HMS Daedalus 1915-1919

[Lyffe]

I'd appreciate advice about HMS Daedalus during WW1. There are numerous references on the Internet that point to HMS Daedalus being RNAS Lee-on-Solent when it was established in 1917 (for example http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/daedalus/history_ww1.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNAS_Lee-on-Solent_(HMS_Daedalus)). However, the history of the RAF College at Cranwell also records that it became HMS Daedalus during WW1 having started life as The Royal Naval Air Service Central Training Establishment (http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcranwell/aboutus/collegeHistory.cfm).

This is all rather confusing to a simple soul - two HMS Daedalus at the same time - and feel there must be a logical explanation. I'd be grateful for someone to explain exactly what was going on.

Brian

[seaJane]

Hi Brian,

Librarian/Archivist at the Fleet Air Arm Museum may be able to help: http://www.fleetairarm.com/naval-aviation-research.aspx

sJ

[battiscombe]

I understood that Daedalus was a RNAS station from 1917, taking the name of an old hulk (which was nominal 'ship' for RNAS before, incl Cranwell) which presumably was decommissioned by 1917. There are some nice early images of RNAS Daedalus in a picture/postcard history of lee-on-solent if you have not seen them.

[Lyffe]

Thank you both for your responses. I'll certainly follow up the FAA Museum suggestion, but another spell of digging has given me pause for thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Cranwell suggests that the idea Cranwell went under the name HMS Daedalus is a misconception, arising from the fact that in the first instance the naval personnel at Cranwell were held on the books of HMS Daedalus - which isn't the same as the station acquiring the name.

I'm thinking the same could be said for Lee-on-Solent and that the station didn't properly acquire the name HMS Daedalus, until it returned to the FAA in 1939 - it being an RAF airfield between the wars.

OK, just thinking aloud, but I can't imagine the RAF using a Navy name.

Brian

[battiscombe]

you may be right there. A 1932 Navy List has 'Lee on Solent' listed just as 'School of Naval Cooperation' and I cant see any Daedalus listed then in Navy List list of ships at all, so the old hulk was presumably long gone. Certainly open in summer 1939 I believe when FAA returned to Navy control (FAA still appeared in Navy List, I would note) - and a step-grandfather flew from there in 1941. But 'RAF Bases for Fleet Air Arm' as they are termed (Leuchars, Gosport etc) do not bear 'ship' names it would seem, as you point out. It is unusual in that FAA air stations generally carried names of birds (Kestrel, Fulmer, Heron etc etc), and then changed to Ariel for a while when I was living in Lee as a boy.

[John(txic)]

It should be remembered that it was the Fleet Air Arm of the RAF until 1937/38 (?) when the Admiralty regained control. This might explain some seeming inconsistencies in nomenclature of RAF Stations rather than stone frigates...

[Lyffe]

Thank you John. The point I'm trying to resolve is the fact there appeared to be three units known as HMS Daedalus existing at the same time during WW1:

1. RNAS Cranwell before it transferred to the RAF

2. RNAS Lee-on-Solent before it too transferred to the RAF

and

3. The floating pierhead, ex iron screw floating battery, which was the nominal depot ship for the RNAS.

Brian

[battiscombe]

I think that RNAS Lee on Solent was not known as Daedalus in WWI - but simply RNAS Lee on Solent and its components; and that the title (from the hulk) was used as the nominal/administrative 'ship' for RNAS members who lacked another berth, including those who were at Cranwell. When Lee on Solent became the home station for the Fleet Air Arm in 1939 -it took the same name again, reviving that tradition. In WWI there was only one HMS Daedalus. It presumably disappeared once RNAS became part of RAF. My mistake - like many I suspect who assumed Lee had always been Daedalus when this was in fact a 1939 title. But check 'Daedalus' listings in the Navy List - that would be the easiest way to confirm. I am afraid the only one I have is 1932 - when my step-GF first left the Fleet Air Arm. No Daedalus listed then.

[paul_adam]

I have the records of an RNAS man which records he was as Daedalus (Dover) in February 1918. Prior to that he was attached President I (Crystal Palace) and President I (Dover Aird). Not sure what Dover Aird was/is! Paul

[Roger Austin]

I have a history of RAFC Cranwell, produced there and created using their excellent library, which says that, "The RNAS Training Establishment Cranwell was commissioned on 1 April 1916 under the command of Commodore Godrey M Paine. Cranwell later became known as HMS Daedalus. This was not strictly correct but arose because the officers and ratings of the Central Training Establishment at Cranwell were borne on the books of HMS Daedalus which was a hulk in the Medway and the nominal depot ship for all RNAS personnel serving on other stations"

That seems to tie in with the other contributions.

Roger Austin.

[nils d]

Has anyone got a relevant copy of the NAVY LIST?. l bet that gives all the full titles.

[seaJane]

I can get to it, but not till next Wednesday. The National Library of Scotland has digitised many of its own Navy List volumes with http://archive.org/index.php so that may be quicker, at the moment...