This part shifts from treaty limits to the domestic politics of British air power after the First World War. The Royal Navy could not simply retain land-based aircraft, and its 1918 carrier force was too small to justify a separate air service under the settlement then imposed. The deeper loss was the Navy's direct connection to aviation engineers and technical development. Aircraft ownership could eventually be renegotiated, but rebuilding an engineering culture and industrial relationship would be much harder. That diagnosis makes institutional continuity as important as the number of aircraft retained.
Chapter · 14:04-15:25
RAF control severed naval aviation's engineering link
The most damaging consequence of transferring naval flying to the RAF is presented as the Navy's loss of direct engineering and industrial knowledge, not merely ownership of aircraft.