fleet Naval Aviation and Aircraft Carrier History 22 Gunfire Spotting, the Dardanelles, German East Africa 31 The Battle of Jutland, The Flying Squadron and the Tondern Raid 32 Anti-Submarine Warfare and Convoy Protection 34 The War Zone, and the Development of Non-Rigid Airships 37 Jellicoe at the Admiralty and Reforming the Air Department 39 Air Division of the Naval Staff and the Creation of the RAF 41 Long-Range Bombing, Dunkirk, No. 3 Wing, and the 41st Wing RFC 42 Anti-Zeppelin Shed Raids in 1914, RNAS Dunkirk & No. 3 Wing, Luxeuil 43 RFC 41st Wing and the Independent Force of the RAF 46 Air Defence of Britain, Zeppelin and Gotha Raiders 47 Gotha Raids of 1917, the Debate to Create the RAF, ‘The First Blitz’ 49 Conclusion of the Literature Review 51 Chapter Three: Fleet Naval Aviation 53 Naval Airships: Unexpected Results 54 Origin of the Aircraft Carrier 64 Anti-Zeppelin: Fleet Aviation in the North Sea from Cuxhaven to Jutland 69 RNAS Raiding Resumed, the Impact of Jutland and the 1916 Reforms 73 The Wilhelmshaven Plan of 1917 77 Gunfire Spotting: Impact of the Dardanelles & East Africa in 1915 81 Kite-Balloon Carriers in the Mediterranean 86 The East Indies & Egypt Seaplane Squadron 89 The Grand Fleet Air Committee Reforms in 1917 94 Rear-Admiral Phillimore, Admiral Commanding Aircraft, and the Flying Squadron 103 Conclusion 105 Chapter Four: Anti-Submarine Warfare 108 Aircraft Against Submarines: Prewar Theory 112 4 The Introduction of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare, 1914 – 1916 118 Expansion of the Patrol Schemes During 1916 122 The Air Department and the 1917 Reforms 125 Accounting RNAS Anti-Submarine Victories in 1917-18 134 The Convoy System and Air Escort 140 The Royal Air Force and the Air Division of the Naval Staff in 1918 144 Conclusion 150 Chapter Five: Long-Range Bombing 155 Churchill and the Anti-Zeppelin Raids of 1914 156 The Dunkirk Wing and Long-Range Bombing in Belgium 158 Admiral Keyes and the Offensive Renewed 163 Naval Bombing of German Industry, Vaughan-Lee & No. 3 Wing 166 Bombing Commences, No. 3 Wing Successes in 1916-1917 169 Assessing the Impact of No. 3 Wing 175 The 41st Wing and RNAS No. 16 Squadron 176 The Independent Air Force 180 Conclusion 184 Chapter Six: Air Defence of Britain 187 Churchill’s Prewar Policy, Air Defence, 1912-1915 188 Churchill, Sueter, and Building Britain’s Air Defences 191 Balfour: Re-organisation and the Anti-Zeppelin Arms Race 195 The Importance of Signals Intelligence and Reconnaissance 200 1916, Re-armament, Re-training 203 Britain’s Air Defence in 1917 – 1918: Defeat of the Zeppelins, Beginning of the Gotha Raids 209 Decline: Naval Air Defence in 1918, and After the Creation of the RAF 216 Conclusion 219 Chapter Seven: Conclusion 221 The Impact of Naval Administration and Government Policy on the RNAS 223 The Practitioners and their Contributions to Naval