General Introduction

Summary

This volume has a rather different character to that of Volume I which covered the operating years of the war between 1939 and 1941, not least on the account of Japan's entry into the Second World War on 7 December 1941 and the increased role which the Fleet Air Arm played in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1943. The struggle in the Mediterranean, which received widespread coverage in Volume I, continued and reached its peak with the efforts to relieve the siege of Malta in the summer of 1942. The Allied counter-offensive in that theatre gathered pace over the next twelve months with amphibious landings in North Africa, Sicily and finally Salerno in Italy, all of which were covered to varying degrees by carrier forces. Behind the scenes strenuous efforts were being made to expand the Fleet Air Arm in the face of inadequate shore facilities and major problems with aircraft production in Britain, both in terms of suitable types of aircraft and the ability to meet production targets. As the subtitle of this Volume, ‘The Fleet Air Arm in Transition’, suggests, the years 1942–43 marked a stepping stone between the small pre-war cadre operating from a small number of carriers to a naval air arm with modern aircraft types capable of operating a number of Fleet Carriers in the Pacific Ocean for sustained periods.

The aim of these volumes is to present an insight into the major planning and policy issues of concern to the Admiralty and extensive coverage of naval air operations. Hence the detailed introductions to Parts I and II are divided between coverage of planning and policy and that of operations. Whereas the majority of the documents in Volume I dealt with operations there is much more even balance in this volume between documents covering both key areas. This reflects the crucial nature of this period as the development and expansion of the Fleet Air Arm gathered pace, whilst also presenting coverage of an increasingly diverse range of operations.

As far as planning and policy is concerned the reader will gain a clear appreciation of the growing importance, indeed primacy, of the aircraft carrier within the proposals for the future composition of Royal Navy's surface fleet. In the short term both battleship and cruiser construction was sacrificed to expedite carrier construction, especially of what were initially referred to as Intermediate, later Light Fleet, Carriers.