Coastal Command and the maritime aircraft funding problem

The argued practical end of the Ten Year Rule in 1937 coincides with the decision to return carrier aviation to naval control. Coastal Command still faced divided responsibilities: the Air Ministry provided its funding and organisation while the Navy supplied much of its operational purpose. A capability serving another service's needs can remain peripheral to the organisation paying for it. Bringing the services under one defence ministry should, in this interpretation, have helped resolve that division, yet maritime aviation continued to struggle for support. Britain's reliance on seaborne trade makes the adequacy of its modern P-8 aircraft and supporting drones a question of national defence.