WWII Aircraft Carriers only in Pacific?

[dave1949]

Reading this thread has brought to me think about my Dad and FIL, both WWII vets. They are both gone now, and a lot of history with them.

Neither were in the Navy.

My Dad was in the Infantry in Europe. He went into Normandy about 4 days after D-Day. Got tank shrapnel in his leg and was out of action for a while. Eventually had a nervous breakdown, which I never knew until after he passed.

My FIL was in what I guess was called the Army Air Corp. He was a pilot, but got caught flying under a bridge somewhere in the UK and they decided they needed to make an example of someone, so he wasn't a pilot anymore. His squadron later got shot up real bad on a mission. To his dying day he felt he had let his buddies down due to a dumb stunt.

They were a different sort of people than now, for sure. Neither ever really wanted to say much about the war. Maybe this brings back memories to you Vets.

Dave.

[MossRoad]

I removed some duplicate posts. Please keep the discussion going. It is fascinating.

[dmccarty]

I had some server errors trying to post earlier. That may have caused some dupe posts.

One of the few times TBN has had problems.

Later,
Dan

[Western]

My BIL served on the USS Inchon and the USS George Washington ( BAD TO THE BONE BOAT)

Computer weapons specialist or something like that. prior to retiring a couple years ago, he was training land pilots on carrier landing. (Seems it's a bit of a PITA when the deck is moving 3-4 feet.) He can't say what all he did (security) but said you wouldn't know the difference from a small city after a month or 2, fast food stores ect tra. Micky D's on a Carrier!!!
Nothing like a burger while watch the football game on the deck..

I know allot of Japaneses civilians "jumped" or committed suicide believing in the propaganda from the Japan government that the US would torture them if caught, so they took the "safe" "dignified" route.

[RobertN]

Yes, during WWII, you need to go by ship number more than name. Ie, CV-8 was USS Hornet that launched the Doolittle raids. CV-12 was named after CV-8 was sunk. CV-12 was active till 1971; it even picked up a couple of the Apollo missions. Nixon was on board to greet one Apollo mission. CV-12 is now a Museum in Alameda, Ca.

Originally Posted by dmccarty

The Lexington and Saratoga were supposed to have been Battle Cruisers but because of the Washington Naval Treaty they were changed over to carriers.

The Saratoga survived the war but the Lexington was sunk at the battle of Coral Sea. A Essex class CV was named Lexington and fought in WWII.

The Hornet and Yorktown carriers where one of the first US carriers but were also sunk early in WWII but the names were reused on newer Essex class ships.

[bold]All of the same names used on different ships during the same war makes things confusing.[/bold]

If memory serves the US made 24 Essex CVs during the WWII and started the Midway class

[jinman]

This is a little off-topic, but when I was serving aboard missile cruisers during the '60s to '80s, we always laughed at how we could outmaneuver a carrier, but it was no contest when it came to speed. The carrier could run off and leave us in their mist. Of course, that was especially true of the nuke carriers. Our 1200 psi steam plant and two screws couldn't hold a candle to the 6 screws and conventional or nuke plant on the carriers when it came to speed.

Submarines are also very fast and the nukes are blazing fast. Here's a bit of a brain teaser that I found very interesting:

What was the fastest non-nuke diesel-electric submarine ever built by the US Navy?

I'll give a couple of hints:
1. It is still in existence.
2. It never carried any weapons.

[dave1949]

Originally Posted by jinman

Submarines are also very fast and the nukes are blazing fast. Here's a bit of a brain teaser that I found very interesting:

What was the fastest non-nuke diesel-electric submarine ever built by the US Navy?

I'll give a couple of hints:
1. It is still in existence.
2. It never carried any weapons.

USS Albacore ?

[jinman]

Originally Posted by dave1949

USS Albatross ?

Not "Albatross". . . but that sounds a lot like it. Remember, those subs were named after fish.

[aczlan]

Originally Posted by jinman

What was the fastest non-nuke diesel-electric submarine ever built by the US Navy?

I'll give a couple of hints:
1. It is still in existence.
2. It never carried any weapons.

The USS Albacore

Aaron Z

[jinman]

Originally Posted by aczlan

The USS Albacore

Aaron Z

We have a winner!

The USS Albacore AGSS-569 is on display in Portsmouth, NH. It was built as a test submarine for hull shapes, propellers, and propulsion system testing. It's top speed was in excess of 33 knots submerged.