WWII Aircraft Carriers only in Pacific?

[Mike120]

I flew off the Hancock in Vietnam and my father flew off the Yorktown in WWII. It's kind of ironic that the Hancock memorial is located on the Yorktown in Charleston, SC.

 

[kossetx]

My uncle, and his first cousin (my 3rd?) were both born in Italy and immigrated to the US. Guess where they sent them to fight in WWII? The cousin recieved 2 gold stars and a purple heart in Italy.

I asked my Uncle once how it was to fight his own people in the war. He simply stated, "They were wrong!"

Care to guess how many of our current immigrants would feel that way...

 

[scott_vt]

The Wasp was then sent to the Pacific where she was lost covering landing on Guadalcanal.

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Later,
Dan

Good Afternoon Dan,
Well maybe there was more than one USS Wasp ?

My Pop, now 84 was on the USS Wasp from 1943 until the end of the war. He is still alive and kicking, and to the best of my knowledge, the Wasp was not decommissioned until some time in the 70;s...

Anyway thats my story and Im stickin to it...

BTW my Pop said they went through some nasty typhons over in the pacific./..

 

[Oleozz]

My father in law served on the US Card, a baby aircraft carrier. It saw action in both the Atlantic and Pacific. It was credited with capturing a German submarine in the North Atlantic. Like many war survivors he never talked much about his experiences until the last three or four years. He survived a crash into the Pacific Ocean after the plane he was on overshot the end of the carrier. He broke his jaw and some ribs in that accident.

 

[Volfandt]

Great topic.
I served on the WWII era carrier USS FDR CV42 on her very last Med cruise back in 76/77. She was based in the Atlantic during the close of WWII but saw no action. She went through extensive upgrades such as the addition of an angle deck inorder to accomodate jets.
My squadron VMA-231 was the 1st to deploy the AV-8A for an operational deployment on a carrier.
She was a grand ole lady

 

[jinman]

Good Afternoon Dan,
Well maybe there was more than one USS Wasp ?

My Pop, now 84 was on the USS Wasp from 1943 until the end of the war. He is still alive and kicking, and to the best of my knowledge, the Wasp was not decommissioned until some time in the 70;s...

Anyway thats my story and Im stickin to it...

BTW my Pop said they went through some nasty typhons over in the pacific./..

The USS Wasp CV-7 was sunk in Sept 1942 by torpedos in the Pacific. Shortly after, the planned Oriskany, CV-18 was renamed Wasp and remained in service until it was decommissioned and sold for scrap in the '70s. I'd bet your Pop served aboard the CV-18 Wasp. In its later years, its designation changed to CVA-18 (CVA = attack carrier) and finally CVS-18 (anti-submarine carrier) as its mission changed and it was modified.


EDIT: It is common practice for the US Navy to name ships the same as an honor to previous ships. In 1975 and 1976, I was Assistant Disposal Officer at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) at the Philadelphia Naval Base. We sold such historic ships as the USS Hope (hospital ship), the USS Randolph CV-18 and USS Essex CV-9. The Randolph sold for $1.56 million and the Essex for about $900k.

 

[Western]

Talk about real heros. Our WWII guys were true heros. They were sent overseas and told when the war was over they could come home, some spent 3 years without coming home. I went to Viet Nam and knew I had one year to do and was counting on my first day there. True heros thats what they are and we are losing hundreds every day.
Dale

I would add that the country as a whole was more heroic. or maybe more patriotic. The war effort was enormous and changed this country forever.

Since I am more into the land battles, wasn't the 1st AC's modified transports or something of that nature? bi plane era.

 

[RobertN]

Most early aircraft carriers were ships modified with a deck. The first purpose built US carrier was USS Ranger. It was built in '31. By WWII, it was pretty small for the size and weight of the panes.

USS Langley, CV-1, was the first US carrier. The deck was built atop a collier ship. From pictures, it is real obvious it was an add-on.

I would add that the country as a whole was more heroic. or maybe more patriotic. The war effort was enormous and changed this country forever.

Since I am more into the land battles, wasn't the 1st AC's modified transports or something of that nature? bi plane era.

 

[RobertN]

One other interesting note. Over the years, aircraft carriers have done something different during disasters...

During my web research, there are mention of them supplying electricity during disasters. US carriers are small cities, ranging from 2500-5000 people on board. At port, they can supply a lot of electricity when needed.

CV-2 USS Lexington powered Tacoma Washington for a month before WWII.

 

[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.

All of the same names used on different ships during the same war makes things confusing.

If memory serves the US made 24 Essex CVs during the WWII and started the Midway class not to mention all of the smaller Jeep carriers that supported landings as well as provided anti submarine patrols protecting convoys.

Interesting tid bit of information. The Japanese leadership expected the civilian population to have 20 MILLION casualties when the Allies invaded the Home Islands. Those were for civilians not military casualties. Its a good bet casualties for them meant dead not dead and wounded. Very few Japanese service men or civilians were captured as the US advanced across the Pacific. I have seen movie footage of civilians in the Marianna's jumping off cliffs to commit suicide.

Many US soldiers and Marines were killed by Japanese soldiers trying to stop the civilians from killing themselves. An allied invasion of Japan would have been a huge blood bath.

Tid Bit 2. The US actually had problems meeting draft numbers during most of the war. Throughout the war the number of drafted men vs planned was short by almost a million men. This led to men being taken from divisions training in the US to be shipped as replacements to front line divisions which was not optimal.

I just saw a photo of a small "sugar loaf" hill and two supporting hills on one of the islands taken by the Marines. It was roughly 30-50 feet tall and maybe a couple of football fields in size. 3,000 Marines were killed and wounded taking that hill. The usual ratio to dead and would is 3-4 wounded to 1 dead. So 750-1000 dead and 2000-2250 wounded. The Marines had artillery, air and tank support taking that position.

An allied invasion of Japan would have been a huge blood bath for both sides. I can't think of any comparison throughout history to what would have happened. The first Allied deaths would have been the POWs in Japan. The guards had orders to execute the POWs when the Allies landed.

Later,
Dan