MOBILE AIR FORCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 January 1939, Page 5

MOBILE AIR FORCE

GREAT BRITAIN’S NAVAL CARRIERS ARK ROYAL FIRST OF' FIVE SHIPS. PROTECTION FOR OUTLYING EMPIRE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, January 5. The Ark Royal, the great new aircraft carrier which is joining the Home Fleet for the spring cruise this yepr, is the first of five ships designed exclusively for the naval air service. Its immediate successors, Illustrious, Victorious, Formidable, and Indomitable, will be of 23,000 tons, compared with the Ark Royal's 22,000. Contracts for a sixth aircraft carrier on the programme have not yet been placed. The new ships possess great mobility and will provide a means of protection at short notice for the furthest and most isolated territories within the Empire. Their presence in Britain’s fleet air arm means that during a night’s watches a force of 300 aggressive warplanes and 8000 highly-trained fighting men could be moved over a distance of 350 miles.

Together with the complement of the existing carriers, Glorious, Furious, Courageous, Hermes and Eagle, and the seaplane carrier Albatross, a total car-rier-borne British air armada of more than 500 aeroplanes will be available for defence at sea.

In addition the navy’s battleships, battlecruisers, and cruisers, all carry seaplanes which are launched by catapult.