Battleships Bombed by Billy Mitchell [1]
Battleships Bombed by Billy Mitchell
In 1923 two surplus navy battleships were bombed and sunk by aircraft under the command of Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell [3] off Cape Hatteras [4] to determine the effectiveness of air power against heavy surface ships. Mitchell, an outspoken advocate of air power, had demonstrated in 1921 what many naval strategists considered impossible-that battleships could be destroyed from the air-when he used airplanes to sink an old surplus battleship. Two years later, he set up the experiment off Cape Hatteras [4] to determine if battleships could be sunk by high-level bombing and to measure the potential for aircraft being called into combat from long distances to intercept a hostile warship. The target vessels, which were to be scrapped under postwar naval limitation treaties, were the 14,949-ton New Jersey and Virginia, built between 1902 and 1906 at a cost of $6 million each and anchored 18 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras [4].
The attacks began on the morning of 5 Sept. 1923. While officers and dignitaries watched from another ship, the first planes flew directly into action from Langley Airfield, Va., a distance of 175 miles, demonstrating the feasibility of long-range attack. The remaining planes under Mitchell flew from a temporary airfield on Hatteras. The New Jersey was shelled with 600-pound bombs from 10,000 feet, which left the ship damaged and leaking. The attack then shifted to the Virginia, which was sunk with thirteen 1,100-pound bombs from 3,000 feet in only 30 minutes. That afternoon the planes returned to send the New Jersey to the bottom in only a few minutes.
The experiment proved both the benefit of high-altitude bombing and aircraft long-range strike capability. However, debate over the use of air power against ships continued until World War II [5] conclusively demonstrated the value of air power.
References:
Burke Davis, The Billy Mitchell Story (1969).
Emile Gauvreau and Lester Cohen, Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet without Honor (1942).
William Schwarzer, The Lion Killers: Billy Mitchell and the Birth of Strategic Bombing (2003).
1 January 2006 | Branch, Paul, Jr.