The Big Boats of WW2

It is almost impossible to win a naval battle without the big guns of a battleship, or the multi-purposefulness of cruisers, even the small destroyers are absolutely crucial for victory. However, the MVP award has to go to the aircraft carriers.

The carriers’ main purpose was bringing airplanes, who at the time had limited flight ranges, closer to the battlefront and engage the enemy from air as well as from sea. Fundamentally, it is a runway that floats, with a control tower located to the side of a landing strip and several levels of plane parking underneath. Because the landing strip is so short, catapults along the runway propel the plane so that it has enough speed by the time it reaches the end of the strip. A retractable hook located under the plane catches a transverse metal cable upon touchdown, slowing the plane within a few seconds. Planes are stored below deck and are brought up to the flight deck via elevator. Planes were specially made for carriers with the ability to fold their wingtips; for example, the F4U Corsair could fold its wings up over the cockpit, or the F4F Wildcat, which could rotate its wings back and tuck them along the length of its fuselage.

As early as 1910, runways were built on ships from which planes were able to take off and land, with Eugene Ely landing and taking off of battleship USS Pennsylvania in the San Francisco bay on January 18, 1911. The Japanese created the first true carrier at the end of WW1, but were not able to engage it in battle. However the true power of aircraft carriers was demonstrated during the attack on Pearl Harbor, carrying hundreds of planes halfway across the Pacific from Japan to Oahu, and just by pure luck the Americans had 3 aircraft carriers out of Pearl Harbor which were able to survive the wreckage; from then on, carriers determined the strength of a nation’s navy. During the Battle of Midway, the U.S. navy sank 4 of the 6 carriers Japan used to attack Pearl Harbor, while loosing just one. Midway crippled the Japanese navy, whose march across the Pacific was halted, never to restart again. The operational initiative passed from the Japanese to the Americans, changing the tide of the war in the Pacific.



Sources:
https://ethw.org/Aircraft_Carriers_in_World_War_II
https://www.britannica.com/technology/aircraft-carrier
https://cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/490208447015419904/1240/10/scaletowidth
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/vi/thumb/f/f4/SB2C_Yorktown_CV-10_1943.jpg/220px-SB2C_Yorktown_CV-10_1943.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6d/a3/a7/6da3a731a5b963c2f2ab39d6b5e0cbec.jpg