Posted on 12/09/2021 6:23:25 PM PST by Jacquerie
Great post. I had no past knowledge of this. Wow.
Jeep carriers FTW!
Also, Taffy 3 ping!
On top of the 24 Essex carriers, 9 Independence class light carriers, 19 Commencement Bay class escort carriers and 45 Bogue class escort carriers.
Make ‘em cheap.
Stack ‘em deep.
L
Thanks for posting this. It was a good read for me, as my father served on a Casablanca class aircraft carrier in the Atlantic. According to the article, 50 of these ships were built!
But, wow. ‘The National Interest’ sure is polluted with ads. I guess that’s the price you pay for getting a free article..
My dad was on a destroyer during the battle of Leyte Gulf. Just curious, how did they come up with the name Casablanca for the type of carriers? Was it because of the movie?
A weapon’s system that you are not prepared to risk losing is not useful in war.
I worry our multi-billion carriers would be like the Yamato or the German battleship fleet in WWI. Confined to port for the whole war because they were not expendable.
Which destroyer?
The carriers also had a 5” main gun, same as the gun on a modern destroyer, but with a shorter barrel than used now.
I was thinking along those same lines. In WW II the Germans had great tanks. But they were expensive, and complicated. The US and Soviet tanks were simpler and cheaper, and so were much easier to mass-produce. Allied quantity beat Axis quality.
It seems that the US has gone over to the old German model. Produce only a few high-quality, expensive toys. Better not lose even one of those toys.
“A weapon’s system that you are not prepared to risk losing is not useful in war.”
Precisely. I’d rather have 300 “good enough” aircraft carriers than 30 “perfect” ones. In 1944 Detroit was delivering over 1,000 tanks a month. They weren’t perfect. God knows the brave men who crewed them would testify to that. But sheer numbers overwhelmed the enemy.
Same thing with bomber planes, fighter planes, rifles, pistols, grenades, ammunition, food, medical supplies, socks, uniforms, boots, you name it. There’s something to be said for that.
As much as I hate quoting that monster Stalin he was right about this “Quantity has a quality all its own.”
We need to bring some of that mindset back to our military procurement.
L
Excerpt:
The U.S. escort carrier USS Anzio (CVE-57) rolling heavily while trying to maintain course and speed during a typhoon east of the Philippines, 17 December 1944. Note the casual attitude of the deck crew. A Grumman TBF (or TBM) Avenger is visible on the left, a Grumman F4F (or FM) Wildcat is tied to far end of the deck.
Told it before but struck up a conversation with an older gentleman sitting by himself at the local bar when i still lived in Minneapolis. Mentioned he served in WWII in the Navy and I asked which ship and almost spit out my drink when he said the Samuel B Roberts.
Dudley Moylan had his ship sunk out from under him and lived to tell the story. Got to spend time with him from time to time at that same bar just visiting. Was an honor to spend time with him.
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is a great book on the background of the CVE’s, DE’s and DD’s that won that Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Maybe reading the article would answer that question...
Perhaps you could actually READ the article.
I did the 2.7143 seconds of research for you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Casablanca
Now it’s the Chinese that could crank out ships like that and not us...
Please stop. You don’t understand modern naval warfare.
The name of the first ship ordered in a class of ships becomes the class name.
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