1937 (cont)
For some years the British Government had been trying to get Australia to buy a modern capital ship to strengthen its (admittedly weak) defences, but Australia had always found the idea too expensive. Consideration had been given to 'gifting' them a ship built around the 4 spare 15" turrets still held in stock , but even this way it would still cost around £5.5M
Given the new light carrier design, a new suggestion was made - why not buy a light carrier, plus its airgroup, and a few escorts? This would cost half of what a battleship would cost (the running costs were only slightly smaller, but they didn't stress that point!).
The function of the RAN was not to fight the Japanese fleet. It was to supplement RN forces, and provide a reasonable basis for showing Australia was doing enough to justify RN reinforcement. If the Japanese attacked and RN forces were not in place, their job was to buy time for a fleet to arrive from UK waters. A carrier would actually do a better job in many respects than a battleship; it could cover a much greater area with its planes, and discommode light forces over a greater area. If a second was purchased, these and their escorts could cover 2-3 places at once, while only costing the same as a battleship, while together they would be a formidable striking force against anything not supported by its own carriers.
Secondly, such a purchase would solve the problem of the RAAF, who had no modern fighters. The Gloster Goshawk would be very suitable to the land based role - it could fly off unprepared or primitive strips, it was tough (built to handle carrier landings), fast and capable of outperforming anything in the area, sea or land based. Licenses could be arranged for the aircraft and engine, and the Australians could start to supply their own aircraft in a couple of years (by the time the carrier could be delivered). The naval version would equip their carrier.
Australia was quite interested in the idea. It still couldn't afford a battleship, but the new war in China made it clear that they couldn't just keep on ignoring Japan, and getting the bonus of a modern fighter, built in Australia made it a very interesting idea to them. It was also a good deal for the UK (who were involved in arranging generous licensing terms), as they were running out of shipbuilding ways (or more accurately the manpower to build ships as fast as required), and orders in hand were already at the limits of the British aircraft industry. The new China-Japan war was the final argument, and a deal was made that a light carrier would be built in the UK for Australia (the indiginous shipbuilding capacity couldn't handle so large a ship), being laid down in September 1937 for delivery in November 1939.
A production line for the Goshawk and the Hercules engine would be set up in Australia (although some equipment would, at least initially, have to come from the UK). Two carrier escort destroyers would be built in the UK, and two in Australia (with the assumption that further escorts would all be built in Australia). Australian pilots would be trained as part of the FAA, to gain experience ready for the delivery of the carrier.
The other big development as far as the FAA (and indeed the rest of the Navy) is concerned is radar. This has now been under development for 2 yearas, and the results have been very promising. There was an initial parallel development program with the RAF, but this only progressed slowly (which was of increasing worry to the FAA, as they saw it as essential to efficient operation of their new planes and carriers), and it was decided to bring the programs under the overall coordination of Watson-Watt, and as a result a prototype version of the Type 79 air warning radar was successfully demonstrated in the middle of the year.
HMS Glorious was due to go in for her refit and modernisation in September, expected out in January 1938, and she would be fitted with the first model for full evaluation. HMS Rodney and HMS Sheffield would also be fitted at about the same time for an evaluation .
HMS Colussus commissions in November, which allows planning to start for the refit of HMS Courageous. It is expected to allow for the installation of a radar system during the refit.
Of equal interest was the demonstration in August of a prototype AS radar developed by Eddie Bowen. This showed it could be possible to fit a radar capable of detecting surface ships on an aircraft, which if it worked would expend the capability of the FAA to detect ships in poor weather and night immeasurably. While it was currently fitted on an Anson, it was felt that if it worked it could be carried by the Swordfish.
Good news in October was that the Hispano 404 was fully licensed for production in the UK. The version is modified from the original version, with a stronger spring mechanism to allow it to work properly sideways, and a belt feed to allow a larger ammunition supply and to fit properly into the thin wings of the new fighters. The FAA is allocated a proportion of them. During the modification period they have been experimenting with a wing containing two cannon plus two .5", and one with 4 cannon (the original RAF experiments indicated that 4 cannon was the best solution). While both are suitable for use, due to the initial shortages of cannon, the intent is to produce the first 150 planes with 4 .5", the next 150 with 2 cannon and 2 .5", and then to move to four cannon for follow-on orders.
During the year Naval Intelligence has been keeping a close eye on the developments in naval aviation in rival countries.
In Germany, they have noted an increase in priority in the building of the Graf Zeppelin; this seems to have been achieved at the expense of the Tirpitz. Oddly, they do not seem to have been able to detect ant developments in torpedo planes, or dedicated naval aircraft. Their current assumption is that Germany will navalise a fighter and probably a Ju-87 as dive-bomber, but they are concerned that they haven't detected a modern torpedo plane. The Intelligence staffs are instructed to concentrate their efforts on finding it.
Japan is of course rather busy in China. It is much more difficult to get details on Japanese construction, but indications are that the demands of the war have if anything slowed naval construction. The Navy is keeping an interested eye on the use of Japanese carriers to support land operations.
The Japanese have a new torpedo bomber undergoing flight testing, the Nakajima B5 'Kate'. It is assumed that the testing will be accelerated to allow it to be combat tested in China. There is limited intelligence on this plane, but it is thought to be fast and long ranged. They are also thought to have a new dive bomber under development, but as yet little is known about the plane.
France is now considering a replacement for the aged Bearn, and looking with interest at the Royal Navy's light carriers, which they see as more cost-effective for them than a fleet carrier. Negotiations are in hand for one to be built in British yards, with a possible second ship to be built in France.
Italy is heavily involved in Spain, and as a result seems to be rather neglecting its naval aviation, although the traditional naval building program continues. Development seems to be on prototype, and it is assumed that the demands of Spain on the small Italian aircraft industry will continue to limit any major deployment of aircraft. The Italians have debued a new dive bomber, the Breda Ba.65, in the Spanish Civil war, and its performance is seen as good, although its range is thought to be limited
In America, the issue is, as usual, politics not resources. A new carrier, the USS Hornet, is to be laid down in September 1937, and it is thought the bringing forward of this ship is due to the RN building program. Or maybe the China-Japan war. Or maybe for some other non-understandable American reason, the Admiralty often has difficulty working out the logic of the US building program.
The Americans have a new torpedo bomber entering service, the Douglas TBD Devastator. This has considerably better performance than the Swordfish, and one of the aims of the new torpedo bomber design is to comfortably improve on the devastator. They also have a new fighter, the Brewster F2A Buffalo, due to fly late in the year. This comes as no surprise as the performance of their current biplane fighter is well below that of the Goshawk, an initial data suggests the new plane will have a similar performance (although it isn't expected into service until 1939)
