Aircraft Carriers

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#1

Seeing how the carrier played such a vital role for the control of the pacif I wanted to post some stats on the major classes.

MIDWAY CLASS (3 ships)
CORAL SEA (Aprl 2, 1946)
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (ex- Coral Sea, April 29, 1945)
MIDWAY (March 20, 1945)
Displacement: 45,000 tons (55,000 full load)
Complement: 4,085
Length: 968 ft (o.a)
Beam: 113 ft, 136 ft (max.)
Draught: 32 ft 9 in
Aircraft: 137
Guns:
18 - 5 inch, 54 cal.
84 - 40 mm AA quadrupled
82 - 20 mm AA
Armour: side, deck
Machinery: Geared turbines.4 shafts. S.H.P.: 200,000 = 33 kts.Boilers: 12.

ESSEX CLASS (24 ships)
ANTIETAM (Aug. 20, 1944)
BENNINGTON ( Feb. 26, 1944)
BON HOME RICHARD (April 29, 1944)
BOXER (Dec. 14, 1944)
BUNKER HILL (Dec. 7, 1942)
ESSEX (July 31, 1942)
FRANKLIN (Oct. 14, 1943)
HANCOCK (ex- Ticonderoga, Jan. 24, 1944)
HORNET (ex- Kearsarge, Aug. 29, 1943)
INTREPID (April 26, 1943)
KEARSARGE (May 5, 1945)
LAKE CHAMPLAIN (Nov. 1944)
LEXINGTON (ex- Cabot, Sept. 26, 1942)
LEYTE (ex- Crown Point, Aug. 23, 1943)
ORISKANY (Oct. 13, 1945)
PHILIPPINE SEA (ex- Wright, Sept. 5, 1945)
PRINCENTON (ex- Valley Forge, July 8, 1945)
RANDOLPH (June 28, 1944)
SHANGRI-LA (Feb. 24, 1944)
TARAWA (May 12, 1945)
TICONDEROGA (ex- Hancock, Feb. 7,1944)
VALLEY FORGE (Nov. 18, 1945)
WASP (ex- Oriskany, Aug. 17, 1942)
YORKTOWN (ex- Bon Homme Richard, Jan. 21,1943) Displacement: 27,100 tons (33,000 full load)
Complement: 3,240
Length: (p.p) 874 ft, 888 ft (o.a)
Beam: 93 ft
Draught: 29 ft
Aircraft: 82 (103 have been carried)
Guns:
12 - 5 inch, 38 cal.
72 - 40 mm AA quadrupled
52 - 20 mm AA quadrupled
Armour:
2.5" - 4" side amidships
1.5" flight deck
3" hangar deck
1.5" main deck
1.5" tower
Machinery: Geared turbines.4 shafts. S.H.P.: 150,000 = 33 kts.Boilers: 8 Babcock & Wilcox.

LEXINGTON (3rd Oct., 1925)
SARATOGA (7th April, 1925)
Displacement: 36,000 tons (standard); 47,700 tons (full)
Complement: 2,951(Lexington), 3,373 (Saratoga 1945)
Length: (p.p) 850 ft, 888 ft (o.a)
Beam: 106 ft
Draught: 24 ft 1.5 in
Aircraft: 75
Guns:
8 - 8 inch, 55 cal.
12 - 5 inch AA, 25 cal.
4 - 6 pdr. saluting
Saratoga (1945):
8x2 - 5 inch AA
24x4 - 40mm AA Bofors
16- 20 mm AA
Armour:
Belt 6"
Flight deck 1"
Main deck 2"
2nd deck 1" - 3"
Turrets 1,5" - 3"
Barbets 6"
Machinery: G.E. turbines, electric drive.4 screws. S.H.P.: 180,000 = 33.25 kts. Boilers: Lexington, 16 Yarrow; Saratoga, 16 White-Forster

LEXINGTON (Sunk 8th May, 1942, Battle of Coral Sea)

ENTERPRISE (Oct. 3, 1936)
YORKTOWN (1936)
Displacement: 19,900 tons (standard); 25,500 tons (full)
Complement: 2,919
Length: 761 ft (w.l.), 809.5 ft (o.a)
Beam: 114 ft (max.)
Draught: 28 ft (mean)
Aircraft: 89
space for over 100
Guns:
8 - 5 inch, 38 cal.dual purpose
16 - 1.1 inch M.G. AA
16 smaller M.G.
Armour:
Belt 4"
Main deck 3"
2nd deck 1"- 3"
Machinery: Geared turbines. S.H.P.: 120,000 = 34 kts.Boilers: 9 Babcock & Wilcox Express type. 4 shafts.

YORKTOWN - Foundered after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, having previously been damaged by aircraft torpedoes and bombs in Battle of Midway, June 7, 1942.

WASP (Aprl 4th, 1939)
Displacement: 14,700 tons (20,450 full load)
Complement: 2,367
Length: 741.3 ft
Beam: 80.9 ft
Draught: 28 ft
Aircraft: 80
Guns:
8 - 5 inch, 38 cal.
16 - 1.1 inch AA
30 - 20mm AA
Armour:
Belt 4"
Main deck 1.5"
2nd deck 1.5"
Machinery: 2-shaft Parsons turbines. S.H.P.: 75,000 = 29.5 kts.Boilers: 6 Yarrow. Oil: 1602 tons.

WASP - Torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the SE of San Cristobal in Pacific, September 15, 1942.

#2

hey, i am from canada too
anyways, go nucks go
bertuzzi is the best
sorry to go off topics

#3

I might just add that the Yorktown was rebuilt the following year. You can now visit the Yorktown(2) in Charleston, South Carolina.

#4

That’s technically not really true, though yes, the subsequent Yorktown was named in the honor of the one lost at Midway. It was not “rebuilt”; the Yorktown that sank at Midway was a Yorktown-class carrier. The one following it was an Essex-class. They were of totally different designs.

Yorktown CV-5: http://www.ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=13

Yorktown CV-10:
http://www.ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=217

(Sorry, apparently I never got around to filling out the history of CV-10… but there are some stats for you to review and some pictures to see)

There were actually 5 ships in the history of the US Navy that used the name Yorktown. Quoting Wikipedia:

  • The first Yorktown was a 16-gun ship sloop commissioned in 1840 that sunk in 1850 after hitting a reef in the Cape Verde islands.
  • The second Yorktown was a gunboat, launched in 1888, commissioned in 1889 and decommissioned in 1921.
  • The third Yorktown (CV-5) was an aircraft carrier commissioned in 1937, and a major combatant in World War II until she was sunk at the Battle of Midway in 1942.
  • The fourth Yorktown (CV-10) was also an aircraft carrier, commissioned in 1943, a participant in World War II and the Vietnam War, decommissioned in 1970 and now a museum at Patriot’s Point in Charleston Harbor, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.
  • The fifth Yorktown (CG-48) was a guided missile cruiser, commissioned in 1984 and decommissioned in 2004.
#5

The Pacific War: The U.S. Navy
http://www.microworks.net/pacific/

Ships of the U.S. Navy
http://www.microworks.net/pacific/ships/index.htm

U.S. Aircraft Carriers
http://www.microworks.net/pacific/ships/carriers/index.htm

U.S. Naval Aviation
http://www.microworks.net/pacific/aviation/index.htm

For comparison - see also:
Imperial Japanese Navy Page
http://www.combinedfleet.com/kaigun.htm

#6

I might just add that the Yorktown was rebuilt the following year. You can now visit the Yorktown(2) in Charleston, South Carolina.

been there seeing as i live in sc and walked through the whole thing

#7

Dont forget the British carriers of the Pacific Fleet :wink:

#8

Also one of the US carriers named above will shortly become the worlds biggest artifical reef.

http://www.ussoriskany.com/

#9

Posting just to show some pics…


A B-25 Mitchell taking off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, in his intentions of attacking Tokio, 1942


The USS Intrepid, nowadays a floating museum in the New York City, appears damaged by a kamikaze attack, 1945


The USS Yorktown under japanese aircraft’s heavy fire