New Vanguard 114 - US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1922-1945

US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1922-45 Prewar classes

CONTENTS ORIGINS

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• Ea rly US Navy carrier d o ct rin e • T he p rewar US Navy carrie r air g ro u p

DEVELOPMENT

Commander (r etired) MARK STILLE se rved as a career

• Prewar naval aircraft • w eapo ns • Radar

Naval Int e lli gen ce Officer, sp en d in g ov er f ive years of

USS LANGLEY (CV-1)

hi s naval c areer assig ne d to variou s US Navy c arri ers. He

• • • •

continues to work in thi s fi e ld in a civi l ia n capactty, He holds an MA from the Nav al War College an d h as h ad se veral wargames published. Thi s is hi s sec o n d b oo k for Osprey. He lives in Virgini a, USA.

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Design an d co nstructi on Armament Service modi fica tio ns O perational hi sto ry • Assessmen t

THE LEXINGTON CLASS (LEXINGTON (CV-2) AND SARATOGA (CV-3)) • • • • •

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Design an d co ns truc tio n Armamen t Service m o d ificati ons O perational histories Assess men t

USS RANGER (CV-4)

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• Design and co ns truc tio n • Arm a men t

TONY BRYAN i s a hi ghly e xperienced illustrator. He work ed for a number of years in M ilitary Research an d Development an d h as a keen interest in military h ardwarearmor, sm all arm s, ai rc ra ft and ships. Tony h as produced m any illustrations for partworks, m ag azines an d bo oks, i nc l u d in g a number o f titles i n the New Van guard se ri es. He lives In Do rs et, UK.

• Service m odifications • O peratio nal hi sto ry • Assessm en t

THE YORKTOWN CLASS (YORKTOWN (CV-5), ENTERPRISE, (CV-G) AND HORNET (CV-a)) • • • • •

Design and cons tructio n Armament Servi ce modificati o ns Operational hi stories Assess me n t

THE WASP (CV-7) • • • • •

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De sign an d co nstruction Armam ent Service modificat ions Operational h istory Assessmen t

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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COLOR PLATE COMMENTARY

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INDEX

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New Vanguard • 114

US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1922-45 Prewar classes

Mark Sti ll e · Illu st rat e d by Tony Bryan

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First published in Great Britain in 2005 by Osprey Publishing. Midland House, West Way, Betley. Oxlor d OX2 OPH. UK

Author 's note

443 Park Avenue Sout h, New York, NY 10016, USA

I would like to thank the very helpful sta ff of the US Navy Historic al Center's

E-mail: infoOosp reypub lishing.com

e 2005 Osprey Publishing Ltd.

phot ogr aphic section for their assistance in selecting the best photos for this WOl'k. Thanks also go out to Keith Allen for his review of the manuscript . Speci al thanks are given to my wife Vicki and son Eric for their

All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpo se of priv ate stud y.

patience in letting me take the ti me to atte mpt to produ ce the best work possible .

research, critic ism or review, as permitted under the Copy right, Designs and

All pho tographs are courtesy of the US Navy Historical Cent er.

Patents Act , 1988, no part of u us publica tion may be reprod uced . stored in a retrieval system , or transmitted in any lorm or by any means. electron ic,

electrical, chem ical , mechanical, optical , pho tocopying, record ing or otherwise . without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Inquiries should be addressed to the

Artist 's note

Pub~shers.

Readers may care to not e that the original pa intings lrom which the color plates A CIP cataK>grecord for this book is available from the Brit ish Ubr ary

in this book were prepared are available for private sale. All reproduction copyrig ht weteceve- is retained by the Publistlers. All ioquiries should be

ISBN 1 84 176 B90 1

addressed to :

Page layout by Melissa OrromSwan, Oxford , UK

tonybi [email protected]

Index by Alan Thatcher Originated by The Electronic Page Com pany, Cwm bran, UK

The Publishers regret that they can enter into no co rrespondence upon this

Pri.nted in China through WorkI Print Ltd .

matter.

06 07 08 09 10

11 10 9 B 7 6 5 4 3 2

For a catalog of all books published by Osprey Military and Aviatio n please con tact NORTH AMER ICA Osprey Direct. C/o Random House Distribution Center, 400 Hahn Road, Westminster, MD 2 1157. USA E-mail: inlo @ospreydirecl.com ALL OTHER REGIONS Osprey Direct UK, P.O. Box 140, Wellingborough, Norl hants, NN8 2FA. UK E-mail: info @ospreydirect.co.uk www .os preypubli shi ng. co m

US NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIERS 1922-45 PREWAR CLASSES ORIGINS n 1910 , the US i:\a\')' became th e fi rst to lau nc h an airc ra ft from a ship "..'h en Eugene Ely pil oted a flo atplan e off a "..Dude n platform built o n the cruiser USS Birmingha m. In 1911 , Ely becam e the firs t aviato r to recove r an aircraft aboa rd a warsh ip when he landed o n th e ann orcd cruiser Pennsd aania anch ored in San Fra ncisco Bay. Despite the fact th at thi s landing had all th e clem en ts of what was to become sta nda rd procedure for landi ngs aboard carriers, the US Navy did not follow up thi s in itial lead in carrier technology. In stead, seapla ne s we re pursued beca use o f th eir eco nomy and the fac t tha t they d id no t impede the o pera tions of the launch in g sh ip's gu ns. Expe rim ents were begu n into mou nting ca tapults aboard large wa rships to su p po rt the use of seaplan es, but none we re in service wh en the First \\Torld \ Var bega n . Duri ng the war, work contin ued o n catap ults, Successful catap ult trials seem ed to indicat e that a m aj o r invest men t in aircra ft ca rriers was unnecessary. The US en try into th e First \Vo rld \ \'ar in 191 7 caug ht the US Navy wi thou t a single ca rrier or sh ip d edicated to operating aircraft. By the end o f the war, the Roya l Navy had clearly establish ed a lead in naval aviatio n and the US Navy h ad yet to begin th e constru ct ion of a sing le carrier. Finally, fears of fallin g fu r ther behind th e Royal Navy (wh ich was already o pera ting several ca rriers) and th e re al iza tion th at a ir supremacy was an essential pa rt of mo d ern naval operatio ns co mpelled Co ngress to fu nd th e conversion of a co llie r into an aircraft . ca rrier in .July 1919.

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T he most fa m ous o f t he prewar carri e rs was undoubtedly Enterprise. H e re she is sho w n w ith h er air group spo tted on d eck, e n route to Pearl Harbor

in October 1939.

Early US Navy carrier doctrine

The ini tial role of US Navy carriers wa s to su p po rt the hattie flee t. T he battlesh ip was still viewed after the First 'Wo rld \ Var as th e arbiter of naval

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power and th e ca rrie r's role ,.. .'as to provide reco n nai ssance and spottin g fo r th e battle flee t wh ile denying th ose advan tages to the e ne my. Use of air craft to spot at long ranges ex posed enemy ships to pl unging fire agains t their weake r de ck armor rather th an their much stro nge r vertical anna l'. Such an advantage was viewed as decisive by th e battl eship ad m irals. Ca rrie rs were also expected to p rotect th e air spac e over th ei r own fleet, thus d enyin g th e en emy the advantage s of lo ng-ra nge spo tt ing and sco u ting. Another important m issio n for carrier aircraft in th e afte rma th of the First \\Y o rld ' Val' was antisu bm ari ne patrol. Patrolling aircraft fro m carriers could keep enemy su bmari nes su bme rge d and, against a fastmovin g force , a subme rged d iesel-elect ric sub mari ne with a top speed of less than 10 knots was effec tively n eutralized . O nly grad ually did th e US Xavy develop the carrie r's ro le as an independent offensive platfo rm . The first carri er aircraft were un able to carry to rp edoes large enoug h to cripple or sink a capital sh ip. Of course, bombs co uld be carried, but th ese posed no real threat to ships maneuvering at speed to avoid attack. However, in th e 19205, the offensive capability of carr ier aircraft was greatly in creased by th e development of divebombing, which fo r the first tim e allowed man euvering ships to be struck with so me degr ee of accuracy_Capital sh ips with heavy deck anna l' were still im mune from attac k but carriers, with th eir un armored flight de cks, had no w become very vulnerable. Refl ecting th c prem ise that carrie rs co uld no t withstand significan t damage , US Navy d octrin e increasingly se parated th e ca rriers from th e ba ttle fleet in o rder th at they escape early detecti on and destruction by th e e ne my. T he pri ma ry task of th e carrier was now to d estroy o p posing carriers as soo n as possible, thus preven tin g th e ir own destr uction , and to se t th e stage for intensive atta ck o n th e enemy battle flee t. To maxim ize th e carrie r's stri king power, sta n dard US Navy doct rine called for the launch of an en tire air group a t o ne lau nch . In o rd er th at an entir e "deck load " stri ke be launched quickly, it was necessary to have the entire strike spo tted o n the flight deck. Once fligh t operations had begu n . it was impera tive to keep elevato r m ove ments to a minimum, so stri ke o perations were essen tially limited to th ose airc ra ft spo tte d on the fligh t deck. The co n tin uing re q ui re me n t to quickly ge nerate maximum offensive power ag ainst e ne my carriers affected US Na vy ca rri er design . This meant th at th e developments and techniques necessary' to qu ickly launch a full deck of aircra ft were paramount. O pen, unarmored hangars and the

The importanc e o f s t r ik i n g t he enemy's carriers fi rst, an e s sen tial el ement in pre w ar US Navy doctrine , wa s e v idenced during the pivotal battle of Midway. Here Yorkto wn , wi th h e r strike group spotted on deck , prepares t o attac k the J apane se carrier force on June 4, 1942.

Th e US Navy's pre w ar fears of t he v ul ne rability of i ts c arriers was la rg ely ac curate d u ri ng at least the first year of the war. This photo shows t he effect of a J ap anese diveb om bing attack o n Yorktown at Midw ay. A 5501b bomb penetrated th e flight d eck

and ex plo ded insid e the st ac k uptakes with the result being the In te nse bla ck sm ok e see n here .

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provision of catapults faci lita ted the quick launch of lar ge numbers of aircraft. Doctrine called fo r most of the carrier 's air craft to he parked o n the fligh t deck with th e hangar deck used fo r airc raft m ainten an ce and storage . This pra ctice and the design of US carriers mean t th at th ey operated larger air gro ups th an their foreign co n tem po ra ries. T he primacy of the needs of th e avi at ors and th e restrictions of the 1922 Washiu gton Naval Tre aty d rove all prewar carrier design s. During night operations, the carrier would turn in to the wind a nd steam at full speed to launch aircraft . Aircraft could be launched eithe r by means of a take-off roll o r by ca tapult. As aircraft becam e heavi er, th e use of catapults becam e m ore impo rtant. Effective use of catapults allowed the q uicke r laun ch of a large strike an d fo r heavier load s to be carr ied , bu t th eir widespread use d id n ot occur u n til late in the Second World War, When a str ike was bei ng launch ed, th e heaviest aircraft were spo tted aft so that th ey wou ld have a longer tak e-off ro ll. Lighter aircraft were spotted forward . often as far fo rwa rd as am idships. Prewar doctrine also called for the laun ch ing of sco u t bombers from th e hanga r deck by use of catapults. T h is would not requi re any d islocatio n of the stri ke aircraft parked o n deck. \Vhen recovering aboard sh ip, aircraft re turned over the stern wh ere th ey 'wo uld be ca ugh t by o ne of severa l a rrestin g wires running ac ross the aft portion of the carrier. Barriers would be rigged between th e lan din g are a and th e bow of th e sh ip wh ere aircraft were parked after land ing. All US prewar carriers h ad provisio n for recovering airc raft over th e bow in case th e aft part of the ship was damaged . Fo r this co n tingency. there "as a bac k-u p set of arresting "ire s in stalled in th e fo rward part of the shi p .

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The prewar US N a v y carrier air group

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In the prewar period. and into the Second \ Vo rld ' Val' itself, the stand ard US carrie r air gro u p had four squadrons. O ne sco u ting sq uad ro n with the p rimary mi ssion of finding enemy carriers was emba rked. Spotting aircraft d isap peared from th e air grou p in the late 1920s, this mission being taken over by cruiser and battleship flo atplan es. T here was a single squadron of figh te rs. Str ike aircraft in clud ed a squad ron o f d ive bo mbers an d a sq uad ro n of heavy str ike aircraft that could be e m ploye d as to rped o or level bo mbers. Evolving tac tics and airc raft techn ology resu lted in adj ustments to th e air group th rough th e 1930s, but th e basic structu re was litt le changed go ing into th e Second World War. By 1938, the sta ndard prewar carrie r air grou p had fou r squadro ns o f so me 18 aircraft each , wi th anothe r th ree in reserve . T he d ive bomber sq uad ro n "was retained, but the sco u t squad ron was now equipped with sco u t bom bers instead of th e ea rlie r spo tting aircraft types. when more mod ern aircraft entered se rvice, like the Douglas SBD Dau n tless, both th e dive bomber and sco u t sq uad ro ns were equipped with id entical aircraft. Lat er, during th e war, th e sco u t sq uad ro ns wer e d isbanded and combined ,..-ith the di vebom bin g sq ua d ro n . T he fighter squad ro n '''-.1S retained a nd grew in size as the wa r u nfo ld ed . A fou rth sq uad ro n rernain ed eq uip ped , vi th torpe do bombers th at co uld also opera te as level bombers. This organizatio n was standard for the larger ea rners of the Lexington and }orklonm classes; th e smalle r Ranger and H'tzsp were d esign ed without provision to support a torpedo squad ro n so , in its place , a second fight er sq ua d ro n was embarke d. Prewar ca rrie rs eac h had a permanently assigned air gro u p. Each of th e four sq ua d ro ns was numbered after the hull number of the ship it was assigned to. For example, Lexington s figh ter sq uad ron was numbered VF-2, her dive bombers VB-2, her sco u t bombers VS-2 and her torp ed o squa d ro n V1'-2. After July 1938, air grou ps were known by th e name of th e ship. Th us, th e squad ro ns listed above co mp rised the Lexington Air Grou p. By m id-1942, th e entire air grou p was numbered to

Japane se torpedo pl an e s pro ved to b e the m ost pote nt weap on against US ca r r ie rs In t he ea r ly war period. Here a J ap an e se B5N torpedo pl an e (still c arrying its w eapon) breaks t h ro ug h Hornet's screen In an atte mpt t o torpedo the car r ier d uri ng the

battle o f Sant a Cruz i n Octob er

1942.

Hornet in February 1942, sh o w i n g t he changing com po sitio n of the US Na vy air groups during the ea r ly war

perio d . The b iplan e ai rc r aft s po tte d on d eck are Curti s s SBC- 4 d ive bombers t h at w ou ld s o o n b e re p l ac e d by Dougla s SBO Dau ntl e s se s. Al so evid en t are F4F Wildc ats and TBD- l Dev a stator t orpedo p l an e s .

match i ll; parent ship's hull number. ' Vith few exceptions. th e pcnnanencc of the squad ro ns withi n an air grou p ge ne rally lasted th ro ugh the battle of Midway. After that, d ue to carrier losses o r squad ron exhaustio n, carr iers could have a mix of sq uad ro ns from two or th ree air grou ps. Fle et ca rrie rs maintained thi s ba sic four-squad ro n struc tu re for most o f th e war ,..i th so me fluctuation in the numbers o f a ircra ft assigned to each sq uad ron. By the lat e war peri od, in the face of a large-scal e threat from suicide aircraft, car rie r a ir grou ps were reo rganized to em phasize ai r defense and th e abili ty to neutra lize enemy aircra ft on th eir airfie lds before th ey co uld threate n th e carriers. III th e sum me r of 1945, air gro u ps h ad large tighter sq uad r ons (36 aircraft) , a figh ter-bom be r sq uad ro n (ano the r 36 aircraft) , and much smaller dive bomber and torpedo sq uad ro ns totaling so me 30 aircraft. The o nly pre'''~dr ca rrie rs that su rvived into th e late-wa r peri od were Enterprise and Saratoga; both had been co n verte d into ni ght ca rri ers. As suc h , they ca rried smalle r air gr o u ps of so me 60 a ircraft in o nly two sq ua dro ns .

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Enterprise 's torpe do squa dron (VT-6 ) s h o w n s po tted o n t he fli ght d eck on June 4 , 1942. Of the squ adron 's 14 a i r c ra ft

se n t a g a in s t the J ap an e se

ca rrie r force at Midway, only f our survived. This w as t h e

Devastator's fina l c ombat o pe ra tio n.

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DEVELOPMENT Prewar nava l a i rcraft By December 19 4 1, th e Navy had made th e trans ition from a wide varie ty of bipla ne aircraft to a fo rce almost en tir ely composed of monoplane aircraft. T he mi x of aircraft ranged fro m modern to obsolescent. Fighte r sq uad ro ns were equipped with th e mo dern Gru m man F4F-3 Wildcat ( 176 o n h an d ) an d the F4F-3A (61 o n h an d ) . T he n ewest vari a n t of th e Wild ca t, th e six-gu n F4F-4, was j us t coming into se rvice, bu t th e olde r Brewste r F2A-3 Bu ffalo still remai n ed in service in a few sq ua drons . In the Pacific. Wild ca ts equipped figh ter squadrons VF-3 a n d VF-6. wh ile VF-2 still h ad Buffalos. In th e Atlantic. VF-41 and 42 were assig ned to Ranger. VF-5 to l orktown . and VF-71 a nd 72 to Wasp. T h e just-forming VF-8 was headed to H ornet. In 1937, to rp ed o squadrons re cei ved th eir first mo noplan e torped o aircraft, the Douglas T BD Devastator. For its d ay, it was a mod e m aircraft, b ut by 194 1 it \v.as already obsolescent. Five sq uadrons we re in service at the begin n ing o f th e wa r : VT-2. 3. 5 , 6, and 8. The De....a stator's replacemen t, th e Gru m man TBF, wa s alread y o n order, a n d afte r th e disastrous perfo rma nce o f th e Devastator a t Midwa y, all re mainin g aircraft were reti red from com b at service. The main striking power of the air gro up 'vas its dive bombers. In 1941 , 14 ?'Javy sq ua d ro ns we re equipped 'with d ive bomb e rs, so me d esign at ed sco u ting (V8) an d some bombing (VB). Durin g th e war. th is de sign ati on ceased to have an y mean ing as both types were equ ip ped with the same typ e of aircraft an d both co n ducted the same type of m issions, so th e two squad ro ns we re com bin ed into one. In December 1941, VB-2, V5-2. VB-3, V5-3. VB-5, V5-5. \'B-6. an d V8-6 were equ ip pe d with the Do ugla s 8BD-2/ 3 Dauntless. V541 a n d 42 , assigned to Ranger, still had th e old e r 8B2U-I / 2 Vou ght Vindicator as well as V8-71 a n d 72 on Wasp. H ornet's wor king up \'B-3 an d VS-S h ad th e o lder Curtiss 8B CA biplane.

Lexington o n October 14, 1941 with her ai r group. Sh e Is ca rryin g F2A Buffalo fi ghters forward, SBD Dauntle sse s am id shi ps, and TBD-1 Devastators a ft. The shi p Is w earing a Measure 1 c a m o ufl a ge sch eme wi t h a

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Measure 5 false bow wave .

Thi s J une 1942 vi ew of Wasp sho ws much of her ai r group on d eck. A ircraft pr ese n t include F4F Wildcat fighters and Sa2U Vindicat or dive bombers. Not until he r tran sfe r to the Pac ifi c woul d Wasp rec eive the m ore modem sao Dau ntless d ive bom be rs and add a to rpedo sq ua d ro n t o her air gro up.

We apons

Of co u rse a carrier' s principal armament is its air craft , but US carriers ca rr ie d a number of weapons d esign ed to d efend th em aga ins t air attac k. Fo r long-ran ge air defense, all carriers from Lexington o nwa rd s carried 5in gu ns. Origin ally, th ese we re the 5in /23 gu ns with a maximum range o f 14,50 0yd . Beginning wit h }orktawn, and lat er on all su rvivi ng ships ex cept Ra ngel~ th e ex cellen t 3in /38 gu n was fitt ed. This ,..'capon was p robab ly th e ou tsta ndi ng d ual-p urpose naval gun of th e Se co nd ' Vo rld ' Val'. Co mpared to th e o lde r 5in gu n, its increased leng th gave it a greater velo city and hence grea te r range. H owever, th e gu n was also no tabl e for its accuracy, barrel life, and, most impo rtan tly, ra te of fire. It remain ed in service well beyond th e war. On m ost prewar ca rri ers, it was mounted on the co rners of th e fligh t dec k. To keep the loss of fligh t d eck space to a minimum, th e gu ns wer e fitted o n sponsons. Except o n Saratoga, whi ch was large enough to handle a tv..i n gun mount versio n of the 5in / 38, all prewar carriers received th e powere d ped estal-type single mount, usually fitted in g ro ups of two . Lat e r in th e war, the introductio n of th e p roximity fuse ro und gr eatly increased th e effe ctive ness of thi s weapon . SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE 5IN/38-CAL. GUN Bore Shell weight Muzzle velocity Maximum range Rate of fire

Sin 551b

2,600ftlsec 18,200yd 15-20 round s/m in

Fire co ntrol for the 5 in /38 was provid ed by th e Mark 33 Directo r. T his was a third -generat ion direc tor that co uld p rovide target solu tio ns for hi gher speed targe ts at greater d egrees of an gul ari ty. Two Mark 33s were fitt ed per shi p. As ca rriers co nd ucted their first ex tensive wartime overhaul, th e Mark 33 Dir ectors were fi tted with th e Mark 4 fire co n tro l radar. It was vcry suc cessfu l in se rvice but was ineffective aga in st lo wflying target' . T he Mark 37 was a consid erable advan ce over th e Mark 33. Ham el received two when com ple ted and later Enterprise and Saratoga rec eived the ir Mark 37s in place o f th e Mark 33 . The Mark 4 radar was late r replaced by th e Mark 12/22 fir e co n trol radars; th ese ad d ressed

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a p roblem wi th co nfusio n caused by the returning sign al as well as ad d ressing the low-flying target proble m . As d iveb ombing ca me to be recognized as a th reat, carriers re ce ived sho rt-ra ng e an d in te rm ediat e-range antiaircraft protectio n . O rigin ally, close-in protection was provided by th e p rovision o f re latively large num bers o f .5G-cal. m achi ne gu ns. These were the wate r-cooled versio n of the US Army's sta ndard heavy m achine gu n placed o n a naval m ount. Fire co n trol was accomplished by use of a ri ng sigh t and tracer rounds. Despite its hi gh rate o f fire of over 700 rounds per minu te, th e inherent in accuracy of the ,,,,'ca po n , co mbined 'with a small sh ell '.. . eigh t of und er two o u nces , mad e it in effective. It remained in service, tho ugh , until replaced by th e 20mm g Ull . Begin n ing in 1942, the Swiss-designed 20m m Oerlikon gu n repl aced the ,50-cal. mach ine guns. Like the . .""eapo n it replaced , it was intended for last-ditch defense ag ain st aircraft and was fitt ed as a single n10l 1l1 1. The 20 mm gu n was air-coo led . It required no ex te rnal power so u rce and was relatively lightweight, so it was introduced in large nu mbers and bolte d anywhere wi th a free arc o f fire . Lat er, a twin m ou n t was in tro d uc ed and so me were fitted o n Enterprise. By war 's end . it was clear that the 20m m lacked the hitting pO\\' er re q uired to break u p kam ikazes and it wa s re placed. where space p ermitt ed, by the h eavier 40 mm gu n . T he Mark 14 electric gu nsigh t co uld be used as a direct or for th e 20mm. whi ch greatly in creased its effectiveness. SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE 20MM OERLIKON GUN Bore

Shell weight Muzzle velocity Maximum range Rate of fire

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.7874in .2 711b 2,740fVsec 4,800yd 450 rounds/ min

To provi de intermedi ate-ran ge protection . carrie rs were fitt ed with th e l.li n mach in e ca n no n . This weapon was fo ur-barreled and wa ter-cooled . Rate of fire was 140 ro u nds per m inute firin g a o ne-pou nd p roj ectil e. Fire co n trol was acc omplish ed locally or with th e help of a di recto r. In service, the weapo n was heartily d isliked by its cre ws as it was diffi cult to m ain tain

Saratoga after her fi rst wartime

modifications. Note the Sin/38 turrets that have r epl ac ed the Bin gu n house s. A CXAM-1 radar can be seen on the forward part of the stack. Mark 37 Directors are located on t op of t he i sland and aft of th e sta c k.

Enterpris e, i n March 1942 a t

Peart Harbo r. Addit ional 20mm gu ns hav e b een p laced o n h er bow to aug ment those on the gallery dec k . The l arge CXAM - 1 r ad ar i s e vi dent on h er fo re ma st,

and tended to j am in action. Replacing thc ill-fated 1.1in moun t was o ne of th e better antiairc raft wcapo ns of the war. This was an ada ptati on of the Swed ish-designed Bofo rs gun . In US Navy service, it was used in single, double, or quad ruple m ounts. Fo r ships with sufficient spacc, th e q uad ruple mount wa s pre fe rred. Each gu n was capa ble of fir ing 160 two-po un d projectiles per m inute. However, with each gun bein g handloaded , th e maxim um rate of fire was never achieved . fi re con trol was provided by th e Mark 44 and 51 Directors. La te ill the war, even th e 40m m gu n proved insufficient to sto p kamik azes. SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE 40MM BOFORS GUN Bore Shell weight Muzzle velocity Maximum range Rate of fire

1.575in

, .9851b 2.890ft/sec 11.000yd 160 rounds/min

Ra d ar A cri tical developme nt du ring th e p rewar years that had a great impact o n US carrie r doctrine and tac tics was the develo pment of radar. The co mbinatio n of ra dar, th e Co m ba t In fo rm at ion Ce nte r (o r CIC) , and th e re sultin g cen tral di rect io n of th e ship's co m bat air patrol grea tly improved th e survi vabi lity of US Navy ca rr iers. Durin g the early part of the 'war, as d emonstrated at the Co ral Sea an d Mid wa y and as lat e as the battle of Sant a Cruz in O ctober 1942, ca rriers re m ain ed vu lnerabl e to air a ttack. In response to thi s th re at, the size of fighter sq uad ro ns contin ue d to gro w (u p from 18 to 27 at Midway, and further in creased to 36 d uring th e Gu adalcan al campaign ), but th ei r effe ctive co ntrol was key. Work con tin ued on th e effe ctive usc of radar and fighter dire ctio n and by 1944 th is co m binatio n was developed eno ug h to provide a significa nt degree of pro tection agai nst conventional attack. The development of the J apanese kam ikaze a irc ra ft lat e in the war fo rced th e refineme nt of

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fighter d irection tactics and th e furthe r in crease in the num ber of figh te rs in an air group. The US Navy 's ra dar pro gr am re sulted in th e delivery of 20 CXA ~ I radar sets in 1940. T h ese were fitte d aboard all six carriers th en in service. Yorktow n was the first carrier fitted with radar, recei ving h er CXAM in July 194 0. CXA.\ I was an air searc h ra dar th at used a very large mattre ss-like an te nna. Increases in powe r, and therefore det ection ra nges, led to th e CXA ~1- 1 radar. With an accu racy of 20Oyd , it wa s capa ble of d et ec tin g a lar ge aircraft flying a t IO,OOOft at 70 nautical mil es or a sm all aircraft at 50 nautical miles. The sec o nd-gen eratio n SC radar h ad essentially the sam e elec tro nics as th e CX A ~vl - 1 with th e additio n of an in tegral Id entification Frie nd or Foe syste m an d limited altitude det ection capabilitie s, but with a smaller antenna . With an accuracy of IOOyd, it was capable of det ecting a large a ircraft flying at IO,OOOft at 80 nautical miles o r a sm all aircraft at 40 naut ical mi les. T he range of th e SC rad ar proved disappoin tin g. Prewa r carrie rs that su rvived into th e mid and lat e war period received a number of radar upgrades. T h e CXA.\ I-I radar was replaced by the SK rada r with a ra nge of 100 naut ical m iles. The SK combined the elec tronics of the SC-2 with a CXAM-sized anten na. T he h eigh t find ing S'M radar wa s fitted fo r figh ter direction and co uld detec t a lar ge ai rc raft at 50 nautical miles and provide an eleva tio n with in 500ft.

USS LANGLEY (eV-i) Design and construction

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T h e first American carrie r was a conversion from a slow co llier, USS J upiter. Un able to procure funding from Co ngre ss for a modern carrie r, th e US Navy had to se tt le o n a conversio n to provide it with its first carrier in order th at ex pe rime ntatio n with naval aviation fro m ships at sea co uld be gin. Design work and fu nd ing fo r th e sh ip was co mpleted in 1919 and in March 19 20 co nve rsion wo rk began . Wh en co m pleted in March 1922, th e ship was commissioned as USS La nglt:)' and given the designation CV-l (the design ation CV represen ting a flee t carrier and 1 being the

Enterprise in December 1943 after operations in the Marshall Islands. In this mid-war appearance, she e xh ib its a greatly stren gthened 20mm and 40mm antiaircraft fit together with an upgrad ed e lectr on ic s fit including a CXAM·1 and a n SM radar mounted on the tripod mast, an SC rad ar on the s t ack" and two Mark 37 Directors with Mark 4 radar.

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After being da maged by J apan ese b ombin g , Langley was sc u ttled by two t orpe does from the dest royer USS Wh ipple. Much of L angley's crew w as la ter lost w hen the ir rescue sh ip was s unk.

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fir st shi p of thi s designat ion}. It was never intended th at [ A ng le)' be a nyt h ing more th an a pla tfo rm fo r ex p e ri m e n ta tio n. The conversio n was fairly simple, with a wooden flight deck being built over a fram ework of be am s an d gird ers . T h e sides below th e fligh t d eck were n o t cove red , givin g th e sh ip h e r nickname of the "Covered Wagon." Navigation was acc o m p lish ed from a small bridge u n de r the flight d eck in th e forward part o f the sh ip - there was n o island lo cat ed on th e flig ht deck. The flush deck made di sposal of the ship 's sm oke a proble m. Afte r a n awkward initial a rrangeme n t, the shi p was p rovid ed with a p air of hinged fu n n els o n th e port sid e . The tu rbo-el ect ric machin e ry of th e co llie r was ret ain ed, bu t h e r top speed of only 14 kn o ts meant that sh e was too slow to ope rate wit h a ny p art of th e fleet. With re gard to aircraft h andlin g facilities, L angley bore n o rese m bla n ce to late r fleet carrie rs. T h e sh ip retained its six coal h olds; one was now used to sto re avia tio n gasolin e, o ne co n ta in ed the mac hinery for th e aircraft eleva to r, a n d th e othe r fo u r provided air cr aft sto rage. T he aircraft were sto red d isassembled an d were lifted out of th e holds by means of a three-ton ga n try crane under the fligh t deck that m oved over th e four aircraft holds . T h ere was n o hangar deck. After re moval fr om th ei r h ol d , aircra ft were asse mbled o n the fanner co llie r u pper deck. Afte r assembly, the air craft were m oved to th e fligh t deck by m eans of a single eleva to r. Wh en originally commissioned, Langley h ad provi sion for o p e ra ting floa tpl anes from cru isers a nd battlesh ips. As a d e p o t sh ip for floatpl anes, she had two cra n es for liftin g the m fro m th e water an d two ca tap u lts fo r la u n chin g them. These catapu lts were removed in 1928 when it was d ecid ed to remove spottin g airc ra ft from ca rrie r air groups. Despite h e r relati vely sm all size, Langle): usu ally e m b a rke d 30 aircraft, thi s b eing in crease d to as m an y as 42 on oc casion . H owever, her awkward h andli n g faci lities made a ny rapid laun ch an d recovery of m o re th a n a fe w aircraft im p o ssib le. Armament

Wh en co m pleted , Langle)' was provided wi th four 5in guns meant to p rovide some measu re of p rotectio n fr om enem y surface attack. A<; a ca rr ie r, she never had h e r arm am e n t upgrad ed. Service modif ications

Sin ce she \.. 'as n ot a front-line unit, La ng/f)' was little modified duri n g se rvi ce . In 1928 , the flig ht-deck-mou n ted cata p u lts we re removed . In 1936, L angley was re m oved from service as a n aircraft carrier. For th e last

13

years of her life , she se rved as a seaplane tender. Between 1936 and 1937, co nversio n to her n ew rol e took place an d resulted in the rem oval of the fo rward 41 percent of th e flight deck. Befo re her loss, sh e was p rovid ed with ad d itio nal antiaircraft protection in the form of fou r 3in /50 gu ns fitte d o n the old flight d eck and four .5Q-ca1. machine guns aro und the bridge.

La ng le y c. 193 2 w ith t h e m ajority of h er ai r group on deck. The syst em of g i rd ers s upp o rti ng the flight deck Is e viden t as are the two small port sid e s tacks. The port side 5 in g un s can al so be se e n f orward and aft just under the f light deck.

Operational history

T he introduc tio n of Langu,' in to flee t service in 1924 finally allowed the US Navy to gain an appreciation of th e value of carrie r aviatio n. From th e vcry beginn ing , even Langle)' carried a large n umbe r of aircraft for her size, a practice co ntin ued with every other prewar carrier; Exe rcises from Langu,' developed air combat and d ivebombing tactics. Employed duri ng fleet ex ercises in th e 19205, Langley's air group reinfor ced the importance of scouting and fleet air defense. She also demonstrated th e offensive potential of carriers th at co uld can J · and launch large numbers of bombe rs. Despite her seco nd-line status , Langiey wa s retained as a carrier until 1936, probably because, having be en declared an experi me ntal ship, she d id not coun t aga inst th e CS canier ton nage allocatio n from the \Vashington Naval Treaty. \Vhen the US e nte red the Second \Vo rld \ Var, I..angley was already into her third life , as a sea plane te nder. Employed a" an

14

Langley after convers ion to a seapla ne t e nd er i n 193 7. With the add it io n o f fo u r f l ight d eck 3in ant iai rcraft g un s ad ded in the Ph ilippine s. thi s is how she appeared at the time of h er lo s s.

Sa ratoga under way in Puget Sound in September 1944. The n ew SK r ad ar is fitted on the foremast, with the SM rad ar taking its place in the forward edge of the stack. Note the

aircraft transport ferrying 32 badly need ed ready-to-fly P-40 figh ter aircraft to th e Dutch East Ind ies, I..anglc)'\\i"3S discove red and bombed by long-range airc raft of the Imperial J apan ese Navy o n February 27, 1942. After five d irect bomb hits and a n u mbel' of ncar misses, th e aged ship was scuttled by esco rt ing destr oyers.

dramatic i n c re ase in h er an tiaireraft fi t o n a number of sp o n son s built al ong the l ev e l o f the hangar d ec k. The sh ip i s w earing a M easur e 321D esign 11 a cam ou fla ge scheme designed for h er unique prof il e .

USS (UNITED STATES SHIP) LANGLEY Displacement : 11,500 tons Dimensions: Length 542ft Beam 66ft Draft 24ft Maxim um speed: 14kt Radius: 12,260nm Crew : 350

Assessment

Even th ough slow, u nable to ca rry a large air gro u p , an d possessin g awkward aircraft-ha nd ling arrang ements, Langu,' was a true pioneer. Un til 1928, she was th e o n ly carrier in fleet se rvice and was instru m en tal in de monstrati ng th e potential of carrie r aviation to th e US Navy. T he tact ics and tech no logies tested o n LanglC)' wo uld lead ulti m at ely to th e d evel o p men t of th e ca rri er force th at would s";ee p all befo re it in th e Second Wo rld War.

THE LEXINGTON CLASS (LEXINGTON (CY-2) AND SARATOGA (CY-3)) Design and construction

The question of whether the US Navy should build its first fleet camel' from th e keel u p or use a battle cruiser h ull for conversion was solved by th e Washington Naval Treaty, which forced the ca ncellatio n of all US battle cru isers already under construction o r planned . Add itionally, the tr eaty dictated that new carrie r co nstruction be limited to 23,000 tons, but an exe m p tio n was gran ted for co nvers io ns u p to 33,000 to ns from existing

15

Th e US Navy 's f i rs t three c arri ers s ho w n c . 1930 in B remerton , Was hi ngt on. Th e immen se s ize of the c onverted battle c ruiser s lexington and Saratog a compared to th e experimen ta l langley i s st ri ki ng .

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capital ships. Even this figu re was ins ufficien t for I.exingum's co nversion in to a carri er, which was saved only by a clause in the treaty that allowed the mo dernizatio n of existing capital sh ips (and by ex tension carriers co nve rted fro m capital ships) to pro tect th em from air and to rp edo attack, with th e add ition of an extra 3,000 tons. Even so, com pletion of th e ships at th e 36,000-to n lim it proved difficult. Co nversion of both sh ips was begun in 1922 and both were laun ch ed in 1925. In 1927, whe n th ey were comm issioned , they became th e largest carriers in service and would remain so un til th e com pletion of th e J ap anese Shinano in 1944 . Wh en co mpleted , bot h sh ips gave ample evidence oftheir bat tle cruiser ancestry. The battle cruiser hull was carried u p to the han gar deck. T he han gar deck itselfwas entirely enclosed within the h ull, with the flight deck acting as th e main load-bearing deck. T his restricted the n um ber of aircraft that co uld be carri ed 0 11 these large h ulls an d was in co nt ras t to later fleet carrier design s th at featu red o pen han ga rs an d had th e hanga r deck as tbe main deck. Also, unusually for a US carrie r, the bo w and ste rn of th e ship were faired into the h ull. The sh ips ' most no ticeable featu re was the h ug e smoke stac k o n th e sta rboard side, wh ich was lo ca ted aft and separa te from the island. T h e tu rbo-electric machinery fitt ed was the m ost powerful in th e CS Xavy and provided the sh ip with a top speed of 34 knots. T he island was small and co ntained gunnery co ntrol an d navigatio n facilities. The aircraft han gar, huge fo r its day, was actua lly sma ller than in su bseque nt carriers with only a frac tio n of Lexington's d isplacement. This mean t th at ma ny aircraft had to be pennanently parked on th e fligh t deck. The ex tre me length of tile flight de ck (880ft) pennitted tile US N avy's full-deck strike d octri ne to be exercised, as th e entire o riginal co mplem en t of 90 aircraft co uld be ranged o n the fligh t deck and flown off. As in subsequ ent fleet carriers, th e fligh t deck wa s not armored bu t mad e of steel with a covering of wood planki ng. ' Vh ilc providing minim al pro tection aga ins t bombs, th is type of co nstructio n permitted th e rapid repair of battle dam age and a quick ret urn to flight o peratio ns. Two large elevato rs were provid ed and a sing le catap ult was fitted o n the flight deck.

Th is 1932 vi ew off Hawai i shows Lexington 's profile to fu ll advantage , i nc l ud ing the huge stack, the se pa ra te sma ll Island, and the battle c ru iser hull that e nc losed t he hangar deck.

As o n Langle)', th e o rigi nal system of recovering landin g aircraft was by a system of anc hored longitudin al wire s and weigh te d transverse wi res, By 193 1, this syste m wa s aban d oned and eigh t a rr esting ,vtire s were in stall ed o n th e aft po rtion o f th e fligh t d eck and provided wi th h yd raulic co n tro ls to help sto p land ing aircraft. T h is became the norm for all late r flee t carriers. Armament As co m pleted , th e Lexington class was armed to repel surface as 'v'ell as air

attack, the o nly class of US flee t ca rrie r so eq ui p ped . Eigh t Sin guns were fitt ed in fo ur twin gunhouses, two fo rwa rd of th e island and two aft of the Slack. T he Sin gun was chosen to allow th e sh ips to d eal with the fast "treaty" cru isers, wh ich co uld also be equip ped with gu ns u p to Sin. In service, th ese guns wer e not effe ctive in thei r design cd purpose since th ey could no t fire ac ross th e fligh t d eck without ca using blast damage. Fo r antiairc raft p ro tec tio n, 12 single 5in / 25 gu n mo u n ts were po sitioned in groups of th ree o n sponsons on th e corn ers of th e flight d eck. Service modifications

Before th e war, bo th ships received little in the ",.ray of moderni zation; as th e m ost powerfu l ca rriers in the Ileet, th eir absen ce from service for an ex te nd ed perio d co uld not be to lerated . Ini tial m od ificatio ns includ ed the removal of th e single ca ta p ult in 19 34. Lexington was th e more m odern of th e t\ v.o sisters before the war as she h ad had h er bow wid ened in 1936 , ex pand ing the size of the flight d eck , an d in 1940 a e X AM air search radar had bee n in sta lled o n th e forw ard part of th e stac k. To co u n ter th e growing threat of divebombing, bo th ships received a large battery of m achi ne guns. T hese ,v'ere fitted o n th e Sin gu n ho uses, o n a ga llery aro u nd th e stack, and o n platfo rm s ncar th e 5in gu ns. T he .50-<:a1. machin e gu ns were re cognized as insufficien tly powerful to d eal with d ive bombe rs so, in 1940, 1.1in quadruple machi ne ca nn ons were installed , Five of th ese weapo ns ,..'ere fitted, reducin g th e n u mber of mach ine gu ns to 28. T he outb reak of war saw th e antiaircraft ba tte ry furth er reinforced . Lexington had her Sin guns removed in Apri l 1942. when sh e was su n k the followin g month at th e Co ral Sea , she mo unted

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a total of twelve quadruple 1.I in mounts , 32 20mm gu ns, and th e 28 machine guns. At the same tim e, Saratoga re taine d her Sin m ounts, had nine 1.1in m ounts, and 32 20mm guns; all of her machine gu ns had been removed . Saratoga d id not lo se h er 8in battery un til a ya rd period foll owin g her torpe doi ng in J anuary 1942. At th is time, she received most of the m odifications planned pre\,,"'ar but never carried o ut. This included the provisio n of a larg e bliste r fo r to rp edo defense. All th e Sin g uns were removed and the antiaircraft battery was re info rced wi th 16 5in/ 38 guns - eigh t in four turrets in pl ace of the Bin gu n houses an d eigh t replacin g th e 12 5in / 25 gu ns o n a two-for-th ree basis. To save weigh t, the tripod fore ma st was re placed by a light pole m ast and the stack was lowered. Saratoga also had her flight deck wide ned at th e bo w and lengthened aft. O ther changes included th e provision of a pair of Mark 37 5in Directors (with Mar k 4 radars ) , another air search radar (th e s e for back-up ) , and fo ur q uad ruple 40mm gu ns in place of th e sam e number of l.lin mounts (five 1.I in mo unts remain ed ) an d the fitting of 30 20m m guns. Saratoga's antiaircraft fit was later in creased again following her Augu st 1942 to rp edoing. The last of th e l.lin m ounts were replaced by 40mm quadruple m ounts and an ad d itio nal 22 20mm mo unts were fitted. A refit from December 1943 to J an uary 1944 brought a furthe r increase in th e sh ip 's an tiaircraft fit at th e request of h er command ing officer. In spite of th e mounting weight problems, ano the r 14 additional 40mm quad mounts were fitt ed . Two twin 40m m mounts were also fitt ed on th e port side ab eam th e island . All bu t 16 of th e 20mm gu ns were removed. By this tim e , th e ship also h ad an SK air search radar fitte d in place of her o ld eXAM.

Saratoga ju st after co m m issioni ng in 19 28. Earl y

in th ei r caree rs, th e two

Lexington5 were virtually identical, 50 a larg e vertical stripe was ad ded to Sara t oga 's stac k to assis t ob se rv ers in di stinguish ing her from

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18

li gh t an tiaircra ft w e ap on s.

Anoth er refit late r in 1944 saw th e p rovision of an S~l fighter-directo r ra dar se t. T h is provid ed th e shi p with the standard US carrier late-war ra dar suite o f two air search and o ne figh te r-director se t. Also in this period, she received two d eck-m ounted hydraulic ca ta p ults to assist in night flight operations. During repai rs followin g heavy dam age in February 1945, the sm all aft elevator was removed and a larger o ne fitt ed forward . To allevia te severe overcrowd ing, m uc h of th e after end of the h an gar d eck was filled with two d ecks of be rthing co m part m en ts.

Lexington's first co m bat came on February 20 , 1942 d uring an a bo rtive r aid on the Japanese base at Rabau l. Sev e nteen G4 M bombers la u nched a raid agai nst

Operational histories USS Lexington Lexington en tcrcd se rvice in 1928 a nd was joined th e same year by her sister sh ip . Both sh ips we re ass igned to th e Pacific Fleet where they would spend almost th eir e n tire o perational lives. Doubts about the utility o f th ese two huge sh ips were qui ckly removed. In th e Fleet Problem of 1929 , th e twins demonstrated their ability to o perate aircraft in all weat h er and to laun ch a large sing le d eck-load strike , the driving imperative of cu rren t US carrier tactics. In a series of Flee t Pr oblems in the 19305, the Lexingtons d emonstrated a number o f tac tics th at would beco me sta ndard d uring th e war, inclu d ing lo ng-range strikes by ca rrier airc ra ft. th e independen t. o ffensive use o f carriers, a nd th e o peratio n of separate ca rrier task gro u ps, each co m posed o f a ca r rier and its escorting cruisers an d d estro yers. Lexington's ac tual war se n-ice was bri ef. On December 7, 1941, she was delivering Marine fighter aircra ft to Midway Island and thus escaped d estruction at Pearl H arbo r; After an abortive attempt to re lieve Wak e Island in December 1941 , Lexingt on was di spatched to co u n ter Japanese operations in the South Paci fic. H e r first com bat too k place in February 1942 wh en she was sent to attack Japanese fo rces at th e ir newly cap tu re d base at Raba ul , New Brit ain. Fo llowing her discove ry by long-range J apanese airc raft before she couldlau nc h her own attac k, her figh ters and an tiairc ra ft fir e d estroyed 15 of 17 attac king J apan ese bombers. Later, o n March 10 whil e o pera ting with YOrktowll, Lexington launch ed 52 aircraft to st rike J ap anese naval fo rces off Lae and Salamaua, New Guin ea, but the resul ts (th ree transports su n k) were d isappointing given that to tal su rp rise had been ac hieved and J ap an ese air defenses were negligible. After a sho rt visit to Pearl Harbo r, Lexington red epl oyed to th e South Pacific to co u n ter a j apanese attack against Port Moresb y, New Gui nea. O pe rati ng again with Yorktown , Lexington moved into th e Coral Sea and p re pared to mee t th e Impe rial Navy in the first-ever clash betw een

Lexington as she withdrew. Because of the i m m at u re state of fi ghter direction, se ve ra l su rvived to drop bombs near the maneuvering Le xington, but no h it s were scored. This shot shows t he group leade r 's aircraft (note co m mand markings on the hor izonta l stabilizer) f lyi ng down L exington 'S port s ide d uri ng a n unsuc cessf ul attem p t t o c ra sh t he crippled bomber into the carrier.

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-------------------------------------------carriers. In a confused action, the two equal sides (the Japanese had d e pl oyed two fleet carriers to cover th ei r in vasion fo rce ) laun ched st rikes o n May 7, b u t faile d to strike eac h othe r 's m ain ca rri e r forces. H oweve r, Lexington's aircraft d id sin k th e Japan ese ligh t car rie r Sholto. On th e n ex t day, b o th sid es stru ck th e o th e r' s carrie rs. Lexington's strike o f 36 airc raft, combined wit h 39 fro m Yorktown, p ound ed th e flee t carrier Shoknku wit h th ree bombs, but the J a pa nese ca rrier did n ot sin k. In return , d esp ite the fa ct th a t US radar picke d tip the J a pa nese strike force at 68 mil es an d the carrie rs were defended by 20 figh ters a n d 23 Da u n tlesses on a n ti-torpedo p lane patro l, th e J ap a n ese a ttack force o f 69 aircraft inflicted h eavy d am age on Lexington, sco rin g two to rpedo hi ts o n h er port side an d three bo mb hit s. H oweve r, in less th an two h ours , d a mage con tr ol p e rso nnel h ad ex tingu ishe d all fir es a n d co rrec ted a seven-d egree list. J ust as it lo oked as if Lexington wo u ld su rvive , a massive explosion took place. sp a rked by leaking gas vap ors as a resul t of aviation gas ta nks being ruptured from the effe cts of b attl e damage. T hi s time the flames co uld n o t be co n tro lled an d , after a second massive exp lo sio n , the sh ip was aban doned. T h e coup de grace was d e livered by two to rpedo es fro m a n esco rt ing d estroye r. USS Saratoga Saratoga was o ne of o n ly two prewa r ca rriers that saw co mbat se rvice in th e Pacific an d su rvi ved. The attack o n Pea rl H a rb o r saw the sh ip off th e US wes t coas t. She qui ckly h ead ed west to ta ke part in the ab orted rel ief of Wa ke Isla n d . On J a n uary 11, 1942, near Pea rl H arbo r, Saratoga rece ived h e r first war d amage when sh e was stru ck by a single torp ed o fro m su bm a rine 1-6. The d amage did n ot th reaten to sin k th e shi p , b u t it d id require a return to th e west coas t for re p airs. Repairs an d tr ain in g o f a n ew air group preven ted Saratoga fro m tak in g p art in th e d ecisive phase of th e battle of Mid way Saratoga next h ead ed in to the South Pacific to su p po rt the first US offensive of the war, the invasion of Guadalcanal Island in th e Solomons in August 1942. Late r in Augus t, Saratoga played a key ro le in th e ,..-aT 'S th ird carri e r battl e , th e battle of th e Eastern So lo mons . H er 36-aircraft strike san k th e light ca nier R)'uj o. Because of cloud cover, Saratoga escap ed th e ret rib u tio n of th e Im p erial Navy 's flee t carriers, ,...ith Enterprise takin g the b ru n t of the J apanese a ttac k. On August 31, Saratoga was again struck by a sub marine torpedo, thi s time from 1-26. T he attack damaged h e r turbo-elec tric propulsion system and, afte r te m po rary re pairs, the sh ip headed to Pearl Harb or for pennanent re pairs. After h e r return to servi ce ,

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l exington viewed later on May B f ro m he avy c rui ser USS Portlan d . Th is well -known sho t is the last ta ke n of l exington i n a f ull y operat io na l c ond itio n . Th e shi p i s d own b y t he bow, bu t has r ecov ered her ai r g ro up. Note the 1.1 1n gun s where t he Bi n gunhou ses w ere a nd t he p latform at the b ase o f the st ac k for additiona l 2 0mm guns. Th e sh ip is i n a Measu re 11 sc heme .

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Saratoga under way i n 1942 with a portion of her air group spotted aft. The ship s pe nt much of the war's first ye ar under r epair from torpedo dam age . As the world's longest w ar ship, s he required time to an swer to st eeri ng orders and proved an inviting target fo r J apanese s ubm ari nes.

Sara toga rem ain ed in the Sou th Paci fic u n til Nove mber 1943 provi d ing cover fo r operations in th e Solomo ns. In Novembe r 1943 her aircraft struck the J apanese bastio n of Rab aul, d amaging several heavy cru isers that had arrive d to stri ke the US beachhead o n Bougain villc. New Britain . After ano ther brief re fit , Sa ratoga returned to Pearl Ha rbo r in Jan uary 1944. Fe lloe..-ing attacks d elivered against J apan ese ga rriso ns o n several Ce n tra l Pacific islands, Saratoga moved wes t to j o in th e Briti sh East ern Fleet in the Ind ian O cean. O pera tin g with a Roya l Navy ca rri er, she struck th e pa n o f Saba ng, Su mat ra , o n April 16. A lat er rai d agains t Soerabaj a, J ava , was also su ccessful. Followi ng opera tio ns with th e Royal Navy, Saratoga re tu rned to the west coast fo r her seco nd refit o f 194 4. This prepared her fo r duty as a ni ght ca rrier a nd as suc h she operated with USS Ra nger in the area of Pearl H arbo r, tra ining pilo ts in nigh t o pera tions an d d evelopi ng nigh t fighte r tac tics. In j anuary 19 45, Saratoga received th e call to re tu rn to co mbat o perations, j o inin g Enterprise to fo rm a n igh t figh ter carrie r di vision to su pport th e invasio n o f Iwo J ima. In th e co u rse of th ese o pe ratio ns, Saratoga received h er last d amage of th e war, O n Feb ruary 21, th e sh ip was struck by a to tal o f six bo m bs in two separate attacks. Despite d am age to h er flight d eck and large fires in th e ha nga r d eck, she was ab le to re cove r aircraft in th re e hours. Saratoga returned to servi ce in ~l ay. foll ovvi ng repairs, and resumed her training duties. At the co nclusio n o f th e war, Saratoga was em ployed in duties to re turn servic emen to the US, tr ansp o rtin g m ore than 29 ,000 person nel, m ore th an any o th er sh ip . By war 's e nd , Saratoga was su per flu ous to req uiremen ts an d was assigned to O peratio n Crossroads to test th e effects of a to mic blasts on naval uni ts. The first blast o n July 1, 1946 in flict ed o nly minor d amage, but a seco nd blast the following d ay proved fatal. Sh e san k the same day, as d amage co n tro l efforts were im possible o n h er ra d ioactive hull.

USS LEXINGTON Displacement: 36,000 tons Dimensions: Lengt h 888ft Beam 105ft Draft 32ft Maximum speed : 34kt Radius: 6,960nm Crew: 2.122 (prewar), 2,381 (Saratoga, 1944)

21

Ranger show n in October 193 6 . Th e light ne ss of her construction Is evi dent. The six s ma ll stacks used to vent the sh ip's sm oke are in their c rui si ng po sition; during flight o pe ra t ions they would be po sitioned par allel w it h t he hangar deck. The sm all is la nd is an afterthought as the design originally ca lled for a fl ush-deck s hip.

Assessmen t

The Lexingtons in troduced the fle et carrier concept to th e US Navy. In th eir day th ey were large r, faster, and carri ed more aircraft than any o the r carrier in the worl d. T hey we re ideal platfo rm s to test th e theories of the Navy's aviatio n ad voca tes du rin g the p rewar years and p roved without doubt th at lar ge carr iers wer e p referable to a number of smaller carrie rs, a no tion that co n tin ues in the US Navy un til thi s d ay. Despite n ot being based on any experience . th ei r 1920s des ign was ge nerally successful and th e ships were still capable of re ndering excelle n t wa r servic e .

USS RANGER (CV-4) Design a n d cons truction

22

Rangen vas the first US ca rri er designed an d built as suc h fro m th e keel up. Following th e conversion of th e two Lexmgtons, 69 ,000 to ns remained of the US Navy's allocated ca rri er tonnage under th e \ \Tash ing to n Nava l Tr eaty. Many differe nt d esigns were co nsidered to use this remai ni ng tonnage , but what resulted reflected the US Navy's desir e to m ake fu ll use of its trea ty allocatio n and to maintain numerical parity with th e o ther 11-"0 carrie r powers of th e d ay, th e Roya l Navy and the Imperi al J apanese Navy. T he even tual size selected (13,800 tons) was d rive n by a d esire to produce five addi tional smalle r carrie rs in stead of a smaller n u m ber o f larger carriers. This size was se en as adeq uate for b uilding a carri er th at had sufficien t aircra ft capa city an d handling facilities. Construction of Rangerbeg'dn in 19 31. Wh en com m.issioned in 1934, she introduced several features that wo uld become co m mo n in fu ture US prewar carrier d esigns , including p rovision for an island, an open hangar, a gallery de ck around th e fligh t deck, and provision fo r crossd eck catapults mou nt ed on the hangar deck. Man y of R anger's fea tu re s were co m p ro mised by th e req uire men t to fit the d esign into 13,800 to ns . The narrow hu ll was provided with n o u nd erwa ter protection and o nly a single in ch of ste el o n th e hangar deck . The inte rn al subd ivisio n was inad equat e and th e place men t of th e boiler and machinery ro om s meant that a single hit could knock out the

Ran ger s hown on July 6 , 1944 in a M easu re 3 3/Design t a ca m oufla ge sc he me. Despit e the profu si on of ant i ai rc ra ft weapon ry an d the add iti o n of radar, th e s hip w as never committed to a high-threat area and by t h is ti me had alrea dy assu me d th e r ole of a training c arrier.

ship's entire propulsion syste m. Adequate space was not available to fit turbo-electri c drive , so cruise r-type geared tu rb ines wer e installed . Max im um speed was an in ad equate 29 .5 knots. Since the o rig inal design did n ot call for th e pro vision of an island, the sm oke from th e six boilers was vented up six sm all stac ks, three on each side of the aft han gar. During fligh t operat ions, the h inged stacks were rotated to a position parallel with th e hangar dec k. Ranger's design was op tim ized to support the maximum number of aircraft. T he h angar deck was actually larger than that of th e Lexington class. T\\.7o elevators were fitte d close together nearly amidships in an un usual arrangemen t driv en by the desire to clear space for th e han gar deck cat apults (although th ey were never actu ally fitte d) . Origin ally it was planned to com plete her with a flush deck to facilitate fligh t ope ra tions, but Lexington am ply demons trated th e comm and and control advan tages from even a sm all island, so a small sta rboard side island was added befo re com pletion . T his placed Ra ngers fin al tonnage over the envisioned des ign lim it and added to h er top weight pro bl em s. Aircraft capacity was design ed to be 76 including 36 fighters, 36 scou t/ d ive bo mbe rs, and four uti lity aircraft. At th e tim e of her design, d ivebombing was seen as th e most po tent an tiship weapon, so no provision was mad e for torpedo sto rage and, until later in the war, no torpedo plane squ adron was embarked . Also, 40 assembled fuselages could be mounted on th e overhead of th e hanga r deck high en ough not to int erfere with aircraft movement in th e hangar. Even during the war while operating larger aircraft, Ranger emba rked as many as 72 aircraft; during th e Xorth African invasio n , she emba rked an air group of 54 Wildcats and 18 Daun tlesses. Armament

Wh en originally co m p leted , eigh t Sin guns were fitt ed. The initial configu ra tion of th e Sin batte ry had two of th e four fo rward gu ns located on the fo recastle under th e flight deck and two of th e aft gu ns positioned on th e hangar d eck. This arrangem en t proved unsatisfact ory and was soon replaced by th e usual arrangem en t of four pai rs of guns o n th e corners of th e flight deck. Two Mark 33 Directo rs were placed o n th e islan d to servi ce th e Sin battery. Rangerwas among the first US :\'a\'}' sh ips fitt ed with light auto matic weapons to defend against divebombin g. Ini tially, 40 .50-cal. machin e guns were fitte d .

23

Serv ice modifications

Yorktown sh ow n i n Oc to ber 19 37

Begin n in g in September 1941, Ranger's a n tiaircraft p rote ctio n was increase d . Six L l in quadruple mou nts were ad ded a t the ex pens e of 16 of th e o rigin al 40 .50-cal. m ac h ine guns. A refi t fo llowing the ship 's participati o n in th e No r th Afri can landin gs resu lted in a no th e r augmen ta tio n of the ship 's an tiair craft batte ry ' vri th six q uadrupl e 40m m m ou n ts re placing th e l.lin m o u n ts an d a to tal of 46 20 mm gu ns being ad ded . Additio nally, Ranger retain ed her o riginal battery o f eigh t 5in /25 gUlls. By m id-war the sh ip was heavily overw ei ght and obso lescent. In the fall of 1943, six of th e 20m m gu ns were removed . A co mp re hensive ove rh au l tha t wo u ld have provid ed so me d egr ee o f un d e rwa te r p rotection and the ability to op erate mo de rn aircraft was co nsid ered in lat e 1943 , b ut was can celed wh en it was realized th a t th e wo rk wo uld re sult in the d elayed co mpletio n of two Essex class carriers. A fin al refit in May- ju ly 1944 co nfi rm ed that Ranger was no longer suitable for co mba t du ties. No w sh e was eq uip ped as a ni gh t tra ining ca rrier: a new flight cleek ca ta p ult was ad d ed and h er fligh t cleek stre ngth ened . Facili ties to co n tro l night figh ters were added, incl ud ing a new S:M heigh t-find ing rad ar. To com pensate , all eigh t 5in g u ns were removed.

j ust after her c om missi on i ng . Note the fo rward starboa rd sponson f or two 5 in /38 guns.

Operational history

After j o inin g th e Atla n tic Flee t. Ranger participate d in severa l an n ual Fleet Pro ble m exe rcises begi nn in g in 1935. Early in her ca re e r, she ex hi bite d signs of problems in heavy seas . \Vhe n the US e n te re d th e war, R a nge". wa s still ac tive in th e Atlantic and by May 19 42 she was th e o nly fleet ca rrie r not assign ed to the Pacific Flee t. Twice d u rin g 1942, in Ap ril

Yorktown dead i n th e w at er follow ing t he attack of Hiryu's t orpedo aircraft. Two hits on the sh ip's port si de resu lted i n a heavy li st . Despit e t he d am ag e, salvage efforts wou ld h av e suc ceed ed if Yorktown had not receive d two add i t io na l

24

s ubm arine-fire d t orped oe s.

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,

,

D: USS ENTERPRISE, JUNE 1942, AT THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY

1 20mm Oerlikon gu ns (many) 2 5in dual purpose guns (4 on the starboard side)

17 Loc ation of forward elevator 18 Officer statero om s (many)

14 Gallery deck

19 Ordnance and aviation stores 20 Fuel ta nk s 21 Officer's wardroom 22 Crew berthing 23 Crew's mess 24 Boiler rooms 25 Boiler roo m up takes 26 Machinery roo m 27 Galley 28 Generato r roo m (2) 29 Evaporator roo m 30 Sick b ay

15 Hangar deck

31 Chief Pett y Office r's mess

3 Locat ion of aft elevator 4 Location of m idd le elevator

5 Boat and aircraft cranes 6 Mk 35 Gu n Director (2) 7 Squad ron ready roo m (several) 8 Signal bridge

9

CXAM ~ 1

antenna

10 Island

11 F.,g bridge 12 Navigation br idg e 13 1.1in quadruple antiaircraft gu ns (4)

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16 Roller curtains

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and J une , R anger ferried P-40 fighte r aircraft to Africa. T he highl igh t of th e ship's co mba t ca reer wa s u ndo ub ted ly in Nove m be r 1942 wh en Ranger was the so le flee t carrie r assigned to participat e in th e No rt h African landings. Duri ng th is o pera tion, Ra nger's aircraft attac ked Vich y French nava l and ground targe ts in cluding the in co m ple te battle ship J ean Bart at Casabl an ca . An o ther P-40 fe rry run was co nd uc ted in J an uary' 1943. In Aug ust, a t British request, R angerj o in ed th e Royal Navy's Ho me Fleet and was assigned to watch for possible movemen t of German heal}' ships o peratin g from No rway In O cto ber 1943, Ranger co nd uc ted h er last co m bat o peratio n of th e war whe n her aircraft cond uct ed air strikes agains t Germ an sh ip p in g in th e area of Bode, No rway Up on detaching from th e Ho m e Flee t in November, R anger re turned to th e US an d assum ed the role of a trainin g carrier. O nce it was decid ed not to moder ni ze th e ship, sh e be cam e a ni ght trainin g carri er and was moved into the Pacific, whe re sh e co ntinued her training d ut ies until Au gust 1946. Sh e was sold for scrap in 1947.

USS RANGER Displacement: 14,500 to ns Dimensions: Length 769ft Beam 80ft Draft 20ft Maximum speed: 29.5kt Radius: 9.960nm Crew: 216 officers. 2,245 enlisted perso nnel (including air group)

Assessment

Of the seve n p rewar carriers, on ly Ranger saw n o actio n in th e Pac ific. This alo ne speaks vo lum es o n how she was viewed wi th in the US Navy. Am ong th e seven, she was th e slowest and had th e least adeq ua te degree of pro tectio n and co m partme n tat io n , Her small size m ean t th at she co uld not o perate comfo rtably in co m mo n Pacific swells and was unable to o perate aircraft in even m oderate seas. \Vith th e experim ental Langle)' providing the o n ly carrier ex p eri ence , it is clear that Ranger's design was a false ste p. The ex perien ce ga ined in her co nstruc tio n at least meant that th e same mistakes would not be made in th e nex t class of carrier.

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This v iew shows Yorktown j ust after co m m is s ioni ng. Note the

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roll er c urtai n s along t he port si de of t he hanger deck and the l arg e Is la nd . The Mark 33 Directors are lo c ated above th e b ridge and aft of th e sta c k.

:..... -:- ~ -

33

THE YORKTOWN CLASS (YORKTOWN (CY-5), ENTERPRISE (CY-6), AND HORNET (CY-8)) Design and construc tion

The }'orkt ow ll cla ss was the firs t class of m od e m US ca rrie rs and th e first de signed. with th e b enefit of flee t experience. T h e basic d esign proved so successfu l that it proved th e b asis for the even mo re successful F~.5fX class . The ge n esis of th e design cam e in th e afterma th of what was generally viewed as th e failed R a nger d esign . \ Vith the remain in g ca rrier Treaty to n nage, it was decided to build two la rge r sh ips o f so me 20 ,000 to ns rathe r th an an o the r Ranger-sized d esign . T h is would perm it th e correctio n of Ra nger's m ost glari ng weakness - lack of p ro tec tio n . A ca rrie r o f some 20,000 to n s had suffi cient size to allow a real degree o f protection against to rpe d o attack, a prim a ry d esign feature in th e lorklowll class . A 4 in side a rm o r belt was fitted ove r th e mac h ine ry sp ac es, magazin es, a n d gas o line sto rage tanks. T h e bottom 4ft o f th e belt below th e wate rline was tape red to 2.5in . Vertica l p rotection was limi ted to l .5in o f a rmo r oye r th e m ach in e ry sp aces. The e n ds of th e machin e ry spaces were prot ect ed by a 4in a rmor b u lkhead . Un de rwa te r pro tect ion was further e n h a n ce d by a side pro tective syste m th at exte n ded th e same le n gth as th e side a rm or. T h is syste m co nsisted o f th ree ta nks in te n ded to abso rb th e sh o ck of a ny torped o ; th e in ne r ta nk was a vo id a n d th e oute r two were fille d with liq uids. The e n tire leng th of th e shi p was doub le-botto m ed . Man y other d esign fe atu res were ca rr ied ove r fr om Ranger. T h e main d eck was th e h an gar d eck with th e un armored fligh t d eck b eing built of ligh t ste el. Mu ch of th e h a n gar d eck could be o pe ned up by th e use of la rge ro ller cu rtains. T hese were open ed to allow ai rcraft to warm up prio r to launch an d closed to acco mmodate weath e r cond itio ns o r tacti cal req u ire m e n ts. The large st isla nd ye t fitt ed o n a US ca rri e r was in clud ed a nd p rovid ed room for cu nn ing a nd na vigatio n . aircraft contro l, a n d fire con trol. A la rge stac k was d esign ed into th e isla nd , makin g thi s th e first US ca rrier with a co m b ined island/ stack .

This fin e Oc tober 1941 vi ew of Hornet w as t aken aro und th e t ime of her commi ssioning and

s hows her before radars and armament w ere f itted . The modifications to her bridge area are evident compared to her

34

si ster sh ip s.

Enterp r ise shown maneuvering a t h igh s peed during the b attle of Midway. During this e ngagement , Enterprise 's d ive bombers sa nk three of the four J apan ese f leet c ar riers present.

Nin e b o ilers a n d fou r se ts of geared tu rbines were req uired to produce th e 3 2 .5~kl1 o t top speed d esign re q u iremen t. All of th e boilers were lo cated forward of the two e ngine rooms. The close lo cati on of th e two engine roo ms was n ot d esirabl e , b u t was lat e r rectifie d in th e Ess ex class. The fi rst two sh ips of th e class, Y01}a Ow n a n d Enterprise, we re co m m issio ned in 1937 a nd 1938 resp ectively. T h e th ird sh ip of the class, H ornet, di d n o t e n te r service until 1941. When th e \Vash in gto n Treaty ex p ire d, a n d ad d ition al ca rri er co ns tru ctio n was a ut h o rize d , th e best d esign availa ble was th e Yorklmon class . In stead o f bein g delayed waitin g for a nee..· d esign , Hornet was built to a sligh tly m odi fied larktow n class d esign . As su ch, sh e was th e last ca rrie r affecte d by treaty lim itatio ns. The maj o r di fference in constructio n was the substi tu tion of th e Mark 37 Directo r fo r th e Mark 33. The larklown class was d esign ed to operate 90 a irc ra ft, including 84 co m b at airc ra ft an d six util ity aircraft, bu t in service som ewh at fewer were invariab ly ca rri ed. To su p po rt th e large air gro u p , all th re e ships h ad th ree elevato rs an d (" ,,' 0 d eck cata p u lts fitt ed. Another catap u lt was fitted flu sh to the h angar d eck im medi ately aft of the forward elevato r. T he h anga r d eck cata p u lt wa s in te nd ed to p e rmit la u n ch in g of sco u t ai rcraft eve n whe n th e fligh t d eck was o ccu p ied by p re pa rat io ns for a fu ll-d e ck stri ke . Yorktown i n dry dock in Pearl Harbor unde rgoing repairs follow ing the battle o f the Coral Sea. Note the 20mm guns p laced on the bow.

Armament

The YOt*l own class was one of th e first eq u ip pe d wit h the n ew 5in / 38 d ual -pu rpose gu ns. Con trolle d by a pair of Ma rk 33 Directo rs mounted on the island, these gu ns provid ed lon g-range a n tiairc raft p rotectio n. Fo r in te rm ed iate and clo se-in protection, four l.lin quadruple mounts we re p laced fo re a nd aft of th e island a n d a total of 24 .50
Prior to th e wa r, these ships were not ex te nsively modified as th ey already ca rri ed wha t was beli eved to b e an ade q ua te a n tiaircraft su ite , a nd in any eve nt th e y cou ld n o t be sp ared fro m sen-i ce for an extensive refit. H oweve r.. d urin g wartim e , m a ny modificati ons were ca r ried o u t when eve r co n ditions pe rmi tted wo rk to be d o n e. Un d er warti me co n d itions.. th e hangar d eck ca tap u lts were seld om used. Enterpri ses: a nd Hornets

35

were removed inJune 1942 wh ile Yorktmvn was sunk wi th h e rs O Il board. Ano ther feature n ever used u nder warti me cond itio ns was th e fo rward se t of arresting wires. Accord in gly, these we re removed fro m Enterprise. Prior to th e war, th e cras h barri er ' ...a s also modified fro m th e old wood e n type to a wire-su p ported canvas sling type th at , when used, would no t: cause as much dam age to an aircraft. Most mod ificati ons co nc e rn ed th e an tiaircraft ba tte ry. Even be for e th e war; th e ge neral poli cy was to substitute twin 40mm mounts fo r th e l.li n mounts and 20mm for the .5O-cal. mac hine gu ns. Howeve r, shortages p recluded this from taking place un til after th e war had begun. Byj u n e 1942, all three sh ips h ad received 20mm gu ns - 24 in Hornet a nd llnktown a nd 32 in Enterprise. Yorktawn and Homet were lost be fore th eir 1.l in moun ts co uld be re moved . In Au gust 1942 , more 20mm were added : 38 in Enterprise a nd 32 in Hornet: Hornet was lost before any fu rt he r modifi catio ns were mad e. Durin g re pairs to battle damage to Enterprise in Nove m be r 1942, four quad ru ple 40 mm mo un ts re p laced th e 1.1in moun ts locat ed arou nd th e island a n d th e numbe r of 20mm gu ns was in creased to 46. Enterprise's first m aj or refi t a n d modernizati o n took p lace b eginning in July 1943. Sh e e me rg ed with a greatly modified a n tiairc ra ft b at tery of six q uad ru p le 40mm mounts. eigh t twin 40m m m oun ts a nd 48 20 m m gu ns. Two ex pe rimen tal 20mm moun ts, a d ouble a nd a tripl e , were briefly em barke d but were quickly repl aced by single mounts. Two Mark 37 Directo rs replaced the old Mark 33s a n d th e radar su ite was modernize d . The first faci lities to h an d le n ight fig h te rs we re fitted an d a n ew Co m ba t Information Center was buil t in th e island. T h e sh ip's gasoline sto rage tanks were modified to e n h ance su rvivab ility. New, more p owe rfu l ca ta p u lts ,.. . e re p rovid ed . \Vith th e ad d itio n of n e w bli ste rs for in cr eased sta b ility a n d e n han ced un d er vv-ate r p rotec tio n , Enterprise's fu lly load ed co n di tio n was n ow 32,060 tons. Entn jni se's las t re fit a n d mo dernizat ion oc cu r red in 194 5 foll owin g h e r last wa rtim e damage. T he advent of th e kam ikaze had d e monst rat ed th e usel essn ess o f th e light 20m m gu n s an d it wa s co ns idered n ecessa ry to mo un t as man y 40mm gu ns as p ossibl e . Enterprise e me rge d wi th a b atte ry of 54 40 mm gu ns (11 q ua d rup le a nd live twin ) . To co m pe nsate, the twin 40 m m o n the bow '....as removed a n d the nu m ber of 20 m m mo unts reduce d to 16 twin s. Ad d itional d irectors were also p rovi d ed in

Yorktown on fire a ft er th e attac k by Hiryu 's d ive bom bers as seen f ro m heavy c ruiser USS Astoria. The F4F-4s spotted fo rward are from Yorktown's co mbat air patrol. Yorktown was pain t ed in a Measu re 12 scheme when l ost .

Follow in g t he attack by Hiryu 's torpedo aircraft, Yorktown 's l ist eve n t ua l ly reached 26 d egre es and her ca ptai n ordered her t o

be aba ndoned. Tw o ad ditional s ubmarine-la unched t orp ed oe s f in ally re sult ed in her

36

destruction .

•

Enterprise u nde r attac k at Sant a Cruz. Hit by two bombs, 44 of her crew w e re killed an d 75 wound ed.

the Conn of a Mark 5 7 o n eac h qu ad ra n t for th e 5 in /38 an d four Ma rk 63s for th e quad ruple 40mms. Also , a total of I I Ma rk 51 optical lead com puting d ire ctors were provided . An o th e r im p orta n t wartime im p rove me n t was th e ad d itio n of radar. O n e of the six p roto typ e CX.-\..1\ l ra dars ,.. 'as fitt ed in 1940 to }arktown. Enterprise rece ived th e im proved CXA M-l a n d Hornet th e smalle r SC rad a r. The SC p rov ed di sapp o in ting in service, so during the sum me r of 1942 H o rn e t rece ived th e CXAM salvag ed from th e su n ke n battlesh ip Califom in. O n ly Enterprise su rvi ved long e n o u gh to receive a fu ll rad ar u pgra d e . Late in 1942 , a n SC.r2 ' . .as mo u nted o n th e stack, and lat er a n SK ra dar was sh ip pe d for lo n g-ra n ge air search together wi th a n SM h eigh t-fin d e r.

Op erational histories U SS Yorktown T h e lead sh ip of th e class was laid d own in May 1934, la u n ch ed in Ap ril 1936, a n d co m mission ed in to service in Se p te mber 1937. Yorktown pa rti cipa ted in the 1939 Flee t Proble m in Ca ribbean a n d th e 1940 Fleet Proble m co nd u cted in th e Pacific, after \·...h ich sh e re mai ned in H awa iia n wa te rs . In April 194 1, }orktown d e p a rt ed Pearl H a rb o r to rein fo rce the Atlan tic Flee t. T here she co n d u cted severa l neutra lity p atr ols b efo re US entry into th e war. At the sta rt of th e war o n ly th re e carrie rs remained in th e Pacific to face the J a pan ese o nslau ght, so it was quickly d ecided to m ove l arktown back in to th e Pacific. Yorktown's first co m ba t ac tio n ca me o n Feb ruary I , 1942 durin g raid s on J a p an ese fa cilitie s in th e Ma rsh all a nd Gilb er t Islan d s. Damage to th e J apanese was light. On Febru a ry 14, rorktown h ead ed south fro m Pea rl H a rb o r fo r th e Co ra l Sea. Togeth e r with Lexington, 52 Yo rk town aircraft attacked J a pa n ese sh ip p ing at Lae and Sa lamau a o n Ma rc h 10, haggin g a d isap poi n tin g th ree tra nsports. Lat er, in responsc to new j ap an ese land in gs, th is time o n Tu lagi in th e Sol omons, }orktown laun ched 40 strike aircraft again st J apa n ese shippi ng o n May 4. This tim e Yorktown's aircra ft sa n k a d estr oye r a n d th ree small m in esweepe rs. .Mea nwh ile, o ther Im p e rial Navy forces were m oving towa rds Po rt Mo resby, covered by two mo de rn ca rrie rs, Shokaku and Zu ikaku. On May 8, th e b att le was join ed b etween th e two ca rrie r fo rces. Yorktown's d ive bombe rs scored two h its o n Shokaku, bu t she su rvived . In tu rn , Yorktown was attacke d by J a p an ese to rp ed o an d d ive b om be rs. All torp ed oes were evad ed by skillfu l maneuveri ng, but a sin gle bo m b hi t th e sh ip, penetr ati ng the fligh t d eck befo re exp lodin g a n d killing o r wo u ndi ng 66 of th e crew.

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It was estimated that three m on th s were required to re pair th e damage, but th e sh ip was patched up in a re markable th ree days a t Pearl Har bor and q ui ckly put to sea to join with sister ships Enterprise an d Hornet no rth east of Midway for th e most important bat tle of the Paci fic \ Var. J un e 4 saw th e J apanese open th e battle with an att ack on the air field on Midway Island . The Japanese carriers were loca ted first, allowing all three US ca rr iers to launch a fu ll deck-load stri ke . Hnktown's co ntributio n was a first wave of 35 aircraft followed by ano the r 23. Her d ive bombers destroyed the carrier S01JU and two o th er carrie rs were destroyed by Enterprise airc ra ft. The last re mai n ing J apan ese ca rrier, Hlrru. immediat ely launched an 18 d ive bomber stri ke th at stru ck YorktowJl. T h ree hi ts ,..'ere sco red , one on the flight deck, ano ther in the lower part of th e stac k, and a third that penetrated the forward elevato r to ex plode o n th e fourt h deck. Yoriuoum went tem porarily dcad in the wate r, bu t 20 knots had bee n atta ined by th e time a seco nd 'wave of H iry« torpe do bom be rs arrived. T h is tim e , Yorktoum was hit by two to rp edoes 0 11 her port side. Again th e ship wen t dead in th e wate r an d soo n was listing heavily Salva ge effo rts were on th e verge of paying off when su bmarine 1-1 68 put two more torpedoes into Yorktown. This final damage proved fatal and the sh ip fin ally sa nk o n J u ne 7.

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USS Enterprise T h is sh ip was th e most decorated in US naval histo ry; with a Presid en tial Unit Cita tio n , a Navy Un it Co mm endatio n , a nd 20 battl e sta rs fo r her Second \Vorld \Var se rvice. Enterprise was laun ched in O cto ber 1936, commission ed in May 1938 , and assign ed to the Pacific Fleet. Wh en the J apanese struc k Pearl Harbor, Enterprise had almost re turned to pon afte r delivering figh ter aircraft to Wake Island , thus barely evading almost ce r tain destruction . He r first real co mbat came in February 1, 1942 whe n she launc hed a full-de ck strike of 67 aircraft ag ain stJ apanese faciliti es o n Kwaja le in in the Marsh all Islands. This was fo llowed by raids on February 24 agai ns t Wak e and March 3 against Marcu s Island . In April, Enterprise provided air cover for Hornet d u ring the Doolittle raid against the J ap anese h om eland. Ordered so u th to rei nfo rce US forces in the South Pacific, Enterprise barely missed the battle of the Co ra l Sea . June 1942 found Enterprise layin g in wait fo r th e J ap an ese invasio n fo rce headed for Midway Island . During the batt le , Elltn prise's air grou p played a pivo tal rol e in the most decisive e ngage men t of

Enterprise at Noumea in November 1942 following the climactic J apanese attempt to recapture Gu ad alcanal. It was during this p eriod that Enterprise was the so le re mai ni n g operational c arrier in the Pacific a nd pl ay ed a vital ro le in defeating the J ap an ese onslaught.

After h er ea rl y w ar h eroics, Enterprise remain ed active up until the end of the war, never missing a m ajor en g ag em en t . Here she is show n under attack by Japan e se ai rc r aft on June 19, 1944 during the b attle of the Phi lippine Sea .

Hornet m aneuvering under attac k from Japanese car r ie r

aircra ft on October 2 6, 1942. Sh e i s a lre ad y on fire f rom bo m b d amag e .

the Pacific \Var. Dive bombers from Enterprise were respo nsible fo r sin king the J apanesc ca rriers Akagi and Kaga, and shared in th e d estructio n of H irn c In retu rn , Enterprise was undam aged . Act io n now sh ifte d to thc Sou th Pacific where the US Navy had lan d ed o n th e key island of Guadalcanal. In th e 'war's third carrier act ion, th e ha ttie o f the Eastern Solo mons in Au gust 1942 , Enterprise came und e r attack by dive bombers , suffe ri ng three bom b hi ts a nd four ncar m isses. Despite th e damage , she was able to return to Pearl Harbor un d e r her own power and had been repaired in tim e by th e next ca rri er cngagement, th e battle o f Santa Cruz in O ctober. Enterprisewas again d am aged, th is time by (W O bombs; in return her sm all strike o f 20 ai rcraft was ine ffective. In the aftermat h of Santa Cruz. Enterpri se was the only opera tio nal ca rri er in the Pacific . Repairs to her latest battle d amage were u nd erway at No umea, Ne w Caled on ia , when the final J apan cse effo rt to recap tu re C uadalca na l kicke d o ff. Aga in, El1tnl>rise's air grou p was instrum en tal in victory as it shared in th e d estru ction of th e first J apanese battl eshi p su n k d u ri ng th e war an d seve ra l transpo rts atte mpti ng to land me n and su p plies o n the isla nd , After re m aining in th e So lo mo ns fo r th e first th ree mo nt hs o f 1943, Enterprise returned to Pearl H arbo r in J\I ay to receive th e fi rst Presid en tial U nit Cita tio n awa rd ed to an airc raft carrier d u ring the war. In Ju ly, she returned to the US fo r he r first ove rh aul, The arrival o f the newer Essex class fleet carriers m ean t that Enterpri se no longer played a lead ing rol e. In November 1943, she had returned to service to cover th e Gilbert Island s operatio n in the Ce nt ral Pacific. In j an uary 1944, she participa ted in operations against th e Mars hall Island s. In February 1944, Enterprise wa s pan of the larg est US carri e r stri ke to date, the d estruction ofJ apanese nava l and air forces at Tr uk atoll in the Ca ro line Islands. By th is tim e, Enterprise had assumed the duties of night carrier; employing bo th figh ter an d bomber aircraft in nigh t missions. In March, Enterprise hit th e Palau Islands; in Ap ril, she p ro vid ed sup por t to land ings in I Io llandia, New Guin ea, and revisited Truk . US lan d ings o n Saipan in the Mari an a Islands in J un e 1944 p rom p ted the Im pe rial Na vy's reco nstitu ted carrie r force to give ba ttle in what becam e h istory's large st ca rr ier clash . Enterprise's air g ro up LOok part in th e d ecisive dest ructio n of th e attackin g J apanese ca rrie r air grou ps. In October, she participate d in the battle fo r Lcytc Gulf, laun ching severa l strikes against J apa nese su rface u nits th reate ning th e US beachhead o n Lcytc . After a shor t pause at Pearl Il arbor, she returned to servi ce with an en tire a ir win g d edicated to ni ght o pera tio ns . In Februa ry 1945, she took part in th e first ca rrier st ri kes agains t the J apan ese homeland and

35

lat er th at mon th covered th e landings o n 1\\ '0 J im a. In Marc h , the US carrier task fo rce return ed to th e J apa nese ho me islan d s wi th Enterprise providi ng night air defense . Sligh t damage on March 18 req ui red a re tu rn to the flee t an cho rage at U lith i for repairs before re tu rnin g to ac tion to cove r th e April 1945 landings o n O kinawa . Kamikaze d amage o n Ap ril 11 req uired an o ther re tu rn to Ulithi. Entnprist"s final d amage of the war occurred o n May 14 when a kamikaze struc k th e fligh t deck in the area of the forward elevator. A bomb penetrated to the th ir d d eck before it ex ploded, blowin g the eleva tor off th e sh ip and ca us ing a large fire on the hangar d eck . Following her final re fit in 1945, Enterprise never retu rn ed to co mba t. She was em ployed in retu rn ing US tr oo ps from overseas after the war's end . Shamefully, plans to tu rn th is symbol of th e US Navy's war in the Pacific in to a m emo rial failed and Enterprisewzs so ld for scrap in 1958.

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USS Hornet With a service life of only o ne yea r, Hornet d id n o t have the illust rio us service histo ry of h er siste r sh ips. Sh e was co mm issioned in O ct ober 1941 as US e n try into th e wa r was lo oming. Beginnin g the war in th e Atlantic Fleet, Hornet was d eployed to th e Pacific in March 1942 where she immediately loaded 16 B-25 bo mbe rs fo r her m ost famous mi ssion, th e launchi ng of Co lonel J im my Do olittl e 's ra iders ag-ains t the J apan ese hom eland in April 1942. After m issin g th e battle of th e Co ral Sea, Hornet was presen t at Mid way, b u t d u ri n g th e battle her air gro u p p u t in a dism al perfo rmance . A full-deck strike of 59 aircraft o n June 4 resulted in n o d amage to the J apanese with h er d ive bo mbers un ab le to fin d th ei r targe ts and he r torpedo sq uad ro n be ing an n ihilated by J apanese figh te rs. Sent to the South Pacific, on O cto ber 26, Hornet and Enterprise faced a j apa nese force of fo u r carrie rs in th e battl e of Santa Cruz. Whil e Hornet's two strikes with a total of 55 aircraft succeeded in dam aging Shokaku, Hornet was su bjecte d to the most well-co o rdin ated J apanese ca rri er air attack of th e Pacific War. Att acked sim ulta neously by torpedo and bombe r aircraft, Hornet was struck by two torped o es, three bom bs an d two aircraft th at d eliberate ly crashed in to th e sh ip. One of th e to rpedo h its floo de d th e fo rward engin e roo m and ca used th e los s of all power. Later in the d ay, Hornet was h it by an other to rpe d o (th is one flo od in g the aft eng ine roo m ) and another two bombs bu t still stayed afloat. After the crew had aba nd o ned sh ip, two d estroyers atte m pt ed to scu ttle the ship with anot her nin e torped o es an d almos t 400 rounds of

Hornet li es d ead in th e water

and listing. Attempts to tow t he d am aged carrier clear of t he battle area w ere fruitless and the sh ip had to be sc uttled . Hornet w as th e l ast fl eet carrier lo st during the w ar.

Sin fire, bu t Hornet refused to go u nder. Finally,J apanese destroyers put anothe r four torpedoes into the blazin g hulk befo re she sank early a ll October 27 .

USS YORKTOWN Displacement: 19,576 to ns Dimensions: Length 810ft (Hornet 825ft) Beam 110ft (Hornet 114ft) Draft 25ft Maxi mum speed : 33kt Radius: 11,200n m at 15kt Crew (1941): 227 offic ers. ' ,990 enlisted personnel

~ nc l udi n g

air group)

Assessment

The cla ss showed an amaz ing ab ility to sustain damage, far beyond irs design expectatio ns. It also proved remarkably adaptive. taki ng co n tinually larger air craft as the war progressed whi le still rem aining capable of o pe ratin g a la rge air gro up. Enterpris e also took a n umbe r of electroni c upgrades. T hese ships proved to be the backbone of the CS Navy during the days when it was hard-pressed to co un ter J ap an ese ex pansion . Un til th e in troduction of the Essex class, th ey provided the bu lk of th e US Navy's carrier air power. The }orklown class was und o u bted ly one of th e most succe ssful and influe n tial carrier d esign s by any navy.

THE WASP (CV-7) Design and construction

\Vasp's unique design was driven solely by th e desire to use the remaini ng 14,700 to ns of th e US Navy's treaty carrie r alloc ation . \Vith less th an 15,000 tons, it was impossible to build a repea l of th e Yorktow n class, but d esign ers tri ed to fit many fe atures of the larger sh ip into \\'tzsp. Howeve r, what re sulted was a slightly im proved version of Ranger with all of the m ajor sho r tco m ings of the earlier design . Several uni que design features were used o n Wasp to re d uce its weight, such as an asymme trical hull to co m pe nsate for the weight of the starboa rd side islan d witho ut

Wa sp i n 1940 d uring se a trial s prior to her commissioning.

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the use of ballast, an d the fitting of th e first d eck-edge elevator, but th e sh ip ca me in h eavy at 15,400 tons. This resulte d in stab ility proble ms in se rvice . H-asj/ s h u ll was sh o rte r th an Ranger's by some 40 feet a nd po ssessed a sligh tly greate r beam.; co nse q u e n tly, an ad d itional 2 1,000 shaft horsepowe r was provided, but the la p speed of 29 .5 kn o ts was not entirely satisfactory. An unusual machinery arrangement was used with the forward and aft engine rooms separated by two se ts of three-abreast boiler rooms. As on Yorktown, th e b oiler u p takes were vented out of a stack th at was part of the sta rboard sid e island. T h e ship's key weakn ess was it'; ligh t protection. Desp ite th e fact th at better torpedo co m pa rt men tatio n was p rovided co m p a red to Ranger, no sid e be lt wa s fitted, although p rovi sio n was m ad c to fit o n e in th e even t of wa r. T h e h a ngar deck was a rmore d u p to 1.25in a n d 3.5 in bulkheads protected th e afte r magazi ne a n d steeri ng co m partme nt. \\115}J was also unique in that she h ad catap u lts install ed in both e n ds of h e r h a n ga r d ec k, n ot just forwa rd as in l'011{lown. Two fligh t d eck catapults were also in stalled. In addition to th e two deck eleva to rs, a d eck-edge elevator was fitted o n th e port sid e of the forward hangar b ay. T h is Teha ped p latform co u ld be folded u p for storage. Its success made it a sta n d a rd d esign featu re in su bseq uen t flee t carrie rs. A'\ d esigned, a n air gro up o f 72 airc raft was e nvision ed. Ini tially, as with Ranger, no provision was mad e fo r e m barking torpedo aircraft. H owever in 194 2, j ust before h e r lo ss, a sm all to rpedo squ ad ro n was e m ba rked. Wh e n sun k, \VasjJ e m b a rk ed an air gro u p of 32 figh ters, 2H d ive bombers, an d ten torped o p lanes.

This fi ne profi l e of Wasp shows her t o be a c ombination of th e desig ns for Ra nger and the

Yorktown c lass.

Armament

H'flsp was a rmed m uc h like the preceding Yorktoum class, Eight 5in/38 gu ns were a rranged in pairs on the port a n d sta rboard bow a nd quarter. Four l.Iin quad mo u nts were fitted forward a n d aft of th e islan d . Close-in air d efense was p rovided by wate r-coo led .5O-Cal. machine guns a rranged on th e ga llery d eck a rou nd th e flight d eck .

--

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Wasp show n i n March 1942 In her Measure 12 (modified) scheme; she would re tain t his c amouf lage un til he r loss. T he ai rc r aft spo tted fo rward i s a Grumman J 2F utility aircraft.

Service modifications

During her short service life , litt le was done to l\'fISP o th er than to en hance h er an tiaircraft protection. By J anua lJ ' 1942, this had been in crease d by 34 20 mm gu ns with all but six of the m ach in e guns h avin g been re moved . The Sin bat tery a nd the 1.1in m o un ts were re tained and th eir splin te r protection improved. As with o ther carriers, it was intended to rearm her with 40mm and 20m m gu ns, but o nly a sing le quadruple 40m m mou n t was fitt ed before her loss. During a J anuary 19 42 refit, a e XAM-I ra dar was fitt ed. Operational history

T he "CS Navy's seven th carrier was commissioned in April 1940 an d assigned to th e Atlan tic Fleet. In Aug ust 1941, she ferried P-40s to Iceland. After th e US en tlJ' into the war; she 'was used to escort h igh -value CO llVOYS from he r base in Mai ne. In March 1942, ll nsJ) and th e new battleship ltnshington were se n t to join the H o me Flee t to permit th e Royal Navy to co m mit H o me Fleet uni ts LO the invasion of Madagascar in the Ind ian O cean. The hi ghl igh t of Wasp's brief wart ime se rvice ca m e in Ap ril and May o f 194 2 when she was em ployed in th e fer ryi ng of badl y needed Sp itfire figh ters to th e hard-p ressed Briti sh island of Malta in th e ce n tra l Med iterra nean . On the fi rst oc casio n 47 Sp itfires were de livered, bu t th ese aircraft were quickly d est ro yed by German attacks so a repeal performance was arra nged. This time an o ther 47 Spitfires were d elivered . By lat e May, th e scopc of th e J apan ese threat in the Pacific di ctated that l Vtu jJ be tra nsferre d from the Atlan tic Fleet. Transiting the Panama Ca nal in ea rly J une, she arrived too late for Mid way, but was pa rt of the cove ring for ce for the lan d ings 0 11 Guada lca nal in August 194 2. rV(l~p remain ed in th e Solomons area throughout Aug ust but misse d th e ca rrie r battle o f the Eastern Solomons o n Aug ust 24 when she was ca ught refu eling to the so uth . H er b rief service in th e Pacific cam e to a close th e foll owing month duri ng an o pe ra tio n to escort th e movement o f the 7th Mari n e Regim e n t to Gua dalca n al. On September 15 ,

Not a common sight - a Roy al Air Force Spitfire fighter takes off from a US Navy carrier. Note th e size of t he two massive Mark 33 Direc t ors on Wasp 's isl and .

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su bmari ne 1-19 struc k th e sh ip with three to rped oes in th e vicinity o f th e fo rward gas tan ks an d maga zin es wh ile H'asp was refu eling aircraft. Fires fro m gasoline ex p losions q u ickly engulfed th e forward p art of th e shi p a n d afte r o n ly 35 min ut es she was ab andoned ,..·it h th e lo ss of 193 m e n . H-asp was th e sec o n d fleet ca rrier to be lo st to gasolin e-induced fir es, but h er loss was useful in th e scnse th at it ca used exte nsive changes to th e Essex class's ga soline storage syste m . No ad d itional flee t ca rrie rs were lost to th is cause fo r the r em ain d er of th e war.

USS WASP Displacem ent : 14,700 tons Dimensions: Length 749ft Beam 81ft Draft 20ft Maximum speed: 29.5kt Radius: 12,000nm at 15kt Crew: 201 officers, 2,046 enlisted personnel (including air group) (Sep 42)

Ass e ssment

Esse n tially a repeat Ranger, Hasp's key wea kness was a lack of protection . T hi s was exp o sed a t th e tim e o f her sink in g . but in all fair ness, probabl y n o US ca rrie r could h ave esca ped a sim ila r gasoline-fe d co n flag ra tio n .

BIBLIOGRAPHY Brown, Davi d , A ircraft Carriers, Arco Pub lishi n g (New York , 1977) Campbell, J ohn, Naval lYra/iOns of IY011d mIT Two, Naval In stitu te Press (An n a po lis, Maryland , 2002 ) Chesn ea u , Roger, Aircraft Carriers, Na val In stitute Pr ess (An n ap o lis, Ma ryla n d , 1992 ) Freidman, No rman , U.S. A ircraft Carriers. Naval Institu te Press (An n a p o lis, Maryland. 1983) Naval A ir Poue r; The Mili ta ry Lawso n , Robert L. , ed ., The History of Pre ss (Ne w York, 1985 ) Lundstrom ,Jo hn B., The First Team, Nava l In stitute Press (An nap olis, Maryland, 1984 ) Lundstrom , J o h n B., T he First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, Na val Ins titu te Pr ess (An napolis, Maryla n d , 199 4) Robbins, Gu y, The A ircraft Carrier Story, 1908-45, Cassell (Lo n d o n , 200 1) Sumrall , Robert F., "The Yorktown Class," \l'arship 1990, Naval Institu te Press (An n a p olis, Ma rylan d , 1990 ) Williams, David, Naval Camouflage 1914- 1945, Nava l In stitu te Press (An n a polis, Maryla n d , 200 I ) ' Viper, Steve , Ymklown Class Carriers, Classic Warship Pu blication s (Tu cso n , Ari zona, n .d .) "Vipe r, Ste ve, Lexington Class Carriers, Cla ssic w arship Publica tio n s (Tucson , Ari zo na, 200 1) www.sh ip camouflage.com

us

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COLOR PLATE COMMENTARY

COLOR SCHEMES Prior to the war, US Navy carriers were painted in a co lor scheme of stan dard navy gray w ith the top of the stac k painted gloss black , all dec ks in standard dark deck gray, and the wood flight de cks left in their natura l Douglas Fir cotor. In Sept ember 1937, the Bureau of Constr uction and Repa ir issued a docum ent on naval cam ouflage. Hand boo k on Ship Camouflage, that was to beco me the basis for a wide variety of camoufla ge sche mes used on all US Navy ships during the war. The actual detailed instructions for the various sche mes were issued later by the Bureau of Ships in a number of manuals. During the war, US Navy prewar ca rriers were painted in the following schemes: Measure 1. This schem e was employed during 1941 on Lexington. Saratoga, and Enterprise. It used Dark Gray 5-0 on all vertical surfaces and all decks, with only the upper parts of masts left in white. Measure 1 was a low-visibility scheme intended to make surface and aerial ob servat ion more difficult. Measure 4. This schem e was emp loyed during 1941 on Ranger and Wasp. It used plain black paint on all vertical surl aces with Dark Gray 5-0 on all decks. Wood decks were not darkened . Measure 4 was a low-visib ility scheme intended to make da ylight aerial ob servat ion more difficult. Measure 5. This sch eme entailed the add ition of a painted bo w wave in co njunc tion with Measure 1. This was intended to provide speed decept ion against surface observation. Lexington used this device in 1941.

Wasp burning h eav ily after being torpedoed by subm ar i n e 1·19. Once the ship's f ue l st o r age sys t em h ad f ai led, the fire c ou ld not b e con tained. Wasp wa s the l ast US fleet c ar rier lost during the w ar b eca u se of a fu e l- i nd uc ed f i re.

Measure 11. This scheme was employed from Sept ember 194 1 until Ju ne 1942 and was worn by Lexington. Saratoga, and Enterp rise . This required that the entire ship, including the flight deck. be painted in Sea Blue 5-$. This replaced Measure 1 and was intended to act as an antiaircraft concealment scheme hindering aerial obs ervation under all conditions. Measure 12. This sc heme was employed from September 1941 until late 19421early 1943 and was wo rn by all prewar carriers except Saratoga and Ent erp rise . It was a graded scheme using Sea Blue 5-$ from the waterline to the hangar deck level, Ocean Gray 5-0 on all other vertical suriac es, and Haze Gray 5-H used on all masts. Decks were painted in Deck Blue 20-B. Ranger, Wasp, and Horn et were painted in Measure 12 (modified), w hich applied the Sea Blue in a patt ern that varied on each ship. Measure 12 was considered to be effective in its pu rpose of provid ing concealment against both surface and aerial observation while also providing some course and range dece pt ion. Measure 21. This scheme w as employed from June 1942 until the end of the war and was used by Saratoga and Enterprise. It was a replacem ent for Measure 11 after feedb ack indicated that a darke r shade of blue-gray was

45

--r: -~ ---- --

:;:

.~

~-

- ..:....:=--::.

~--

:-- -::,; - -

-~--

Hornet e ntering Pe a r1 Harbor May 19 4 2. Ext e n sive w e ar on her M easure 12 sc heme is evident.

harder to see from the air. All vertica l surfaces were painted in Navy Blue 5-N with all decks in Deck Blue 20-8. Measure 22. This w as an enhance ment of Measure 12 and was worn by Ranger. This graded system was de signed to pro vide antisub marine and antiaircraft protection by making it difficu lt to judge the ship 's position relative to the horizon. Navy Blue 5-N was app lied on the lower port ion of the hull parallel to the horizon with the upper port ions be ing painted in Haze Gray 5- H. Decks were painted Deck Blue 20-8 . Measure 32. This was a dazzle camouflage intended to provide antisubm arine protection by causing target angle confusion at close ranges. Only Saratoga empl oyed this camouflage patte rn, using uniq ue Design 11a with a mix of Pale Gray 5-P, Ocean Gray 5-0, and Dull Black 13. The dec k remained in Deck Blue 20-B. Measure 33. This was the refinement of other measures designed to give low -visibility antisu bmarine pro tection. The colors used were similar to those in Measure 32. Many different designs were used . En terp rise received the un ique 4a design, and Ranger was painted in Design 1a, bot h in 1944. Both had return ed to a mo re subtle Measure 21 or 22 scheme by war's end.

46

A : US S SARATOGA The top view shows saratoga in her prew ar configuration and colors. The battle cru iser hull is evident as is the enormous stack. Since she was nearly identical to Lexington , a large vertical stripe was painted on her stack to distinguish her. The bottom view shows Saratoga in her mid -war co nfiguration. She is now painted in a Measure 21 scheme to reduce her visibility from the air. The ship has undergone a dramat ic transformation from her early war appearan ce. Gone are the large Bin gunhouses, replaced by Sin/38 dual turrets. Saratoga was the only prewar carrier to receive thi s w eapon. The earlier 5in/2 5 mount s have been replaced by single 5in/3B mounts. Prewar machi ne guns have been replaced by a profusion of 20mm and 40m m guns , most locat ed along the gallery deck. The island has been mod ified and is now topped with a Mark 37 Director with a Mar k 4

~

rad ar; a seco nd Mark 37 is locat ed aft of the stack. Her radar fit now inc ludes a CXAM- 1 on the forward ed ge of the stack and an SC on a sponson aft of the stack. Less apparent is the reduct ion of the stack and the extension of the flig ht deck by some 20 feet. B : THE YORKTOWN The top view shows Yorktown in her prewar colo rs and co nfigurati on. Note the large combined island/stack w ith a large foremast and two Mark 33 Directors. A large crane is fitt ed aft of the stac k for movement of aircraft and boats. The roller cu rtains in the forward and aft sectio ns of the hangar bay are easily discerned. In the bottom view, Yorktow n is presented in her June 1942 appeara nce at the time of her loss. The ship is painted in a Measure 12 camo uflage schem e. The CXAM rada r added to her foremast is evident. Less ob vious are the many 20mm guns and .50-cal. machine guns that now line her gallery deck . Two 20mm guns have been fitted on the bow in gun tub s. C: LEXI NGTO N AT THE C O RAL SEA On May 8, 1942 Lexington cam e under attack by Japane se torped o bo mbe rs. Eighteen were inclu ded in the Japane se attac k group, and of these, 14 were directed to atta ck Lexington . Most of th ese survived Lexington 's p oorl y positioned Combat Air Patrol and Dauntless dive bombers emp loyed on anti-to rpedo plane pat rol to launch thei r weapo ns. Lexington , des pite the fact that she was the worl d's longest warsh ip and her helm was slow to respond to steering orders, succ essfully evaded most of the torpedo es launched at her. However, at 1120, a group of four B5N2 attack planes from Shokaku sco red. Two Typ e 91 torpedoes passed beneath Lexington , but two hit. The first hit forward on the port side, buckling the port gasoline sto rage tanks. This damag e ultimately proved to be fatal as fumes leaked undetect ed from the tanks and later caused a series of catastroph ic explosions. The second torped o, w hich this scene depicts , hit on the port side, opposite the island. Torpedo damage flooded three fireroom s, ca used a large oil leak, and resulted in a 6-7 degree list . At the time of her loss, Lexington was wearing a Measure 11 camouflag e sc heme. Her early war modificat ions ca n

clearly be seen by the absence of the Bin gunhouses, replace d by 1.1in mount s. Also evident is the platfor m built around the base of the island for 20mm guns; higher on the stack several machine guns remain. The ship carries a CXAM-1 radar forwa rd on the stack and has been fitt ed with a small funnel cap . 0 : USS ENTERPRISE , JU NE 1942, AT THE B ATT L E OF M IDWAY En terprise bears the most famous name of any US carrier. This cutaway drawing depicts her during the battle of Midway during which she played a pivotal role. The ship's main deck was actually the hangar deck. Everythin g below the hangar dec k is called a deck ; everything above is considered a level, including the areas within the island. The flight dec k had nine arresting wires aft and four crash barriers loc ated amidshi ps and furthe r forward . Enterp rise could carry approxi mately 80 aircraft; for the Midway operation she embarked 27 F4F Wildcats, 38 SBD Dauntlesses, and 14 TBD Devastato rs for a total of 79 aircraft . The large island included the Navigation and Flag Bridges, spaces for the Air Control Officer, and the air and radar plots. Later, a full Combat Information Center was installed here. The island also suppo rted tw o Mark 33 Directors and the CXAM-1 radar mounted on the large tripod mast. Forward and aft of the island are three 1.1in quad gun mounts. The gallery dec k was located one level down from the flight deck. Here the ship's captain and the embarked admiral had their in-port cabins. Also on this level were the ready rooms for the squadrons of the ship's air group. At the gallery deck level all around the flight deck was a walkwa y where easy access was pos sible to and from the flight deck and where many 20mm and .50-cal. machine guns were positioned. The hangar deck provided the area where all major servicing and maintenance of aircraft was performed. All around the hangar deck were various spaces dedicated to the support of the different aircraft and their equipment. Three elevators co nnected the hangar deck with the flight deck. The hangar deck was open on both sides; a number of roller curtains provided protection from weather. The lower decks con tained the ship's vitals and most of t he living areas for the crew. A number of large crew berthi ng areas were located on the seco nd deck. Most of th e crew sle pt in bunks stac ked t hree high. Officer stateroo ms were located forward on the first , second , and t hird decks. Two to eight officers shared a room with bunks stac ked tw o high. The officer's loung e and wardroom mess were located on the second deck. The third dec k co ntained a number of supply storerooms, mess areas for warrant officers, chief petty officers, and the enlisted members of the crew, as well as the ship 's sick bay. The fourth deck was primarily for storage, incl uding general supply, ordnance , aviation, and refrigerated food storage. The lo wer decks con taine d the engineering spaces, including the boilers and the machinery required to drive the fou r propell er shafts. Inset 1: Bofors quad 40mm gun mo unt. Inset 2: Dauntl ess SBD-3 from VB-6.

E: LATE - WAR CO NF IGURAT IONS The top view shows Sarat oga in her final wart ime conf iguration. The scheme is the striking Measure 32 with the Design 11a devised especially for Saratoga in an att emp t to break up her massive silhouette. The differences from her mid -war appearanc e include an updated radar fit (with an SK in the pole mast aft of the island , an SM on the forwa rd edge of the funnel, and an SC backup on the trailing edge of the stack). The antiaircraft fit has been upgraded again and now includes an amazing 23 quad and tw o twin 40mm mounts. The bottom view is of Ent erp rise in her 1944 config uration. The c amouflage scheme is the Measure 33 with the 4a design. Bot h Enterprise and Saratog a returned to a Measure 21 scheme in 1945 as the air threat became paramount. Enterprise has the same radar fit as Saratoga . Because of her smaller size, Enterprise was not able to carry 5in/38 dual turrets, but she does retain her eight singlemount 5in 38s. Efforts have been made to upgrade her antiaircraft to the more effective 40mm Bofors mounts. Four quads are located around the island and another two are located on sponsons on the hangar deck level. Several of the lighter dual 40mm mounts have been fitted forward. F: THE U NIOUE CAR RIERS The to p view is Ranger as she appeared during 1943 during her stint with the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. The camoufl age patt ern is Measure 22, in this case used to provide a degree of antisubmarine protection since she was operating in If -boat infested waters. Ranger is heavily armed with eight Sin guns (four of which are visible in this starboard side view), six 1.1in mounts (located forward and aft of the island, aft of the forward pair of 5in guns, and on the stern) and 46 20mm guns (many evident along the gallery deck and on the bow). The island supports the CXAM- 1 radar and two Mark 33 Directors. Much of this equipment was removed when the ship was assigned to training duties. The bottom view is Wasp shown in her final configuration in September 1942 before her loss. She is in a Measure 12 (modified) camouflage scheme that features sea blue on the hull, but not in the island. Unlike Ranger, the stack is part of the island, but bo th share an overall low stand ard of protection. Like Ranger, Wasp mounts a mix of 5in, 1.1in, and 20mm guns. G: H OR N ET AT THE BATTLE OF SA NTA CRUZ This view is of Hornet as she app eared in October 1942 when she was sunk at the batt le of Santa Cruz. The ship is in a Measure 12 (modified) camouflage scheme. There were no set patt erns for this scheme and on Hornet the sea blue port ions of the patte rn co ver almost the entire hull below the hangar deck level as well as several stripes on the island. The eXA M radar is evident on her island, as are the large Mark 37 Direct ors with Mark 4 radars. During the battle, Hornet came under attack by 20 Shokaku B5N2 torpedo bombers and 21 Aic hi D3A1 dive bom bers from Zuikaku . The moment depicted is the crash of one of Zuikaku's dive bombers on Hornet when the aircraft caromed off the island and crashed on the flight deck. The 550lb aboard this aircraft did not explod e, but three other bombs, two torpedo es, and another aircraft (this one a B5N2) d id strike the ship, leading to her event ual loss.

47

INDEX Figure s in bo ld refer

(0

ilhw tra tions

Aich i 0 3Al G air craft, pn:vvar n ava l, development 8 .H ag; 39 .i.dtn1tl, Us..5 36

Rinn ingham, CSS 3 Brewste r F"2A Buffalo 8, B ca m o ufl ag e sch em e s ca rr ier air gro u ps En/rr/ni.I' 3R- 39 l ,anKle)' 14

51'(

co lo r schemes

1.n :ill {;;toll 6

prewar f)-7 limp ·12 catapults .I) co lo r sch e mes 8 , 15 , 20 , 23 . 36 , 42 , -1:_ 16 Combat Informa tio n Ce n te r «:IC) I J. 36, 4i co n tigu ra uo n s. la te-wa r E

Co ral Sea.banle of the 11, l i , 19-20, 37, C Curtiss P-lO 33. H Cu n i...s SHe- I 7. 8 development 8-12 direct ors. I;llll ~ Ia rk 33 : 9 , 23, 35 , 33 , 43 , B, D, F Ma r k 35: D ~ lark 3 7: 9 , 10 , 12, IR, 36, A, G ~ I a rk

-1-1: II

~ Iark

51: 11, 37

~la rk

57 : 3{}-37

~ I a rk

63: 37

Do o little ra id 38,40 Do u glas SBn Da u n tle ss 6 . 8 , S, zn, 2 3, 46 , D Do uglas TBD Devasta tor 7, 8, H, -17 Easrcrn Solo mo ns, ba ilie of Ilw 20 , 39

Ely, Eugene 3 t;nt"f1risi , C SS 3, 7, i . 9, 10, II , 12, 2 1, 35---36, 37 .w also }Qrttown class 19-H co nfi!{tl r.a rion 38 , E ba ttle of the Easte rn Solomons 20 , 39 ba ul e of Midwa y 38-39, 35, D battle of Santa C ru z 37, 39 o peratio na l h istory 38-10 rMix clas s fleet carriers 35 , 39, 44 Fleet Pro ble ms 19, 24, 37 C ru mm an F4F \\'1ldca l 7, 13, 9, 23, 36, 47 Grum man T BF Avenger 8 G uada lca na l 39 ,43 24, 36, 38 , 39 Hornet, USS 7, 8 , 9,34, 35-36, 3 7,46 see also }llrh/oWI! cla ss ba ttle of Santa Cru z 6, 39 , 40,G operationa l history 40-4 1

lliT)'ll

Iwoj ima 21,39-40

Jta n 8arl 33

48

Royal ~a\'r 3, R) ujo 20

J uPiltr, CSS 12 Kaga 39 kamikaze air craft 10, 11-12, 36 , 40 la nd ing, first , on sh ip 3 Sit also re co ve ring ai rcraft JA ngU" USS 13,1 4, 16, 33 armame nt 13 assessme nt 15 desigll and construction 12- 13 o pe rat ion al history 14-15 servi ce modificatio ns 13- 14 speci fica tions 15 lau nch in g airc raft :1 SI'I' also take-off, first, fro m sh ip Lexington. uss 16, 16,17. 17- 18.1 8,1 9, 20 , 23 ,37 .f « also l £x illgton class Air Group 6, 8 ba ttle of t he Coral Se a 19-20, C operational hisllll) 19-20 specificatio ns 21 Ln cin/{ton class 6, 15-22 armament I i a <,scs.<,mcnt 22 d esig n and ccm vu- ucti o rr 15---17 operational histories 19-2 1 servic e modifica tions 17-1 9 Lcyt c Gu lf, banfe of 39 Mid way, ba ilie (If 4,5, 7, 8 , 11,35, 31:\-39 , 40, D Mirs uhi sh i (;4 M 19

Na kajima B5l\ 6, 46, G North Afr ican landin gs 3 ;) Oper a tion Crossroads :!1 o r igi n s :'>-7 ca r rier docrnne, ea rly US Navy 3-5 p rewa r US NiI \'}' ca rrier a ir F;rou p 6-7

Pearl Ha rbo r II , 35, 38, 46 Ptl l1l5Jlva nia, L'SS 3 t he 38 Phil ippi ne Sea, battle

or

Raba ul 19, 19. 2 1 radar 11-12 CXA~l 12,1 7. 3 7. S , G C.XA.\ 1-1 10, 11.1 2, 12, 3 7, 43, A, C. D, F ~ l ar k 4 fire control 9 , 12, A., G Ma r k 12 / 22 fire co ntrol 9-10 SC 12, 12, 37, A, E 5<:..2 12, 37 SI\: 12, 15, 18,37, E S:\1 12, 12, 15, 19 , 37, E Ra ng rr, USS 6,8, 21 , 34, 22, 23, F ar mann-u t :!3 asse ssment 33 design a nd co nstruc tio n 22- 23 ope ra tional h isto ry 21. 33 se rvice mod ifica tio ns 24 spec jficarions 33 re cove ri ng a ircraft :> .1I't' also la nding, first , o n ship

~l .

33, 43

Santa Cruz, bat tle o f 6, 11,37, 39,39, -to, 40---1 1, G Sfll-attJga, CSS 7,9, 10, IS, 16, 18 , 18, 21, A also Ll'x in/{ton class final wa rtime co n figuratio n E o pe ra tio na l hist o ry 20-21 Sninano 16 Shoho 20 S lwkak u 20, 37, 40, 46, G Soryu 38 sq ua d ro ns 6, S VB-6 8, D VT-8 7, 8 su b ma rines, J ap a n ese 1-6 20 1-19 43-44. 45 1-26 20 1-168 38 Superrnarine Spitfire 43, 43

Sit

take-off first , from sh ip 3 .f« also laun ching aircraft

Vough t SB2(;-1/2 Vi nd ica to r 8. 9 Uashington, C5..'i 4-3 Washingto n Nava l Tre a ty (1922) 5, 1-l-1 5. 22, 34,35, 41 H-asp, USS 6, 8 , 9, 4 1, 42, 43, 45, F a rm am e n t 42 assessme n t 44 d esign a nd rou strucuon 4 1- 42 o p era tio n al h istory 43-44 sen-icc mod ificat io ns 43 spec ific a tio ns 44 wea pons 9-1 1 Sri also d ire cto rs, gun Bofo rs g Ull , 40111111 I I. 12, 18,36.43, A, D, E !{t1ll.3in /5lk:al, 14 gu n .5in/2xal. 9, 17, 18 , 24, D, F gun,5in /3lkal, 9. 10, 18, 24,35, 42, A, E. F gun, Si n 17 machi ne canno n, I. Hn 10-11 , 17-18, 20, 24 ,36,42, C, D, F machine gun• .5lka!. 10, 14 , 17. 1M. 23 , 35, 36,42, B O erlikon K'III, 20mm 10. u . 12, 18 , 24, 35 , 36 . 43, A. B, D. r

}-Qrttoum, USS 8, 9, 12, 18 , 19, 3 3, 35, 36 , 37 B see also Hnkluwn class bat tle o f Mid wa y 4, 5, 24 , 36 operat io n al histo ry 37-38 spe cifications 41 Yorklotvn class 6, 34-4 1 ar mame nt 35 assessment 41 desiKTI an d construction :~+-35 operatio nal histories 37-11 service modifica tions 35-37 luikak-u 37. G

The design, deve lopment op erat ion and history of the mac hinery of warfare through th e ages

Carriers 1922-45 Prewar classes The USS Langley, th e first America n aircraft ca rrier,

en tered service in 192 2. Its introductio n was t he first ste p in a new directi on for the US Navy an d for naval wa rfare in ge neral. Thi s book covers

Full color artwork

Unrivaled detail

the design, development, an d operatio n of USN aircraft carriers built prior to World War II, in cluding their aircraft and weaponry. It describes th eir various successes and losses, such as the first carrier vs carrier battle at Midway;

the battle of the Coral Sea; the ba ttle of th e Ph ilippine Sea; and the Op eration Cutaway artwork

Photographs

Torcillandings.

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