Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier

2

Midway and the Battles of the Coral Sea, Eastern Solomons, and Santa Cruz Islands were all fought between Japanese and American carrier groups in 1942. They were unique in being the first battles where the major opposing forces never actually sighted each other, and the majority of the damage was inflicted by air strikes instead of gun or torpedo fire. In these actions, six Japanese and three American flattops were sunk.

3

In the spring of 1998, oceanographer and adventurer Dr. Robert Ballard led an expedition that located the sunken Yorktown on the ocean floor north of Midway Atoll. Upright on the bottom, she is in excellent shape, with her guns still trained out, as if ready for action.

4

'Littoral' regions are defined geographically as those areas lying within several hundred miles/kilometers of a coastline. Since the majority of the world's population, finance, industry, and infrastructure reside in littoral regions, the sea services focus on operations there.

5

For more on the ARG and MEU (SOC), see: Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (Berkley Books, 1996).

6

The primary Zeppelin base for operations against England and the North Sea fleets was at Tondern near Whelimshaven (on the German/Danish border). In July of 1917, seven Sopwith Camels flying from the flying-off deck of HMS Furious attacked the Zeppelin sheds there; three Zeppelins were destroyed in their hangar.

7

Battle cruisers, a British invention, combined a large hull and power plant with a battleship's armament. While as fast as a cruiser (twenty-five-plus knots) and as heavily armed as a battleship, they lacked the armor protection of a traditional dreadnought. This made them vulnerable to enemy fire in a gunnery duel, though they could normally run away from a stock battleship.

8

The '5:5:3 ratio' represented the allowable naval tonnage under the treaty for the U.S., Great Britain and Japan respectively. The treaty held until the 1930s, when the run-up to World War II began.

9

Though it would be two decades before practical experience would prove it, the single most important characteristic of carrier design is aircraft capacity. No other factor, including speed, antiaircraft armament, or armor protection is so desirable as the ability to carry and operate lots of aircraft. The British found this out the hard way, when they sacrificed aircraft capacity for armor protection in their Illustrious-class carriers, which could only carry about thirty-six planes (while the American Yorktown (CV-5) and Japanese Shokaku-class carriers could carry ninety).

10

Of the three battleships that sank to the bottom of Taranto Harbor, the Littorio and Caio Duillo were eventually raised and returned to service. The third vessel, the Conte de Cavor, was not repaired prior to the Italian Armistice in 1943.

11

Unlike the Japanese, who tended to keep their warriers in combat until they died, the United States developed a rotation system to rest and replenish its combat personnel at all levels-even admirals. Thus, the fast carrier fleet had two sets of commanders and staffs: the 3rd Fleet under Admiral Halsey, and the 5th commanded by Admiral Raymond Spruance. After each operation, the two fleet staffs would switch, allowing the outgoing group to rest and plan the next mission. Thus, when Halsey was in command, the fleet was known as Task Force 34; and when Admiral Spruance took over, the carrier force was known as Task Force 58.

12

In addition to the loss of the Hiyo, the Japanese also lost the two large fleet carriers Shokaku and Taiho to submarine attacks.

13

One of the few survivors of the purge was Admiral Arleigh Burke, later to become-arguably-the Navy's greatest modern leader.