ABSTRACT
The variety of operations conducted by the aircraft carriers and squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm in the Mediterranean proved to be much more diverse than pre-war theories on the use of naval air power, largely concentrating on its contribution to a fleet engagement. This chapter examines the defensive and offensive aspects of early carrier operations, the role of Malta, the success of shore-based naval air deployments and the Fleet Air Arm's contribution to covering a succession of amphibious landings. The major concern during early carrier operations was the provision of effective fighter cover, the Royal Navy having assumed for much of the 1930s that attacks by shore-based aircraft could not be prevented and hence having designed armoured carriers, the aircraft of which could all be stowed in the hangar. The other major development during the war in the Mediterranean concerned the provision of air cover and support for the Army ashore in Italy.
