1921-Continued

7 March Captain William A. Moffett relieved Captain

Thomas T. Craven as Director of Naval Aviation.

15 March The Metallurgical Laboratory at the Naval

Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia, Pa., reported that a

high-strength, chromium-vanadium steel alloy had

proven satisfactory both in extensive laboratory tests

and in the actual manufacture of aircraft fittings. These

findings marked an important advance in the develop-

ment of metal as a high-strength aircraft structural

material.

16 June Two CR-1 Curtiss racers were ordered, the

first of the series with which Navy and Army fliers

captured many world speed records.

1 July The following basic ratings were established

in the Aviation Branch: Aviation Machinist's Mate,

Aviation Metalsmith, Aviation Carpenter's Mate,

Aviation Rigger and Photographer. Although prior to

this time certain general service ratings had been iden-

tified parenthetically as pertaining to aviation, qualifi-

cations for them required meeting the standards of the

general rating in addition to those required for the avi-

ation specialty. The ratings established on this date

were the first concerned specifically with aviation and

based solely on aviation requirements.

12 July An Act of Congress created a Bureau of

Aeronautics, charged with matters pertaining to naval

aeronautics as prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy.

W A. Moffett the first Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics 466366

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

49

21 July The bombing tests-The German battleship

Ostfriesland was sunk by heavy bombs dropped by

Army bombers in the last of a series of tests to deter-

mine the effectiveness of air weapons against combat-

ant ships, and the means by which ship design and

construction might counter their destructive capability.

The tests, in which the Army participated at the invita-

tion of the Navy, were carried out off the Virginia

Capes beginning 21 June. On that day, the German

submarine U-117 was sunk by 12 bombs dropped

from Navy F-5Ls at 1,100 feet. On the 29th, Navy air-

craft located the radio-controlled U.S. battleship ex-

Iowa (Battleship No.4) in 1 hour and 57 minutes after

being alerted of her approach somewhere within a

25,000 square mile area and attacked with dummy

bombs. On 13 July, Army bombers sank the German

destroyer G-102, and on the 18th the German light

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The Ostfriesland under attack in 1921 Army-Navy bombing test.

Mining effects of hits like this sank her 161903

cruiser Frankfurt went down under the combined

effect of 74 bombs delivered by Army and Navy air-

craft. Tests against the Ostfriesland began on 20 July

when Army, Navy and Marine Corps planes dropped

52 bombs, and they ended the next day when the

Army delivered eleven 1,000- and 2,000-pounders. The

Navy had originally planned the tests to provide

detailed technical and tactical data on the effectiveness

of aerial bombing against ships and the value of com-

partmentation in enabling ships to survive bomb dam-

age; the Army participated for the purpose of portray-

ing the superiority of air power over sea power. The

divergence in purposes and resulting differences in

operational plans were not reconciled and, in conse-

quence, the Navy's purposes were not realized. The

significance of the tests was hotly debated, and

became a bone of contention between a generation of

Army and Navy air officers. The one firm conclusion

that could be drawn was that aircraft, in unopposed

attack, could sink capital ships.