Courtesy of Wikipedia
There has never been a country without a significant naval force that has defeated a country with a naval force in modern history. From Napoleon to Hitler, their countries felt the affects of fighting an enemy that dominated the seas. The preeminence of Naval sea power in the early 20th century was the dreadnaught class battleship. So powerful and armored was this class of battleships that naval tacticians believed at the time that only a dreadnaught could sink another dreadnaught. General Billy Mitchell and other believers in the importance of air power and the role that it would have in wars battled against the belief in the preeminence of surface naval warships. Mitchell would forever change tacticians’ views on the importance of aircraft through publicity and the use of the Martin NBS-1 to bomb naval ships.
The Martin NBS-1 was produced during the final months of World War I. Built as a scout bomber originally by the Glenn L. Martin Company; the Martin NBS-1’s primary designation was as a “Night Bomber Short-Range”. A relative advanced aircraft for its time, the Martin had several factors, which made it not only a capable bomber, but also a perfect match for Mitchell’s tests. The Martin was built out of wood and canvas and had the standard biplane configuration of the 1920s which would provide the extra lift needed for heavy bomb loads. The Martin was defended with five .30 caliber machine guns that were placed in a 360 degree defensive placements around the aircraft. A crew of four operated the Martin NBS-1. With a wingspan of over 74 feet and at a length of 42 feet the Martin NBS-1 was a rather large biplane for its day. Not only did it have an absolute ceiling of 9,900 feet[1], but it also had a range of 400 miles with a cruising speed of 91mph. [2]The Martin was also equipped with an engine that was originally too powerful and advanced for almost all of the aircraft of World War I, the Liberty Engine. [3] Equipped with two liberty engines and the ability to carry 2,000lbs of bombs[4], the Martin served as a ready bomber that would help accomplish Mitchell’s bombing trials. 110 Martin NBS-1s were produced by several different aircraft manufacturers; Lowe Willard and Fowler Engineering Company of College Point, New York, Curtiss Aircraft, and Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company of Keyport, New Jersey.[5] were produced by several The Martin NBS-1 operation capabilities would allow this aircraft to continue to serve in the United States military until it was phased out from 1928-1929.
Courtesy of the National Museum USAF
The man who helped the Martin NBS-1 gain notoriety was none other than America’s own scion of airpower, General William Mitchell. Born in 1879, Mitchell is regarded as the father of the United States Air Force. [6]Originally enlisting in the Army as a Private during the Spanish American War, Mitchell quickly earned his commission in the signal corps. As early as 1906 Mitchell was already predicting that future conflicts would increasingly be fought in the air. Considered too old by the United States Army for flight training, Mitchell, age 38, took private flying lessons.
Courtesy of www.af.mil
In the beginning of World War I, Mitchell was sent over to France to learn the strategies of both the British and the French airmen. A quick learner, Mitchell was able to gain enough knowledge and experience to begin planning for American air operations on the front lines. Famous for his courage and daring, Mitchell was promoted to Brigadier General and led the first coordinated air-ground offensive in the history of warfare. [7]After the completion of World War I, Mitchell returned to the States and became the deputy director of the Army Air Service.
Mitchell did not agree with the belief of the time that World War I was the war to end all wars. He repeatedly stated in his position as deputy director of the Army Air Service that “If a nation ambitious for universal conquest gets off to a flying start in a war of the future, it may be able to control the whole world more easily than a nation has controlled a continent in the past”.[8] His continuing belief that there would be another war and that airpower was the key to winning that war made Mitchell enemies in both the military and federal government. Fortunately for Mitchell, he was aided by America’s unwillingness to financially support a costly military. Being not only a proponent of air power, but also a shrewd promoter, Mitchell marketed air power as a means to protect America’s shores that could be maintained more cheaply than battleships. In order to prove that air power could protect America from foreign Navies, Mitchell established the 1st Provisional Air Brigade and used this brigade to conduct bombing raids during “Project B”.
Project B was the operational code name given to Mitchell’s tests to prove his theory that military aircraft could sink a ship during combat operations. Being run in coordination with both the Army and the Navy, Project B ran from May 1921 until September 1923.[9] Following the Navy’s unimpressive try to invalidate air power by “sinking” an old battleship using dummy sandbag bombs and using high explosives placed on the ship, Project B was forced to accept conditions with which to conduct the test. Unfortunately for Project B and Mitchell, the Navy was able to take part in drafting the conditions for the bombing tests. The conditions for Project B were as follows[10]:
1. The area had to be 50 miles off of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. [11]
2. Aerial torpedoes were forbidden.
3. Planes were allowed only two hits on the battleship using their heaviest bombs.
4. Bombers had to stop between hits in order to allow damage assessment parties to board the ships.
5. Smaller ships could not be hit by a bomb which was larger than 600lbs.[12]
These conditions that were drafted jointly with the Navy and Army limited the validity of Project B’s results. This lack of valid information led both General Mitchell and the Navy to author different reports concerning the success of Mitchell’s MartinNBS-1. Naval tacticians reported that due to the fact that the ships were neither moving nor defending themselves, that Project B’s results were invalid and that Mitchell’s proposal that air power could protect America’s shore from an enemy’s fleet was ludicrous. General Mitchell countered the Navy’s report by stating the obvious that he had in fact sank what had been determined to be an unsinkable ship, the Ostfriesland, and numerous other small ships, merely through the use of air power. What immediately resulted from these tests was a public relations campaign launched by General Mitchell to gain the support of the American people. Largely effective, Mitchells’ public relations campaign worked and Congress allowed him to continue testing the strengths of aerial bombardment in defending America’s shores from foreign fleets. Project B later sunk the battleship Alabama in September of 1921 and the battleships Virginia and New Jersey in 1923[13] thus validating the results received from the sinking of the Ostfriesland.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
Having proven the efficacy of air power to sink modern naval warships to the American public[14], Congress redrew budgets in order to coerce the Navy into considering the capabilities of air power and further aircraft innovation. Not happy with how he was being treated by his superiors and worried that even with the redrawing of the budgets, that the military infrastructure was not heeding his call for air power development, Mitchell published a 324 page report titled Winged Defense that not only looked to the benefits of further development in air power but also predicted a future war with Japan, including the attack on Pearl Harbor.[15] In his report, General Mitchell states that “Those interested in the future of the country…air power has not only come to stay, but is, and will be, a dominating factor in the world’s development”. Unfortunately for both Mitchell and the United States, Winged Defense was hardly read outside of the aviation community. [16]
Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune 1921
The success of both Mitchell and the Martin NBS-1 while minimized by the military leaders was still able to lead to the reshaping of America’s military organization. Due to the funds that Congress had reallocated towards growing America’s air power, Mitchell’s successors were able to begin the creation of a modern day air force that was adequate to protect America’s shores.
The air power of America grew in fits and starts. Hampered like all military programs during the 1930s, the growth of both land borne and sea borne aircraft was slow. Before America’s entrance into World War II, America’s Army had a total of 67 Heavy Bombers, 12 Medium and Light Bombers, 26 Fighters, 6 Troop Carriers, and 8 Reconnaissance Aircraft.[17] While the Navy still considered battleships and other ships of the line to be the keys to success, it still built a respectable sized carrier force. At the offset of World War II the United States Navy had seven active carriers and one seaplane tender, the USS Langley. [18]
Courtesy of www.history.navy.mil
While the air power that was created lacked the ability to extend America’s power abroad and thus hampered its abilities to initially fight during World War II, neither Congress nor the military had shaped their air power to be an offensive force. While the Japanese were successful in their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s air power was sufficient to push the Japanese forces back towards Japan, culminating in the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway, thus allowing America time to grow its offensive capabilities.
After World War II and during the Cold War years, America continued to grow its air power. Nations around the world entered into a race to create the most advanced and lethal aircraft. No nation was considered a viable international power without a Navy capable of delivering aircraft anywhere in the world. Battleships, once the flagships of the Navy, were either decommissioned and sent to the scrap yards or put into storage in order to serve as a reserve force. The Aircraft Carrier, became the flagship of the Navy and the centerpiece of every major battle group. Unthinkable during General Mitchell’s years, the development of air power and the production of aircraft have out paced both naval vessels and land-based armaments. What started this drive towards the major development of air power was the Martin NBS-1 and its successful sinking of the Ostfriesland. Without the Martin NBS-1, the Japanese might have handedly defeated the United States during World War II and history would have been very different.
Connect with Joshua on LinkedIn
Follow Josh on Twitter @alertingmainst
[1] By 1920, the absolute ceiling was increased to 25,600ft when the Martin was fitted with superchargers.
[2] Martin MB-2. http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2415 (accessed November 1, 2008).
[3] R.G. Grant; “Flight: 100 years of Aviation”. He states that while the Liberty Engine could be mounted on many of the aircraft of World War I, the Liberty Engine would produce an uncontrollable aircraft due to the engine producing 400 horsepower.
[4] Martin MB-2. http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2415 (accessedNovember 1, 2008).
[5] Ibid., 2008
[6] William, Lieutenant Colonel. "Maj Gen William "Billy" Mitchell: A Pyrrhic Promotion." Air and Space Power Journal, 2006.
[7] Cooke, James. The U.S. Air Service in the Great War: 1917-1919. Westport, Conneticut: Praeger Publishers, 1996.
[8] Cooke, James. The U.S. Air Service in the Great War: 1917-1919. Westport, Conneticut: Praeger Publishers, 1996.
[9] Reid, John. Bomb the Dreadnoughts! Air Classics, 2006.
[10] Reid, John. Bomb the Dreadnoughts! Air Classics, 2006.
[11] This condition drafted by the Navy minimized the bombers’ time on target.
[12] This rule prevented the bombers from performing a true test of their capability. While most naval tacticians believed that it was impossible for aircraft to sink a battleship, they did believe that it was possible for air power to sink smaller ships. By not allowing the bombers to use bombs that were heavier than 600lbs on small ships, the Navy intentionally tried to skew the numbers to lessen air power’s test results.
[13] Reid, John. Bomb the Dreadnoughts! Air Classics, 2006.
[14] According to Reid, there is doubt among Naval historians about the real efficacy of the ability of 1920s aircraft to sink a modern warship in actual combat conditions. The Navy continued to try and discount General Mitchell’s report of Project B’s success during the 1920s but eventually lost the public relations campaign of the American public.
[15] William, Lieutenant Colonel. "Maj Gen William "Billy" Mitchell: A Pyrrhic Promotion." Air and Space Power Journal, 2006.
[16] Ibid., 2006
[17] "Table 1 -- Combat Groups Overseas by Location and in Continental US by State of Training, By Type of Group: Dec 1941." Army Air Forces in World War II. http://www.usaaf.net/digest/t1a.htm (accessed November 2, 2008).
[18] US Aircraft Carriers in World War II . 2003. http://ehistory.osu.edu/wwii/USNCV.cfm (accessed November 2, 2008).
Sources
Cooke, James. The U.S. Air Service in the Great War: 1917-1919. Westport, Conneticut: Praeger Publishers, 1996.
Grant, R.G. Flight: 100 years of aviation. DK Adult, 2007. —. Flight: The Complete History. New York, New York: DK Publishing, 2007.
Martin MB-2. http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2415 (accessed November 1, 2008).
Mitchell, William. Winged Defense. Dover Publications, 1925.
Reid, John. Bomb the Dreadnoughts! Air Classics, 2006.
"Table 1 -- Combat Groups Overseas by Location and in Continental US by State of Training, By Type of Group: Dec 1941." Army Air Forces in World War II. http://www.usaaf.net/digest/t1a.htm (accessed November 2, 2008).
US Aircraft Carriers in World War II . 2003. http://ehistory.osu.edu/wwii/USNCV.cfm (accessed November 2, 2008).
William, Lieutenant Colonel. "Maj Gen William "Billy" Mitchell: A Pyrrhic Promotion." Air and Space Power Journal, 2006.