[Vigilanteman]

There is a reason that navy yards cranked out smaller carriers toward the end of World War II and didn't replace the big ones like the Lexington, Yorktown and Hornet which were sunk in combat.

I believe the U.S.S. Enterprise was the only big carrier that survived the entire war.

[Secret Agent Man]

Uss Hancock survived

[pfflier]

here is a reason that navy yards cranked out smaller carriers toward the end of World War II and didn't replace the big ones like the Lexington, Yorktown and Hornet which were sunk in combat.

The Essex Class was larger than the Yorktown class and there were 14 that served in WWII. They were smaller than the Lexington class (Lex and Saratoga) but those two ships were built on converted cruiser hulls and were not purpose built carriers from the keel up.

I believe the U.S.S. Enterprise was the only big carrier that survived the entire war.

All of the Essex class carriers survived the war. The USS Saratoga survived the war and was later sunk during the bikini atomic tests..

[Destroyer Sailor]

The Essex class were bigger than the ones you noted. The Essex were more up to date as well. Review your history.

[Joe 6-pack]

"There is a reason that navy yards cranked out smaller carriers toward the end of World War II and didn't replace the big ones like the Lexington, Yorktown and Hornet which were sunk in combat."

At the end of the war, the Essex class were being phased out for the even bigger and heavier Midway class carriers that just missed the end of WWII, but went on to handle modern jets during Korea, Viet Nam and up through Desert Storm.

[ealgeone]

Do you not consider the Essex class carriers to be big replacements?

[Tallguy]

Saratoga (CV-3) and Ranger (CV-5) also survived the entire war.

[Tallguy]

You have that ever-so-slightly backwards. The reason the Navy cranked out so many CVE “Escort Carriers” is because they were quickly built. But being built on merchant hulls with merchant machinery they were unsuitable for offensive fleet actions. They were too slow, had too few aircraft (mostly 2nd line types) and were only suitable for keeping enemy subs at bay, supporting land invasions and escorting convoys for air top cover in mid-ocean.

The Navy also built several CVL “light carriers” on Cleveland-class light cruiser hulls. These were fast enough for fleet actions, but carried about 1/3rd the aircraft of a full-size fleet carrier. They played with the air wing composition on those and finally gave up. The maxed them out for fighters and made fleet defense ships out of them when the Essex-class came online to carrier the offensive strike load.

It took a couple of years to build a fleet carrier. You could crank out a CVE in a couple of months and a CVL-conversion in less than a year.