Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 3:57:38-3:58:55

Royal Navy multi-carrier doctrine before the Second World War

Britain practiced coordinated multi-carrier strikes in the interwar period but wartime demands scattered its carriers before they could often mass that way in combat.

Aircraft CarriersCarrier DoctrineImperial Japanese NavyInterwar PeriodMass Air StrikesRoyal NavyUS Navy
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Question

Was Japan the only navy capable of launching a coordinated hundred-aircraft carrier strike?

Short answer

No; Britain and the United States had multi-carrier doctrine too, though Britain rarely had enough carriers free to concentrate early in the war.

Notes

Japan was not the only navy able to coordinate a hundred-aircraft carrier strike. The Royal Navy practiced multi-carrier operations from the 1920s because it expected to fight a war involving several flight decks. The US Navy developed comparable concepts. Britain's desperate global commitments kept its carriers spread across multiple theaters, so doctrine existed before the ships could often be concentrated in wartime.