HMS Hermes took part in a full exercise in 1913 to test how a specialist ship could support aircraft. Guns were removed and a canvas hangar erected for a couple of aircraft, while another aircraft left out on deck worked poorly after only a few days. British naval aviation was also struggling to find a stable organization. Naval aviation had drawn personnel from the Royal Aero Club before its incorporation into the Royal Flying Corps in 1912, an amalgamation intended to develop aviation more quickly. The naval element separated again in 1914 to form the Royal Naval Air Service. These repeated changes exposed the difficulty of deciding how naval flying should relate to army and land-based aviation.
Chapter · 29:00-31:29
HMS Hermes and the struggle to organize naval air power
The 1913 Hermes exercises tested shipboard support while repeated mergers and separations revealed uncertainty over who should control British aviation.