machines and established the first Naval Flying
School at that place. The same year Commander O. Swann purchased from
Messrs. A. V. Roe a 35 horse-power biplane and began to carry out
experiments with different types of floats, as a result of which a
twin-float seaplane was produced--the first to rise off the water in
this country.

For some time seaplanes were in a very experimental stage and at best
could only rise from, and alight on, calm water, though it is
interesting to note that as far back as 1911 the employment of seaplanes
for torpedo attack, which I think will be one of the most important
developments of aircraft in the future, engaged the attention of the
Navy, and a Sopwith seaplane carrying a 14-inch torpedo made its first
flight at Calshot in 1913. For this reason, therefore, it appeared that
principally aeroplanes and airships would have to be employed from shore
bases for coast defence and that "carrier" ships would be necessary to
enable seaplanes to work with the Fleet.

The first stations set up were Eastchurch, Isle of Grain, Calshot,
Felixstowe, Yarmouth, Cromarty and Kingsnorth, from which at the
outbreak of war an organized coastal patrol was established.

From the outset the Naval Wing, assisted by its large percentage of
skilled technical personnel, paid great attention to experimental work
of all sorts. Thus in 1912 the detection of submarines by aircraft was
taken up, in 1913 valuable results were obtained from bomb-dropping, and
a large number of experiments in wireless, machine gunnery and fighting
carried out. In addition, efforts were made to extend the power, range
and capacity of engine and machine.

The second Naval problem, that of co-operation with the Fleet, involved
the flight of aircraft from ships and the design of aircraft carriers.
In 1911 an aeroplane for the first time took off successfully from the
deck of a cruiser at anchor, and the following year an aeroplane flew
from H.M.S. "Hibernia," while under weigh, but it was not until after
the outbreak of war that alighting on decks was successfully
accomplished. The first ship to be fitted up as a parent ship for
seaplanes was the "Hermes" in 1913.

These specialized technical requirements and developments explain why
the Naval Wing and the Royal Naval Air Service tended towards
individualism rather than cohesion. While the Military Wing, or Royal
Flying Corps, progressed further as an organized fighting force, the
Royal