Editing RAF Coastal Command (section)

{{Short description|Former command of the Royal Air Force}}
{{redirect|Coastal Command|the 1942 British film|Coastal Command (film)}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2020}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name         = Royal Air Force Coastal Command
|image             = Coastal-cmd600.jpg
|image_size        = 175px
|caption           = [[Heraldic badges of the Royal Air Force|RAF Coastal Command badge]]
|dates             = 14 July 1936 – 27 November 1969<ref>Ashworth 1992, p. 13.</ref><ref name="Ashworth 1992, p. 222">Ashworth 1992, p. 222.</ref>
|country           = {{flagicon|UK}} United Kingdom
|allegiance        =
|branch            = {{air force|UK}}
|role              = [[Anti-submarine warfare]]<br /> [[Commerce raiding]]<br /> [[Aerial reconnaissance]]<br /> [[Air-sea rescue]]<br /> Weather reconnaissance{{sfn|Saunders|Richards|1975|pp=72–79}}
|size              =
|command_structure = [[Royal Air Force]]
|garrison          = 1936–1939: [[RAF Lee-on-Solent]]<br />1939–1969: [[Northwood Headquarters|Northwood]]
|garrison_label    = Headquarters
|equipment         =
|equipment_label   =
|nickname          =
|patron            =
|motto             = ''Constant Endeavour''<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pine|first1=L.G.|title=A dictionary of mottoes|date=1983|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|location=London|isbn=0-7100-9339-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmott00tion/page/38 38]|edition=1|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmott00tion/page/38}}</ref>
|colors            =
|colors_label      =
|march             =
|mascot            =
|battles           = [[Second World War]]<br />[[Cold War]]
|anniversaries     =
|decorations       =
|battle_honours    = Arctic 1940–1945<br />Atlantic 1939–1945<br />Baltic 1939–1945<br />Biscay 1940–1945<br />Bismarck<br />German Ports 1940–1945
<!-- Commanders -->
|current_commander=
|current_commander_label=
|ceremonial_chief=
|ceremonial_chief_label=
|colonel_of_the_regiment=
|colonel_of_the_regiment_label=
|notable_commanders= [[Air Marshal]] Sir [[Frederick Bowhill]]<br />[[Air Chief Marshal]] Sir [[Philip Joubert de la Ferté]]
<!-- Insignia -->
|identification_symbol=
|identification_symbol_label=
|identification_symbol_2=
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<!-- Aircraft -->
|aircraft_attack=
|aircraft_bomber=
|aircraft_electronic=
|aircraft_fighter=
|aircraft_interceptor=
|aircraft_recon=
|aircraft_patrol=
|aircraft_trainer=
|aircraft_transport=
}}

'''RAF Coastal Command''' was a [[formation (military)|formation]] within the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into [[RAF Fighter Command|Fighter]], [[RAF Bomber Command|Bomber]] and Coastal commands and played an important role during the [[Second World War]]. Maritime Aviation had been neglected in the inter-war period, due to disagreements between the [[Royal Navy]] (RN) and RAF over the ownership, roles and investment in maritime air power.<ref name=":0">Buckley, 2018. p.85</ref>

The Admiralty's main concern until 1937 was the return of the [[Fleet Air Arm]] to the Royal Navy while the RAF concentrated on the development of a bombing force to provide a deterrent. Coastal Command was referred to as the "Cinderella Service" by [[A. V. Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough|A V Alexander]], the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] in November 1940.<ref>Buckley, 2018.p179</ref> Soon after [[RAF Coastal Area]] was elevated to Coastal Command, its headquarters moved from [[Lee-on-Solent]] to [[Northwood Headquarters|Northwood]] in northwest London.

During the [[Second World War]], Coastal Command's most important contribution was the protection of Allied [[convoy]]s from attacks by the [[U-boat]]s of the German ''[[Kriegsmarine]]''.<ref name=":0" /> It also protected Allied shipping from aerial attacks by the ''[[Luftwaffe]]''. The main operations of Coastal Command were defensive, defending supply lines in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]], as well as the Mediterranean, Middle East, and African theatres. It operated from bases in the United Kingdom, [[Iceland]], [[Gibraltar]], the [[Soviet Union]], West Africa and North Africa.<ref>Hendrie 2007, p. 90.</ref> It also had an offensive capacity, in the [[North Sea]], [[Arctic]], Mediterranean and [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]], strike wings attacked German shipping carrying war materials from Italy to North Africa and from [[Scandinavia]] to Germany.

By 1943 Coastal Command finally received sufficient Very Long Range [VLR] aircraft and its operations proved decisive in the victory over the U-boats. These aircraft were Consolidated B-24 Liberators and from early 1943, these and other Coastal Command aircraft, were fitted with ASV Mark III [air-to-surface vessel] centimetric radar, the latest depth charges, including homing torpedoes, officially classed as Mark 24 mines [nicknamed 'Wandering Annie' or 'Wandering Willie'] and even rockets. The Command saw action from the first day of hostilities until the last day of the Second World War.

Coastal Command completed one million flying hours, 240,000 operations and destroyed 212 U-boats.<ref name="Bowyer 1979, p43">Bowyer 1979, p.43.</ref><ref name="Hendrie 2006, p. 179">Hendrie 2006, p. 179.</ref> Coastal Command [[RAF Coastal Command during World War II#Casualties|casualties]] amounted to 2,060 aircraft to all causes. From 1940 to 1945 Coastal Command sank 366 German transport vessels and damaged 134. The total tonnage sunk was 512,330 tons and another 513,454 tons damaged.<ref>Goulter 1995, p. 353.</ref><ref name="Hendrie 2006, p. 179"/> 10,663 persons were rescued by the Command, comprising 5,721 Allied crew members, 277 enemy personnel and 4,665 non-aircrews.<ref>Ashworth 1992, p. 179.</ref> A total of 5,866 Coastal Command personnel were killed in action. During the [[Cold War]], Coastal Command concentrated on [[anti-submarine warfare]] preparations against the fleets of the [[Warsaw Pact]]. In 1969, Coastal Command was subsumed into the new Strike Command, which had also absorbed the former Bomber, Fighter and Signals Commands and later absorbed Air Support Command, the former Transport Command.