Today we look as the second phase of carrier development, from the conversions of the Washington Treaty to the start of the Second World War.
Previous videos:
Early Types to the end of the 1920’s – https://youtu.be/DZA2NwyEdK4
1929 to 1939 – https://youtu.be/K_DEHvLvMak
Sources:
“What Value the Dark Blue Sky” – Dr Alexander Clarke
www.amazon.co.uk/Kaigun-Strategy-Technology-Imperial-1887-1941/dp/159114244X
www.amazon.co.uk/Nelson-Vanguard-Warship-Development-1923-1945/dp/1861762895
www.amazon.co.uk/British-Aircraft-Carriers-Development-Histories/dp/1848321384
www.amazon.co.uk/American-British-Aircraft-Carrier-Development/dp/1591143802
www.amazon.co.uk/Imperial-Japanese-Navy-Pacific-War/dp/1472801466
www.amazon.co.uk/Aircraft-Carrier-Victorious-Detailed-Original/dp/1526737345
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8364596527
Naval History books, use code ‘DRACH’ for 25% off – https://www.usni.org/press/books?f%5B0%5D=subject%3A1966
Free naval photos and more – www.drachinifel.co.uk
Want to support the channel? – https://www.patreon.com/Drachinifel
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Want to talk about ships? https://discord.gg/TYu88mt
‘Legionnaire’ by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
source
Pinned post for Q&A 🙂
Very interesting Drach, thanks for the info.😊
I still think the best American carrier of WW2 was the USS Great Britain. The idea of simply converting an entire island country into a large runway & support system for the Air Corps was quite helpful. It came pre-equipped with a large crew, decent radar and the armor belt of Dover. Was even possible for it to house a large volume of troops for any sort of landing operations, and not just the Marines, the Army could even be carried on it.
Nice one, Drach!👍
I see Sea Vixens on deck!
Thanks Drac
Sorry for the confusion. Usually when you put the lemon name on something it means that it is bad. The Essex class had a lot of growth designed in them and was able to hang around for a long time. Sorry about that mistake.
Limited air conditioning? Bridge and captain's quarters
Drach, I expect more rum in my ration. I'm parched!
🤣👍
Went out on the Lexington out of Pensacola in the early 70's. Leave on Monday, back on Friday. The Gulf of America is a hot place to be. We would go on water hours as soon as we left port. Lex needed all the fresh water she could get having gone from hydraulic to steam cats. Was NOT a pleasant training exercise.
13:59
TRUE STORY- of aaaaaall the Essex class carriers ever built, Oriskany is the only one to have been sunk!
Oh hell yes. Next up cruisers?
02:32 Kriegsmarine
12:34 Regia Marina
22:22 Nihon Kaigun
39:47 US Navy
59:34 Royal Navy
Every time I hear Drach say "That's a subject for another video", I'm happy.
Wait RN goes to civilian contractor for design work & it Doesn’t go the way of HMS Captain?!?
But then….they decided they needed to drop submarines….not just torpedos.
Man I feel for those sailors serving on carriers in WW2. Thousands of men in a tinderbox just needing one spark to go up in a giant fireball
I feel like the Saipans should have been included. Built from the keel up as carriers, laid down at the same time as the Centaurs and commissioning before the first Centaurs are launched.
The British navy seems to have taken ""penny wise and pound foolish" to an extreme for their carriers. Then you have the financial shenanigans on modernization, though we in the US can't crow too much (see: the Littoral combat ships). This was a very well done overview and certainly lives up to your reputation.
The Essex Class has to be one of the most robust warship designs ever built. As initially designed the fighter aircraft had a MTW of 7900lbs andca top speed of 320mph. The last fighter to serve on the ship had a MTW of 34000lbs and a top speed of Mach 1.8. The design could still carry 70+ aircraft modern jet aircraft.
I don’t know if this will be seen or not but I would love a video on the IJN Zipang, it was a crazy insane idea for an ultra dreadnought in the early 1910’s that I discovered recently, and since you did the Tillman ships a while back, this would be pretty cool too. Thanks for the great content!
You make a whole bunch of really good stuff.
The surviving Essex's like the Hornet are well worth the visit, even if that particular ship is a mess of poor funding and poorly thought out tourist alterations (eg the perenially broken full size escalator rammed through several decks to make the flight deck marginally more accessible). Midway meanwhile is in great condition. And has the Taffy 3 menorial right outside.
Drach finishes his series on carrier development. Oversimplified History finishes his series on Hannibal. All my Christmases have come at once.
If a month late and at the wrong map reference.