First naval airstrikes

On Christmas Day 1914, during the First World War, German aircraft attacked a British naval force - the Harwich Force - under the command of Commodore Reginal Tyrwhitt RN, in the Heligoland Bight, which threatened the Zeppelin base at Nordholz, Germany. However, although this was the first example of an air strike against hostile warships, no damage occurred. The British responded on the same day with the first combined sea and air strike – the Cuxhaven Raid - against the the Zeppelin airship sheds at Nordholz, but fog, low cloud and anti-aircraft fire precluded any significant result. The first successful naval airstrike launched from a ship against land targets in fact took place on 19 July 1918, when the British ship, HMS Furious, launched two flights totalling seven Sopwith 2F.1 Camels against the Zeppelin facility at Tondern, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The first Sopwith Camels arrived over target at 04:30 hours and totally destroyed Zeppelins L.54 and L.60.