RN carriers with full hangars 1938 onwards

[Admiral Beez]

HMS Ark Royal was supposed to carry 60 (or 72 smaller) aircraft. The Courageous and Illustrious classes 48 aircraft, Furious 36, Eagle 24-30. But due to interwar neglect of the FAA these carriers rarely operated at full capacity. For example, for the Nov 1940 attack on Taranto, the two carriers managed to put up 21 strike aircraft, and this was, IIRC one of the largest strikes the FAA had sent out to this date.

What if the RN's carriers sailed with full hangars? First of all, to get to this ability we must have sufficient interwar and early war procurement of aircraft, engines, spares, aircrew, handlers and mechanics. These resources will have to come from somewhere, so the RAF will suffer to some degree. These larger CAGs will also need more fuel, but I think it's too early for RAS.

 

[SaparotRob]

Did the RN have fleet oilers at that time?

 

[EwenS]

RN Carrier capacity at this time is rated on how many aircraft can be accommodated in the hangars. So first a few corrections.

Eagle - 18 Swordfish (I have a diagram of her hangar layout filled with those). She also carried a fighter flight on deck with 4 Sea Gladiator (July 1940-Jan 1941).

The Illustrious class were designed around a hangar to hold 30 Swordfish and 6 Skuas in 1936. By 1940 that was reduced to 33 Albacore / Fulmar sized aircraft (these being 3-4 feet longer than Swordfish / Skua). The ability to carry deck parks was limited by the long round downs. (edit: and a lack of aircraft barriers in all carriers built prior to Ark Royal).

Indomitable was designed around 45 Albacore /Fulmar (30 in the upper hangar & 15 in the lower).

Only the two Implacables were designed around a hangar capacity of 48 Albacore / Fulmar (33 in the upper hangar & 15 in the lower) but they didn’t enter service until 1944.

In Nov 1940 Illustrious embarked her own air group of 15 Fulmars and 18 Swordfish (total 33) plus, detached from Eagle, 6 Swordfish & 2 Sea Gladiator. Eagle did not participate in Operation Judgement to Taranto as originally planned as she had suffered bomb damage from near misses and needed repairs at Alexandria. Unfortunately Illustrious lost 3 Swordfish in ditchings while on ASW patrols on 10 Nov 1940 while en route to carry out the Taranto strike. There was no time for her to return to Alexandria to collect new aircraft from reserves held there. Water in the petrol was suspected and the maintenance crews had to drain and flush out the tanks on all the remaining aircraft before the raid was carried out.

So an operation that had initially been planned around 2 carriers and 36 Swordfish was reduced by an unfortunate sequence of events to one carrier and 21 Swordfish.

The RN did have a plan to increase both aircrew and maintenance crews from 1937. In summer 1939 it was designed to produce personnel in time to form and work up new squadrons for new carriers as they came into service. But the RAF was to continue to supply pilots in the short term. They were short by 50.

When control of the FAA passed back to the RN in May 1939, a couple of front line squadrons on Courageous were converted to second line duties. Despite that and her subsequent loss new Swordfish squadrons were being created in late 1939 for service in Furious which had been the designated training carrier, and for Hermes.

When Formidable reached the Med in March 1941 she had her full complement of aircraft to which was added Illustrious’ surviving Fulmars.

So yes there was a shortage for some ships but it shouldn’t be exaggerated. And the RN had been planning in advance.

 

[EwenS]

Did the RN have fleet oilers at that time?

Yes they did. Oilers were sent to Norway in 1940 for example. But with the worldwide network of bases oiling at sea did not really begin to happen until 1941.

Historical RFA recording the History and Honour of the RFA

Bringing the History and Honour of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service to a wider audience, recording the deeds of the Service and the people who have served in it.

www.historicalrfa.org

 

[EwenS]

Sept 1939, the RN carrier position was:-

Hermes - capacity 12 Swordfish. Air group 814 squadron with 12 Swordfish. Hermes had been in use as a training ship until Aug 1939 when she was reactivated as a carrier. The Swordfish squadron had been pulled from Ark Royal.

Eagle - capacity 18 Swordfish. 813 & 824 each with 9 Swordfish.

Courageous - capacity 48. 811 & 822 Swordfish squadrons with 24 aircraft. 811 Swordfish squadron and 801 Sea Glad/Skua squadrons had been pulled in April 1939 for use as second line 700 series squadrons. 811 had reformed in Aug.

Glorious - capacity 48. 812, 823 & 825 with 36 Swordfish. 802 with 12 Sea Gladiators.

Ark Royal - capacity 60. 800 & 803 with 18 Skua. 810, 818, 820 & 821 with 42 Swordfish. 818 was newly formed as a replacement for 814 which had gone to Hermes. 818 with 9 aircraft went ashore and to Furious in Oct.

Furious - capacity 36. In Sept 1939 she was the Home Fleet training carrier following a refit. At the beginning of Oct she received 818 from Ark Royal (9 Swordfish) plus a newly formed 816 (9 Swordfish).

Argus - capacity 15. She was used for deck landing training in the Med.

So in Sept / Oct 1939 after reactivating Furious, Courageous was short of 24 aircraft including a fighter squadron. The plan had been to give her a Sea Glad squadron for which the aircraft were in storage. Ark was short 9 Swordfish after transferring 9 to Furious. And Furious was short of 18 incl a fighter squadron for which the Sea Glads had been acquired. So 51 in total from the total of 222 operational slots.

Sufficient personnel and aircraft were available to form the following over the next few months:-
801 Jan 1940 with 6 Skua.
804 Nov 1939 with 4 Sea Glad
805 May 1940 with floatplane Roc but disbanded a week later
806 Feb 1940 with 12 Skua/Roc destined for Illustrious on conversion to Fulmar.
815 Nov 1939 from surviving personnel of 811 & 822 on Courageous with new aircraft. To Illustrious.
819 Jan 1940 destined for Illustrious
826 planned for Jan 1940 but delayed to March. Destined for Formidable.
829 Jun 1940 destined for Formidable.

In May 1939 the RN looked forward to its carrier deployments in 1942. In those Argus and Eagle did not figure at all and Furious was the training carrier without a designated airgroup. By them all 6 Illustrious/Implacable class were expected to be in service. Aircrew, maintenance and aircraft were being arranged to meet those schedules with peacetime wastage rates.

Edit:- IIRC the FAA training pipeline was to generate about 50 pilots and 50 observers per month during the first 6 months of the war.

 

[EwenS]

Per ADM 1/1011 dated 25 May 1939, it was the shortage of RAF pilots on loan to the FAA that caused the reduction in the number of squadrons on Courageous. New squadrons for that ship were expected to form around July 1940.

ADM 1/10114 On 2 Sept 1939 the FAA was short 100 pilots and 78 observers. It also notes

“Maintenance Personnel
Adequate numbers of on loan from RAF and training now going on will meet expansion.” And

“Lack of balance at the moment lies in provision of stores and operational equipment which is delaying the formation of new squadrons.
Balance only exists in crew strengths if 100 Pilots are transferred immediately from the RAF.”

Basically the equipment problems were caused by need for previously unplanned squadron formations and delays in deliveries agreed with the Air Ministry.