At the beginning of the war the Germans enjoyed an advantage in the possession of some dirigible airships, which sailed in calm airs, unimpeded, over the North Sea, surveyed its full extent, and reported what they saw to the German naval authorities. Their number rapidly increased. Thus the British Fleet was to a certain extent hampered in its operations. Now the situation is changed. The enemy’s airships know the peril of coming within range of anti-aircraft guns, and they dread the “hornets” which carry special means of setting them on fire. There are British airships, too, and observation captive balloons, fixed and towed, as well as seaplanes, maintained in adequate numbers. The seaplane played a useful part in the battle of the Jutland Bank, and craft of the class will astonish the enemy in any subsequent naval engagement.
The dropping of bombs by the seaplanes or aeroplanes of the Royal Naval Air Service has become the most prominent of its activities. The machines are of great power, and, acting in numbers, they have been able to drop an enormous weight of bombs on the enemy positions, particularly in the districts behind the coast of West Flanders. Within the space of four or five months 70 tons of explosives were dropped on the German aerodromes in Northern Belgium. Brave naval airmen in July, 1917, from a height of 800 feet, dropped bombs on the _Goeben_ and other enemy warships at the Golden Horn, and hit the Turkish War Office also. In this work the young officers—for the service demands youth—have given proof of exceeding keenness. It would be difficult to catalogue the expeditions of the naval airmen on the Belgian coast. They have assisted in most important operations.
How far such work may be continued, to what range carried, or what will be the full effect, we do not know. The Navy-that-Flies will leave nothing undone that is capable of accomplishment. It has operated in association with the work of French flying men on many occasions, at the bombardment of Zeebrugge and elsewhere. It will find a powerful co-worker in the new and gallant allies who are bringing all their force to bear from beyond the Atlantic. The United States air service will develop with extraordinary rapidity, and its co-operation will be warmly welcomed by British naval airmen. So abundant is the confidence of Americans, so strong and virile their faith in themselves, that some of them look to the aeroplane to end the war. Rear-Admiral Bradley A. Fiske has demanded an immediate naval attack on the German fleet and submarine bases in the Baltic by a monster fleet of aeroplanes and seaplanes. He believes that the importance of naval aerial operations is not sufficiently realised by the Allies and that Essen may be destroyed by bombardment from the air.