Originally Posted by
SLXOwft
The "Hawk Jets" means 736 NAS. I understand 814, 845 and 847 were involved so if 815 were, someone can't count.
815 would have been involved in the form of the
Wildcat HM2 aboard HMS Lancaster, I am not sure if HMS
Argyll, the other T23 frigate in the exercise, was carrying a Wildcat or a Merlin. So perhaps 'four FAA squadrons' meant 'four helicopter squadrons'?
ASW helicopters are critically important - since the late 1950s they have been the primary surface fleet weapon against the enemy submarine, and taking them to sea has been a carrier role. It was that role that saved the day in the late 1960s and early 1970s after the debacle of CVA-01 and staff work based on possible operations outside of the NATO area. The need to take up to ten ASW Sea Kings resulted in a large deck design that could be modified to carry V/STOL aircraft. The
Invincible class CVS carried nine ASW Sea Kings, although in addition to ASW (and surface search) the Pingers also did utility roles like HDS and VERTREP, and when fixed wing flying was taking place one was kept at standby for SAR - parked next to the ramp. When the Merlin replaced the Sea King in the CVS based carrier role, the normal squadron size was six. The Merlin had greater endurance (five hours instead of four) and a SAR/utility Sea King was frequently embarked.
Air defence sorties were part of the CVF specification - I presume ASW ones were as well. One of the key technological developments in the 1980s was towed array sonar (either frigate or submarine), which changed ASW helicopter employment. Post 2000 the advent of Low Frequency Active Sonar has brought the ASW helicopter back to the fore, as well changing how they are employed.
On several occasions, HMS
Queen Elizabeth has put to sea with 820 NAS providing a complement of six Merlin HM2s - which I roughly assed could provide the same coverage as a squadron of nine Sea Kings that were also doing utility and SAR roles. Jungly Merlin HC4s have sometimes performed these roles, allowing 820 to focus on the course ASW role, working with the frigates. For the CSG21 deployment, 820 took seven Merlin HM2s, but three of these were adapted for Crowsnest. I assume that this is modular and could be removed and the ASW equipment reinstalled fairly quickly if the situation demanded, but a couple of extra non Crowsnest aircraft would help with ASW capability. For whatever reason, the Merlin HC4s (three of them) were embarked about RFA
Fort Victoria. The CO of 820 stated that he could fly 24 hours a day and provide between two and three lines with seven cabs.
If a pair of Merlin HM2s were aboard HMS
Prince of Wales for the recent
Joint Warrior exercises, after which she was declared to be operational, that that means we can deploy nine Merlins aboard the carrier in future - particularly on deployments nearer to home. That would been six Merlins could concentrate of ASW, and three Crowsnest aircraft could stay in that role all the time. I suspect we have promised something like that to NATO, as well as
Prince of Wales assuming the role of NATO Response Force flagship. We would expect other nations to contribute frigates, destroyers, submarines, maybe the odd tanker, and of course helicopters for ASW/ASuW/etc. The carrier can and will take control and coordinate all the aircraft within a task group, and she will also control the activities of all the submarines as well as surface warships.
It is sometimes overlooked that First World War carrier development (by the RN) was driven largely by the need to launch fighters at short notice to intercept Zeppelins, and that in the Second Would War the carrier was critical in defending merchant convoys or troop movements against U boat and aircraft attack. During the Cold War and in places like the Falklands (during the 1982 conflict), the aircraft carrier was first and foremost a platform for sea control.