In 1945 the most powerful fleet in the Royal Navy's history was centered
on nine aircraft carriers. This book charts the post-war fortunes of
this potent strike force; its decline in the face of diminishing
resources, its final fall at the hands of uncomprehending politicians,
and its recent resurrection in the form of the Queen Elizabeth class
carriers, the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy.
After 1945 'experts' prophesied that nuclear weapons would make
conventional forces obsolete but British carrier-borne aircraft were
almost continuously employed in numerous conflicts as far apart as
Korea, Egypt, the Persian Gulf, the South Atlantic, East Africa and the
Far East, often giving successive British Governments options when no
others were available. In the process the Royal Navy invented many of
the techniques and devices crucial to modern carrier operations (angled
decks, steam catapults, and deck-landing aids) while also pioneering
novel forms of warfare like helicopter-borne assault, and tactics for
countering such modern plagues as insurgency and terrorism.
This book combines narratives of these operations with a clear analysis
of the strategic and political background, benefiting from the author's
personal experience of both carrier flying and the workings of
Whitehall. This new paperback edition will be welcomed by historians and
enthusiasts and has now particular significance as Britain once again
embraces carrier aviation.
