Seaplanes and warships

[willycoppens]

Hi,
Were seaplanes assigned to warships for observation duties ? Thanks to all, willy

Willy,
Not that I know of, but the British mounted "flying off platforms" on the turrets of their battleships of the Grand Fleet. These operated Camels for the most part. Aircraft were ditched at sea after operations with pilots being (hopefully) recovered by escorting ships.Specially developed hydroplanes were mounted on undercarriage crossmembers to aid in ditching.

[Regulus]

Hi,

There were also a number of 'converted seaplane carriers' in service with the British. Examples are HMS Engadine, HMS Campania, HMS Empress, HMS Riviera, HMS Manxman, HMS Ben-My-Chree and yes even HMS Ark Royal just to name a few.
This made operations at sea a lot easier as the plane had no longer to be ditched at sea afterwards.

Best from Johan

[willycoppens]

Dear Regulus,
Thanks again! Was that HMS Ark Royal the same ship that made history in Scapa Flow some years later courtesy of Herr Prien ? willy

[Volker_Nemsch]

Hello Willy!

The "Ark Royal" you are thinking of was most probably the battleship "Royal Oak". Prien sunk this old battleship in Scapa Flow in 1939. The "Royal Oak" was put into service during WW1 but after several modifications it was still a danger for all German and Italian ships in the early days of WW2.

The other famous "Ark Royal" was built during the 1930´s and was sunk in 1941 by U-81 near Gibraltar. So the WW1 "Ark Royal" was a predecessor of this famous aircraft carrier.

Hope this helps!

[Regulus]

No, this was the original HMS Ark Royal, constructed in 1914 and had only 7450 BRT.
I think we start to talk aboutmore realistic aircraft carriers with the HMS Furious, HMS Vindictive,, HMS Argus.

For example Furious, completed in July 1917 had originally about 6 seaplanes I think Shorts and 6 Sopwith Pups, it was of 19100 BRT.

Vindicitive (so not the Vindictive of the Zeebrugge raid !) was completed in October 1918 and had only 9750 BRT.

Argus was completed in September 1918 and displaced 15774 BRT.

Some of the mentioned seaplane carriers were lost. *Campania was in a collision with HMS Glorious during a gale in the Firth of Forth on the 5th November 1918. *The Ben-My-Chree was sunk on the 11th January 1917 by gunfire from the Turkish guns protecting Kastelorizo harbour.

The sinking of the other Ark Royal is explained by Volker I just see, and the Oak Royal sunk by Gunther Prien of U47 was one of the spectacular starts of WW II for the U-boat weapon a bit the same way as Weddigen did with U9 when he sank the cruisers HMS Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy in less then an hour on the 22nd September 1914.

BTW I take every occasion I can to repeat once more that the U-boat war in WW I was much more spectacular then the one of WW II. *But their story is almost unknown.

Best from Johan *

Hi,
* Were seaplanes assigned to warships for observation duties ? *Thanks to all, *willy

Willy,
I remembered last night as I was drifting off, that yes, there were floatplanes assigned to warships during WWI. Some Pennsylvania and Tennesee class armoured cruisers carried Curtiss "F" type flying boats at some point during the war. There is also a photograph of what appears to be a "R" type floatplane. These were used with stern mounted catapaults.

Willy,
I remembered last night as I was drifting off, that yes, there were floatplanes assigned to warships during WWI. Some Pennsylvania and Tennesee class armoured cruisers carried Curtiss "F" type flying boats at some point during the war. There is also a photograph of what appears to be a "R" type floatplane. These were used with stern mounted catapaults.

Yes, and I think one of the best descriptions of these ops were contained in a book published by US Naval Institute Press entitled "U.S. Armored Cruisers" by Ivan Musicant. It gives a brief overview of seaplane and captive balloon operations. It is brief, but is nevertheless the greatest amount of print I have ever seen devoted to the subject. They have a very nice picture of USS North Carolina with a load of Curtis N-9 seaplanes, Henry Mustin flying off Tennessee in an F-boat, ca 1915, and a view of North Carolina's catapult and a/c handling tracks from above.

The very book I got my info from! It's a good one.

The German Navy operated several Armed Merchant Cruisers with seaplanes aboard. I read a book "The voyage of the Cruser Wolf" which pertains to that. They were used to mainly spot for the cruisers. Artur