RNAS Boaz Island

RNAS Boaz Island was a Royal Naval Air Station in Bermuda. The station became the primary base for the Royal Navy in the North-West Atlantic following American independence. It was the location of a dockyard, an Admiralty House, and the base of a naval squadron.HistoryIn the 20th century, when aeroplanes were added to the naval arsenal, large warships carried seaplanes and flying boats for use in reconnaissance, directing the ship's artillery fire, and for carrying out offensive actions on their own. These aeroplanes were generally carried on, and launched from catapults, and retrieved by crane after landing on the water. Unlike aircraft carriers, the cruisers and capital ships which carried these floatplanes had very limited abilities to maintain their aeroplanes, or to protect them from the elements.Fleet Air ArmBetween World War I and World War II, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had assumed responsibility for operating the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). From 1933, an RAF detachment at the HM Dockyard, on Ireland Island, Bermuda, was responsible for the maintenance of the aeroplanes carried by the C-Class cruisers based at the station.