This is the first book to focus on the Fleet Air Arm's contribution to naval operations in the Mediterranean after the Italian declaration of war in June 1940. The Royal Navy found itself facing a larger and better-equipped Italian surface fleet, large Italian and German air forces equipped with modern aircraft and both Italian and German submarines. Its own aircraft ...
Adm. Joseph Mason Reeves (1872–1948) took command of the U.S. Navy’s nascent carrier arm during a critical period, transforming it from a small auxiliary command in support of the battle line into a powerful strike force. Until the carrier commanders of World War II proved their mettle, Reeves’s expertise in the use of the aircraft carrier in naval tactics was ...