1935 (cont)
In order to try and keep the German naval buildup under some sort of limitation, the Anglo-German naval agreement was signed on the 18th June. This limited Germany to 35% of Britains tonnage, 45% of submarine tonnage. While seeming to give Germany the opportunities to build a considerable fleet, The Admiralty were quite happy with it for two main reasons; first, they thought that allowing Germany to build up prestigeous capital units would stop them building the 'freak fleet' of fast cruisers and submarines that was their biggest worry, and second that while Germany could in theory build up a carrier force, it had taken them, the USA and Japan well over 10 years to work out many of the problems, so any early German carriers would have to go through a similar timewasting learning curve.
While this was going on, the arguments over next years carrier construction program went on. The government understood that Germany could easily build up into a major threat, and that this meant that they could no longer ignore the need for increased defence spending. While they didn't see the German army as a threat at the moment, the Luftwaffe was clearly able to attack Britain, if not immediately then in the near future. British air defences had to be improved, and work on strengthening the RAF was speeded up. The air defences were also planned for major improvements, although delays in the 3.7" AA gun meant this would take time before it could become implemented.
The Navy argued that the air threat extended to them as well, and since it was not certain that the RAF would be available except in obvious cases like the coastal waters off the UK, the obvious way of increasing the defences of the fleet was to build more carriers. In addition, the carriers based at Scapa could also help defend the base (and if necessary Scotland), thus freeing up RAF fighters for other use. While the government agreed that this was logical in principle, there were issues over the cost and the tonnage availability under the London treaty. The navy did point out that at the moment there were ample large building slips available (while they were reserving 5 for the battleships they hoped to start in 1937, they still had ample capability to build carriers). These arguments were still ongoing when international relations again took a step closer to war.
At the same time, the DCN continued to finish its design for the next carrier. This was to be a slightly improved Ark Royal class, slightly heavier but with better facilities and somewhat better protection; studies since the design of the Ark Royal had made Admiral Chatfield concerned that the level of protection of the ships should be improved. They would also have a heavier close in AA armament of 8 x 8 2pdrs.
The other obvious difference was the length of the stern rounddown. In the first 2 ships, this had been quite large, as aerodynamic studies showed this improved the airflow over the deck for landings. However it also reduced the space available for spotting aircraft prior to a strike. This hadn't been considered important before, as the RAF had insisted that only small strikes were possible. After taking to the Americans, and after some experiments, this was shown to be completely false. As a result, the rounddown, while not eliminated completely, was shortened considerably, allowing another 100' of deck spotting area. The ships were also slightly longer, making them a little faster. This made it more difficult to dock, but the advantages of a longer ship (with a correspondingly bigger flight deck and upper hanger) were considered worth it by the FAA. In fact the new ships would carry 68 planes rather than the 64 of the original class. This was actually eggagerated to 85 (the Ark Royal had been stated publically to hold 80; not exactly untrue as this was quite feasible with a deck park) in order to hide the amount of armour used for protection of the lower spaces in the ship.
A number of studies had looked at the concept of putting the armour on the flight deck rather than the lower hanger, but the FAA had pointed out that in the event of heavy attacks the carrier would still be put out of action as a carrier, and that the damage, while probably less severe, would be more difficult to repair as in order to achieve any sort of feasible weight the armour would have to be worked structurally. The extra weight so high up in the ship would mean the ship would be single hanger only, and that some of the space would be further reduced by facilities originally lower in the ship having to be at flight deck level - indeed, the internal capacity of the ship would be halved. Showing their calculations and based on exercises, they were able to show that with the new fighters they would be getting (and with the assumption that at least a prototype version of RDF would be available in a few years), the average damage taken to the carrier (and to the ships in company) would be less with more fighters than with heavier armour.
In October Italy, with intentions of being a great power in the Mediterranean and in Northern Africa, invaded Abyssinia(Ethiopia). The Mediterranean fleet was put on alert, however the only diplomatic steps taken was that the League of Nations imposed economic sanctions against Italy. This was actually a relief to the Navy, as the air defence of the fleet was seen as inadequate against Italian air power, and there was concern that while victory against Italy at sea was highly likely, this would involve losses that would take time to recover from, and in view of the steady deterioration of the international situation this might not be possible.
In view of the area to monitor, and its remoteness, it was decided to use air power, in particular carriers, to enforce the LoN sanctions. The navy was actually very happy with this, as while it did impose wear and tear on the ships and crews involved, the experience gained in intense carrier operations in near-war conditions turned out to be invaluable. As the first pilots from the enlarged training scheme were now available, the patrols were also used to give them more intense training.
The patrol of course only strengthened the navies case for more carriers, and the treasury finally released more money for the 1936 vote as the year ended. It was looking more and more as if the new treaty would allow (at worst) more carrier tonnage, and given the worst case possibility of using new carriers to replace the inefficient older ships, the 1936 estimates would include 2 more fleet carriers to the improved design
HMS Formidable would be laid down in May 1936 to commission in May 1939
HMS Victorious would be laid down in May 1936 to commission in July 1939
It was noted that although enhancements in the supply or armour plate had been made, and that more increases were planned, the need to reserve capability for the battleships planned for 1937 meant that there was going to be a shortfall. Accordingly a foreign supplier of armour was looked for (in the event, 20,000t of armour would be supplied from the Czechs)
In order to try and keep the German naval buildup under some sort of limitation, the Anglo-German naval agreement was signed on the 18th June. This limited Germany to 35% of Britains tonnage, 45% of submarine tonnage. While seeming to give Germany the opportunities to build a considerable fleet, The Admiralty were quite happy with it for two main reasons; first, they thought that allowing Germany to build up prestigeous capital units would stop them building the 'freak fleet' of fast cruisers and submarines that was their biggest worry, and second that while Germany could in theory build up a carrier force, it had taken them, the USA and Japan well over 10 years to work out many of the problems, so any early German carriers would have to go through a similar timewasting learning curve.
While this was going on, the arguments over next years carrier construction program went on. The government understood that Germany could easily build up into a major threat, and that this meant that they could no longer ignore the need for increased defence spending. While they didn't see the German army as a threat at the moment, the Luftwaffe was clearly able to attack Britain, if not immediately then in the near future. British air defences had to be improved, and work on strengthening the RAF was speeded up. The air defences were also planned for major improvements, although delays in the 3.7" AA gun meant this would take time before it could become implemented.
The Navy argued that the air threat extended to them as well, and since it was not certain that the RAF would be available except in obvious cases like the coastal waters off the UK, the obvious way of increasing the defences of the fleet was to build more carriers. In addition, the carriers based at Scapa could also help defend the base (and if necessary Scotland), thus freeing up RAF fighters for other use. While the government agreed that this was logical in principle, there were issues over the cost and the tonnage availability under the London treaty. The navy did point out that at the moment there were ample large building slips available (while they were reserving 5 for the battleships they hoped to start in 1937, they still had ample capability to build carriers). These arguments were still ongoing when international relations again took a step closer to war.
At the same time, the DCN continued to finish its design for the next carrier. This was to be a slightly improved Ark Royal class, slightly heavier but with better facilities and somewhat better protection; studies since the design of the Ark Royal had made Admiral Chatfield concerned that the level of protection of the ships should be improved. They would also have a heavier close in AA armament of 8 x 8 2pdrs.
The other obvious difference was the length of the stern rounddown. In the first 2 ships, this had been quite large, as aerodynamic studies showed this improved the airflow over the deck for landings. However it also reduced the space available for spotting aircraft prior to a strike. This hadn't been considered important before, as the RAF had insisted that only small strikes were possible. After taking to the Americans, and after some experiments, this was shown to be completely false. As a result, the rounddown, while not eliminated completely, was shortened considerably, allowing another 100' of deck spotting area. The ships were also slightly longer, making them a little faster. This made it more difficult to dock, but the advantages of a longer ship (with a correspondingly bigger flight deck and upper hanger) were considered worth it by the FAA. In fact the new ships would carry 68 planes rather than the 64 of the original class. This was actually eggagerated to 85 (the Ark Royal had been stated publically to hold 80; not exactly untrue as this was quite feasible with a deck park) in order to hide the amount of armour used for protection of the lower spaces in the ship.
A number of studies had looked at the concept of putting the armour on the flight deck rather than the lower hanger, but the FAA had pointed out that in the event of heavy attacks the carrier would still be put out of action as a carrier, and that the damage, while probably less severe, would be more difficult to repair as in order to achieve any sort of feasible weight the armour would have to be worked structurally. The extra weight so high up in the ship would mean the ship would be single hanger only, and that some of the space would be further reduced by facilities originally lower in the ship having to be at flight deck level - indeed, the internal capacity of the ship would be halved. Showing their calculations and based on exercises, they were able to show that with the new fighters they would be getting (and with the assumption that at least a prototype version of RDF would be available in a few years), the average damage taken to the carrier (and to the ships in company) would be less with more fighters than with heavier armour.
In October Italy, with intentions of being a great power in the Mediterranean and in Northern Africa, invaded Abyssinia(Ethiopia). The Mediterranean fleet was put on alert, however the only diplomatic steps taken was that the League of Nations imposed economic sanctions against Italy. This was actually a relief to the Navy, as the air defence of the fleet was seen as inadequate against Italian air power, and there was concern that while victory against Italy at sea was highly likely, this would involve losses that would take time to recover from, and in view of the steady deterioration of the international situation this might not be possible.
In view of the area to monitor, and its remoteness, it was decided to use air power, in particular carriers, to enforce the LoN sanctions. The navy was actually very happy with this, as while it did impose wear and tear on the ships and crews involved, the experience gained in intense carrier operations in near-war conditions turned out to be invaluable. As the first pilots from the enlarged training scheme were now available, the patrols were also used to give them more intense training.
The patrol of course only strengthened the navies case for more carriers, and the treasury finally released more money for the 1936 vote as the year ended. It was looking more and more as if the new treaty would allow (at worst) more carrier tonnage, and given the worst case possibility of using new carriers to replace the inefficient older ships, the 1936 estimates would include 2 more fleet carriers to the improved design
HMS Formidable would be laid down in May 1936 to commission in May 1939
HMS Victorious would be laid down in May 1936 to commission in July 1939
It was noted that although enhancements in the supply or armour plate had been made, and that more increases were planned, the need to reserve capability for the battleships planned for 1937 meant that there was going to be a shortfall. Accordingly a foreign supplier of armour was looked for (in the event, 20,000t of armour would be supplied from the Czechs)