How Carriers Fought

Author: Lars Celander
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1612006221
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Book Description
An in-depth analysis of aircraft carrier battles in WWII and the evolution of carrier operations—from technology and strategy to life among the crew. First built in 1921, the aircraft carrier brought a new dimension to military strategy as the United States entered World War II. How Carriers Fought examines the evolution of carrier operations with a special focus on the conflict in the Pacific between the US Navy and the imperial Japanese fleet. Starting with a discussion of the tools and building blocks of carrier operations, historian Lars Celander then provides an analysis of various carrier battles to demonstrate how strategy and operations developed during the war. Every aspect of carrier warfare is covered, from navigation and communication technology to life inside the cockpit. A world of tactical dehydration and amphetamine pills is explored, as well as the measures pilots used to reduce their risk of death in the event of being hit. The major carrier battles of the war are considered, from Coral Sea and Leyte Gulf to the Battle of Midway, where the Japanese decided to divide their forces while the Americans concentrated theirs. How Carriers Fought analyzes these tactics, exploring which worked best in theory and in practice.

Carrier Battles

Author: Douglas V Smith
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612514421
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 396

Book Description
A longtime professor at the Naval War College who once directed strategic and long-range planning for the Navy and Marine Corps in Europe considers the transformation of the U.S. Navy from a defensive-minded coastal defense force into an offensive risk-taking navy in the very early stages of World War II. Noting that none of the navy’s most significant World War II leaders were commissioned before the Spanish-American War and none participated in any important offensive operations in World War I, Douglas Smith examines the premise that education, rather than experience in battle, accounts for that transformation. In this book, Smith evaluates his premise by focusing on the five carrier battles of the second world war to determine the extent to which the inter-war education of the major operational commanders translated into their decision processes, and the extent to which their interaction during their educational experiences transformed them from risk-adverse to risk-accepting in their operational concepts. His book will interest students of the Pacific War, naval aviation, education, and leadership.

Aircraft Carriers at War

Author: James L. Holloway
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 520

Book Description
The Cold War : a campaigner's perspective -- Korea : the forgotten war -- Korea : naval operations -- Korea : air combat tactics -- Korea : grande finale -- Tactical nukes -- The Pentagon, a seaplane tender, and typhoons -- Nuclear propulsion : Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover -- The Enterprise : full speed ahead -- The Enterprise : Vietnam -- The Enterprise : fast turnaround -- The Enterprise : Vietnam redux -- The Pentagon : aircraft carrier program manager -- The Syrian invasion of Jordan -- Vietnam : commander, Seventh Fleet -- Vietnam : Battle of Haiphong Harbor -- Vietnam : the cease-fire and Paris Accords -- Chief of Naval Operations -- Chief of Naval Operations : aviation programs -- The Joint Chiefs of Staff -- Elder statesman -- The future : past is prologue -- Envoi : keel-laying ceremony for the George H.W. Bush.

US Cold War Aircraft Carriers

Author: Brad Elward
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472807782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 108

Book Description
The Forrestal class (Forrestal, Saratoga, Ranger, and Independence) was the first completed class of US Navy supercarriers, so-named for their 25 percent size increase over the World War II-era carriers such as the Midway class, and the strength of their air wings (80–100 aircraft, compared to 65–75 for the Midway, and fewer than 50 for the Essex class). Design-wise, the Forrestals were a huge improvement over their predecessors, being more stable and comfortable, while maintaining advancements such as the armored flight decks that had been introduced with the Midway. The Kitty Hawk class was an improvement on the Forrestal-class designs, and four were built in the 1960s – Kitty Hawk, Constellation, America and John F. Kennedy. These were even longer than the Forrestals, and fitted with advanced defensive weapons systems and an improved elevator layout. All nine of the carriers covered by this volume are icons, and hold a much-respected place in US naval history. They are also some of the more well-known vessels outside of the military, for their long service histories, as well as for some of the more unfortunate events that seem to follow them.

Titans of the Seas

Author: James H. Belote
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Book Description
Two naval historians follow carrier warfare in the Pacific through Coral Sea, Midway, Easter Solomons, Santa Cruz and the climatic Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 1944.

How Carriers Fought

Author: Lars Celander
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 9781612008530
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
A detailed examination of carriers and carrier operations in WWII, looking at the tools behind the major carrier battles and their evolution throughout the war.

Carrier

Author: Tom Clancy
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780425166826
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Book Description
They are floating cities with crews of thousands. They are the linchpins of any military strategy, for they provide what has become the key to every battle fought since World War I: air superiority. The mere presence of a U.S. naval carrier in a region is an automatic display of strength that sends a message no potential enemy can ignore. Now, Tom Clancy welcomes you aboard for a detailed look at how these floating behemoths function. With his trademark style and eye for detail, Clancy brings you naval combat strategy like no one else can.Carrier includes: * Takeoffs and landings: flying into the danger zone * The aircraft onboard: their range, their power, their weaponry * The role of the carrier in modern naval warfare * Exclusive photographs, illustrations and diagrams Plus: An interview with the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jay Johnson

The Fast Carriers

Author: Clark G Reynolds
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612513603
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 598

Book Description
This classic study is considered essential reading for its analysis of fast aircraft carrier development in WWII. It provides a fascinating record not only of the U.S. Navy's metamorphosis from a battleship-oriented to a carrier-centered fleet, but also of the heated debates that took place over the changing naval strategy. With an insider's grasp of the famous individuals involved, award-winning naval historian Clark G. Reynolds takes readers from the war rooms of Washington to the flight decks of the Pacific. He vividly describes the battles over the concept of fast carriers between the air admirals and battleship admirals and offers little-known details gleaned from personal interviews and private diaries.

Nuclear Weapons and Aircraft Carriers

Author: Jerry Miller
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
With the advent of the atomic bomb in 1945 and its impact on strategic thinking, the future of naval aviation looked bleak. Rapid demobilization after the war eliminated many carriers, and most policy makers believed that future wars would be fought with nuclear weapons delivered by land-based aircraft. In Nuclear Weapons and Aircraft Carriers, Jerry Miller traces the struggle of respected naval leaders to promote a different vision and the innovations in the design and engineering of carriers and aircraft that resulted. He argues that the Navy's hard-won nuclear capability played a significant role in ending the Cold War.

Lake Michigan's Aircraft Carriers

Author: Paul M. Somers
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738532080
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
Lake Michigan's Aircraft Carriers is the story of the USS Wolverine and the USS Sable, two Great Lakes excursion ships converted for use as aircraft carrier training during World War II. Through the duration of the war, the United States Navy qualified 17,800 pilots for aircraft carrier operation. Training the pilots on either the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean would have exposed the training ships to the danger of submarine attack, while requiring the escort of fighting ships that were needed elsewhere. It would also have involved arming and armoring the ships used for training. Commander R.F. Whitehead came up with an idea that solved all of these problems. He suggested doing the training on the protected waters of the Great Lakes. The USS Wolverine and the USS Sable were chosen and thus became the only fresh water, paddle-wheeled, coal-fired aircraft carriers in the history of the world. Author Paul M. Somers shares his collection of vintage photos and a lifetime of research to detail the history of these two great vessels-from their life as cruise ships to their contributions to the war effort and then to their eventual scrapping.