Escort Carriers - When You Need a Lot of Carriers Fast
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- Nothing exemplifies the desperation of the Second World War at sea quite like the escort carrier. Where the bright idea came to mind of taking merchant hulls, slapping aviation facilities on top, and calling them an aircraft carrier.
Flippant comments aside, though, these were efficient ships that served very well. Their duties were often monotonous escorts, not the kind of thing that draws headlines. But incredibly important duty, nevertheless.
Since people can’t seem to resist constantly bringing it up:
No, I did not ‘forget’ Sable and Wolverine. Nor did I forget the Independence-class.
The Great Lakes pair are only tangentially related to this video by virtue of being conversions. They are not and never were escort carriers.
The Independence-class, meanwhile, are *light* carriers. Similar origin, often similar roles, but not the same thing.
In both cases, they’ll have their own videos.
A lot of the IJA's "Carriers" cannot be considered carriers as they couldn't recover the planes they launched. They were mainly used for beach landings, carrying landing craft and with floodable well decks, and are where the modern LHAs came from.
The obvious solution is to drachinifel yourself into making 45 minute videos
with the develop of VTOL technology a small amphibious assault ship can be turn into a CVE. the US should stop buiding supercarrier instead spamming those smaller carrier
@@congnghequansuvn474 the VTOL F-35B even costs a good $10 million less than the CATOBAR F-35C. I’m with you. The loss of a supercarrier would be devastating. For the same cost, you could build 3 LHDs and have $1 billion left over. Losing a LHD, while significant, doesn’t compare to losing a supercarrier.
If it’s fast and armored, it’s fleet. If it’s not armored but it’s fast, it’s light. If it’s not armored and not fast, it’s an escort. At least that’s how I differentiate them🤷🏻
Initially the escort carrier was developed to provide air cover for convoys during the North Atlantic campaign, otherwise called the battle of the Atlantic. They went on to do so many things they were like a Swiss Army knife.
This was a great idea. It is understanding that airpower is what ended the uboat threat
John R........that's is exactly what the video stated.
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer The were nicknamed Jeep Carriers for a reason.
My paternal grandfather served on the light aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVL-22). After suffering torpedo damage in November, 1943, the ship returned to San Francisco for repairs. There, my grandfather met a girl from his hometown, who had been working for the War Department in procurement, whom he later married. On the trip home, he won enough money gambling (a frequent pastime of bored sailors during long stretches at sea) that he was able to buy a farm for his new bride and growing family.
As a young boy, I got to go aboard one of these while they were mothballed in the San Francisco area. Possibly at Alameda as that is where my father was stationed. Even now I can remember thinking how small the island was. I could almost have jumped up and touched the bottom of the bridge. It's a shame that we don't have a couple of these, and a couple CVLs as museums. We need to show a history of these ships in a more definitive manner.
They were the ships used in the final act of a Clint Eastwood film. The one where the motorcycle cops were killing bad guys.
@@PaulHarris-sl1ct dirty Harry 2, I think
@@vincenegra2612 Magnum Force
Good account, thanks. After the war a USN officer remarked that the CVE performed an indispensable role and did the job, “but just barely”. Sounds like success to me.
"Kaiser Coffins" reference is to Henry Kaiser and the shipyards he ran that cranked out Liberty and Victory ships faster than the German U-boats could sink them and helped win the Battle of the Atlantic, as well as the many Casablanca class escort carriers quantified in the video. Kaiser escort carriers' moment in the spotlight came at the Battle of Samar where all six of the valiant carriers of Taffy 3 were Casablancas.
I agree with you about Samar though I may be a little biased because my grandfather was on the Gambier Bay which was part of Taffy 3
@@joemantz4160 If he’s still alive, please give him a hug from Chloe.
If he isn’t, place a flower on his resting spot.
Yep the Kaiser shipyards in Vancouver Washington built 50 escort carriers in 18 months.
War is a racket.
@james johnson , nice Smedley Butler quote, except he wasn't present facing the enemy at the Battle of Samar standing up to the world's biggest battleship Yamato. The Kaiser Coffins were and their escorts kept the Japanese away from the landing force (read: Marines and Soldiers).
As a US Marine, in the 1970's I was aboard a Landing Platform Helicopter aka a baby flattop: the USS Guam (LPH-9), was a Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship. It was a bit longer, wider, deeper & faster than the WWII Escort Carriers. It was also propose built, with Anti-Aircraft/Ship armaments & a side mounted elevator to easily move aircraft from the hanger deck to the flight deck. It carried Marine/Navy Helicopters & the Marine Corps AV-8A Harrier VSTOL fighters, which required a steel flight deck. The LPH's would have been an exceptional Escort Carrier if built in the early 1940's instead of the 1960's.
I was stationed on USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) in the early-mid 80s. She was approximately the same size as a WW2 CVE, but had a very different mission at the time. Later on in the service lives of the LPHs the Navy experimented with Harriers to give them a limited strike role. The newer LHAs and LHDs are much bigger (2x displacement), and can be configured for strike warfare if carrying the F-35Bs.
My uncle, ABF3 Robert Stanley Hutton, died on the USS Guam on Feb 28, 1978.
@@triggerwarning5762 Sorry to here that, my condolences to your family.
I was on board the USS Guam when, On the night of January 17th 1977, 49 American Sailors & Marines lost their lives in a tragic accident in Barcelona harbor.
@@brunopadovani7347 👍
@@thomasgarrison3949 There were a lot of accidents during the Zumwalt years.
The concept for the Escort Carrier was to provide coverage for what was called The Mid Atlantic Gap. The center swath of the Atlantic that could not be reached by land based patrol aircraft. In that environment Convoys were only being protected by light warships. Destroyers, Destroyer Escorts Frigates and Corvettes. So the concept was to give the convoys a dedicated air coverage platform. A Carrier to Escort them. And they were one of the most glaring successes of the War. By late 1943 most of them were sporting a Single Catapult which allowed them to operate the Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger Torpedo Bomber. Now unlike previous dedicated Torpedo planes the Avenger was a marvelous multi role aircraft. It could carry Torpedoes, or act as a Level Bomber, or Carry a dozen depth charges. And it was one of the first carrier planes to get Radar equipped models. Which became the secret for hunting down prowling subs in the mid Atlantic. To save on Space most of the Escort Carriers operated the FM-2 version of the F4F Wildcat as their fighter. They could launch and land Hellcats, but they took up an awful amount of room in the hanger. They tell me they could land an F4U Corsair on a CVE, but for the life of me I can't imagine anyone doing it sober.
The Escort Carriers proved to be far far more useful then their intended purpose would make you think. On top of their Convoy Escort Sub Hunting Duties they served three other main functions. As you noted they made great plane ferries. They could carry a deck load of P-40's or British Spitfires with their own air group below. Launch the ferry planes to their new home and begin operating their own group as soon as they cleared the deck. Although this need dropped in the Atlantic by the later war as the P-38, P-47 and P-51 could all self deploy to Europe. But the CVE's were needed to get them around the Pacific.
Their greatest role was in freeing up the Fleet Carriers to be Fleet Carriers. To be the fast mobile offensive force. The CVE's became a mission critical element of the US Amphibious Invasion Forces. For the first time the Marines were carrying their own dedicated air support with them to the invasion sites. Without fear that they would only have it for a few days. The US never actually used the CVE's in "Fleet Carrier Roles". Rather they shifted some slow speed fleet carrier roles, namely close air support of beachheads, to the CVE's. I can't really stress how much of a sea change this was to Amphibious Warfare. And this lingered. I want you to look at the last picture in the video the one with the statement "And some would linger on in secondary roles". This downplays something important. Look at that picture with all the Marine Helicopters. Think about what it is. From the CVE's the modern Amphibious Assault Ships were born. The Modern Wasp and America classes have a direct lineage back to Mr. Kaiser's Coffins.
Also to correct one small not quite error. That only the US and Great Britain Operated the Escort Carriers is not entirely true. Or rather it is and it isn't. Canada actually operated a small number of them. But they were never Canadian ships. A weird quirk of the Lend Lease Laws stipulated that Britain could not sell of transfer any ships or vehicles built under lend lease to other nations. So a small number of CVE's were operated by Canadian Crews and Pilots while maintaining their HMS designation rather than HMCS.
Speaking of Kaiser and the Casablanca Class. What made them so fast to build was Kaiser took his basic Oil tanker hull design and power plant and modified it to be a Carrier from the ground up. But they built them using the same modular build techniques that they were using to build Liberty ships. They were building the ships in sections as modules, then swinging each into place and welding them together quickly in the slipways. This meant they could have three or four ships under construction for each slipway. It's similar to how they build the modern Ford class Carriers. All of Kaiser's Shipyards were on the West Coast which is the biggest reason Britain didn't see that class. The Bogue's were all built on the Atlantic Coast. Oh and Kaiser Shipbuilding? You know them today as Kaiser Permanente.
Andrew Taylor....You gave us some great information and history. Thank you very much..!!
While very good and true, you forget the forum you use. Its way too long.
My neighbor was the radioman on the Gambler Bay that was sunk in the battle for Philippines (Leyte Gulf).. he described that the escort carrier duty there was really just to supply the other carriers with planes was their main mission.. he signaled the SOS when the abandoned ship was announced.. he talked about the dice shot for the Japanese to find the range, and then they first opened up with armored penetrating shells that would shoot right through ship.. when they used high explosive shells.. things deteriorated quickly, he stated he got out of the radio room and ran down the hull of the ship as it was capsizing.. he stated there were seven large holes in her big enough to park a semi truck sideways in.. they were leftleft in the sea as the battle raged on.. then a Typhoon hit and they were out to there for 3 days on the open ocean.. in massive waves with sharks chewing on them… eventually he was rescued and shipped to Hawaii, where he promptly caught polo… and was crippled for the rest of his life
I think you may have misunderstood the purpose of the Taffy task forces there. Those ships were to support the invasion forces and attack submarines.
My Dad's last USMC WWII duty was aboard the USS Rendova, CVE114, as an aviation armorer, and was discharged in 1946.
My eldest brother was sailor aboard HMS Audacity the first ever escort carrier. Sadly he was lost when she was torpedoed and sunk in Dec 1941. I was six at the time and my dad was also away in the army. My mother got the official telegram of his loss but still had to get up to milk cows next morning. Tough times.
My Father served on the USS Long Island CVE-1. He boarded in San Diego April 1942. In time to sail to Pearl Harbor. After several weeks in and around Hawaii they sailed South to Guadalcanal and launched two squadrons of Marine fighter groups for the "Cactus Air Force". The rest of the war they were tasked to ferry aircraft to various Islands in the South Pacific. Dad served aboard until May 1946.
Flush decker, meaning no island.
The only one, except for it's sister ship which went to the Royal Navy.@@edkrach8891
A couple very minor notes: The transported aircraft were usually lifted on and off by crane. And while they brought new aircraft to the front, they also transported worn out aircraft ("war wearies") back to the States to be used for training purposes. Even in their invasion support role they were also used for anti-submarine patrol and to defend the ships from air attack. There biggest weakness was their lack of speed for most military operations.
The Casa Blanca class ships were built in a purpose built shipyard on the north shore of the Columbia River at Vancouver, WA.
Speed wasnt a weakness. They were designed with the speed needed to do the job needed. If you give them the speed of a fleet carrier you wouldn't be able to build enough. Then the excess speed above that needed for the mission would have been a weakness because that would have caused the mission to fail by not having enough of them.
They still have the docks where they were built.
@@jamesmurray8558 yes, I've done a lot of work there.. Christensen yachts were built a block or two away. Oregon Iron Works used to have a yard there also.
@@craigplatel813 they wouldn't have failed their mission by being fast. there simply would have been fewer to go around.
they also lacked armor, but sometimes this was to their benefit if hit by armor piercing weapons, as they'd pass clean through the entire ship before detonating in the water.
My late father was enlisted and served on CVE USS Lunga Point CVE-94, a Casablanca class. The Lunga Point was commissioned 14 May, 1944 and only saw action for about 1 1/2 years, But he was at Okinawa and Iwo Jima and saw plenty of action. The Lunga Point had the distinction of being hit as many times by Kimikazes as it was, but still making it to a repair port under it's own power. The other almost unbelievable part is that in all of the Kamikaze hits, no sailors were killed. The only sailor that was killed was when a sailor walked into a turning prop.
The Lunga Point was also one of the many ships ( boats...) that sailed into Tokyo and I think somewhere else as well and helped evacuate Allied pow's and a lot of Japanese people. I saw a picture where it showed the flight deck of one of the carriers filled with Japanese evacuees. We don't hear much, if anything, about this part of the post war operations.
Dad also was exposed to some of the fallout radiation that was still in the air. It wasn't until his last years ( died 2006 ) that the Pentagon finally acknowledged by testing that he had been exposed. He died from cigarette cancer before the paperwork was done that would have given him some money from the radiation.
He had a journal, kinda like a high school yearbook, that followed the Lunga Point from keel laying to post war operations. These journals were done by Navy photographers and professional writers, with lots of pictures and stories about the daily life and especially about the action that Lunga Point saw.
I have looked up this journal on-line and it is the exact journal that I remembered seeing...once....when Dad must have been in a nostalgic mood. Just like so many men ( and lots of women...nurses especially who saw the horrors of war up close ), he never talked about his time on the Escort Carrier, even though he was only there for maybe 1 1/2 years.
Why were Japanese evacuated?
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music There were a lot of sick and injured Japanese that needed care, not only from the after effects of the two atomic bombs, but from the other bombing raids and other war related situations.
@@marbleman52 Wow. Where were they taken? Or were they just put on hospital ships?
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music I am not certain now, but I think the information said they were taken to the Philippines...perhaps Manila where they could get treatment, and I think some may have been taken on to Hawaii ( but I'm not certain of this either. )
I would think that the hospital ships were used but there were just so many Japanese that needed help that the Hospital ships could not take all of them and so some of the Escort carriers were used since the carriers had lots of room on the flight decks once the planes were stored below in the hangar spaces.
Like I said initially, this is a part of the after war efforts that has gotten very little attention.
@@marbleman52 Sounds horrific but could have been far worse. I've never understood how those A-bombed cities could ever be used again.
By the end of the war the US had over 100 aircraft carriers, 17 of which were fleet carriers which means over 83 of the carriers were escort carriers!
A fast oil tanker built at Sun Cities shipyard in Chester Pa. was dragged into the port in Malta before becoming immobile. The fuel was retrievable and helped to allow the islands to hold out!
I believe it was the SS Ohio . There is a great video about it!
Plus light carriers
@@shawnc1016 Yes, but we only had 9 and one was sunk.
Escort carriers might have had only a short overall career, but they definitely made the most out of their brief time in the sun when they were most needed.
It would be possible to see something similar return. In a pinch, f-35s can fit on helicopter carriers.
Rocket ships had an even shorter life, WW2 had many examples of "single mission" machines, desperate times.
Thumbs up. Thanks for not adding background music.
Nice video. My grandfather served on the Shamrock Bay CVE 84. I happen to have his cruise book. I served on the Forrestal.
"If you ever have a question of how far inter-service can really go, the Japanese Military will exceed your expectations," is very Drach of you. lol
I'm surprised that it didn't start another Sengoku Jidai in Japan.
@@Joshua_N-A There was the coup attempt to stop the Emperor from broadcasting his surrender speech....
My dad was a carrier pilot during the Korean war, although he was sent to the Atlantic for anti-submarine (ASW) duty. He did one cruise aboard an escort carrier which was a converted tanker. They were flying Grumman AF-2 Guardians, which were huge planes, off the tiny flight deck, sometimes at night. He had a top bunk right under the flight deck, and one of the arrestor cables ran a few inches above his head, making a racket and spewing grease whenever it was engaged. He was very happy when the squadron was reassigned to a fleet carrier.
My father served on CVE-25, the USS Croatan. They did a number of convoy escorts in the Atlantic, primarily to Casablanca in North Africa. GO NAVY. Thanks for the video.
Humble beginnings. The first escort carrier was the British built HMS Audacity, entering service on June 17th 1941. She was the first escort carrier to operate as a convoy escort sailing with convoy, OG-74 on September 13th 1941. A game changer in the UBoat war of the North Atlantic. A prodigious effort and wondrous example of US mass production, by its industrious citizens.
Too quick to dismiss the MAC ships as 'temporary expedients" Most of them continued escorting convoys right to the end of the war. A couple of old Swordfish biplanes were enough to spook the U-boats. .
Well said.
You did not mention that those little Kaiser Coffins fought the biggest David v Goliath battle in the Pacific, and won!
Escort carriers to me will always be a fascinating concept because they're not big or glamorous, but they got the job done and they got it done well
Another great video my friend, keep up the great work.
Respect from the UK.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
*"Si vis pacem, para bellum"* ...as NATO is finding out once again in Ukraine. /sigh
Thanks for mentioning the Audacity!
My Dad served on USS Independence (CVL-22) during WWII.
Nice video! Thank you! You give a nice overview of these carriers. I was disappointed, however, that you did not mention the escort carriers finest hour at the battle of the Leyte gulf when one could argue that they saved many lives of the troops on the transports while sacrificing them selves.
Was that when the Johnston and other destroyers made their heroic suicide run? That would have been a good mention.
@@jimbarth9859 exactly!
Holy shit, not only do I have Drachinfel to listen to during commutes, but now I also have an American naval historian! Keep up the good work sir
The MAC ships were usually converted grain and oil carrying ships. The ministry insisted that, in addition to deploying aircraft, these vessels also carried their usual cargoes. They were typically armed with three Swordfish bombers, although a few fulmars and gladiators somehow occasionally fell into the mix.
Escort Carriers played an important part of the war, especially in the Pacific. Mostly, because #1 they were good picket ships for early warning, 2 they could supply fleet carriers with planes and pilots , from losses and 3 they were good for covering beach invasions. The US built aboutish 90 of them. A brilliant idea.
My dad flew off the Steamer Bay, a Casablanca class escort carrier. He said they were hell in rough seas.
My dad served on the Steamer Bay as an electricians mate.
Gambier Bay, Kitkun Bay, St Lo, White Plains, Kalinin Bay, all CVEs.
Faced the IJN Center force at Samar and managed to run them off.
They took 18.1” AP shells from Yamato.
Engaged armored enemy ships with their own 5”/32s.
St Lo was sunk
also known as Task force TAFFEY. The only carrier sunk by Japanese gunfire, Gambier Bay.
To be fair, they had a lot of help from their escorting DDs and DDEs, and from aircraft from other nearby task groups. And they were 5"/38 guns. St. Lo was sunk by kamikaze attack later that day; it was Gambier Bay that was sunk by surface gunfire.
Slight correction: Gambier Bay was sunk by naval gunfire during the Battle off Samar; very soon after the surface battle the St. Lo was sunk by one of the first kamikaze air attacks.
We didn’t print C2 hulls. My grandmother welded them in Wilmington, NC. So did my uncle. C2s, in US form were a Kaiser product, the UK product were hand built.
I grew up right nextdoor to general dynamics shipyard Quincy Mass. they built some of these pocket carriers, in my day as a kid 70's they built LNG tankers, we used the bridge for diving and swimming, it was a blast. Great content. Thank you.
Back in the early 1980's I flew over a bunch of moth balled escort carriers north of San Francisco. My understanding is, they were still used to store parts in the hanger bays.
Interesting tidbit, S-2 Tracker 2-Engine aircraft were used off Commencement Bay-class Escort carriers for a short bit in the 50s. Landing that on a 500 foot straight runway must have been fun
My dad served aboard the USS Maryland, BB-46 from April ‘42 to April ‘46. His brother, just 19 y/o joined the USN in Mar. 1944 and boarded the then brand new USS Admiralty Islands (CVE-99) at Astoria, OR, @60 miles down the Columbia River from where she was built in just 4 months @Kaiser Ship Yards, Vancouver, WA.
The ship served as a replenishment carrier in the Western Pacific Theater and Operation Magic Carpet, then was sold to Zidell Machinery and Supply Company of Portland, Or. where she was scrapped.
These ships were a similar concept to the destroyer escorts (DE in USA parlance). The Royal Navy saw the need for a "cheap" destroyer for convoy protection, this ship had no requirement to rush about at speeds approaching 40 knots to protect the fleet as a convoy probably only managed about 10 or so knots. Britain built a few, and then having a shortage of building capacity handed over production to American yards. The US worked initally to a British specification but design was left entirely to the Americans.
The ships were known as Captain class frigates in the RN, were supplied under lend-lease and proved to be extremely capable for their intended job. The US saw their usefullness and built a large number for the US Navy. After the war the need had gone and the ships were obselete, but they filled a need at the time
Some LST (Landing Ship, Tanks) were decked over for launching Cub spotter planes. Hard, if not impossible to land, they were launched and then flown to the beach. Barry Hope, SGT USA retired
Do check out the book Little Giants for a detailed overview of CVE operations in WWII; as it turns out, CVEs were involved in a surprising number of minor anti-ship operations in addition to escort duties and ground support, and even at Samar they had some anti-ship weapons onboard-just not loaded onto the aircraft at the start of the battle (but they rearmed later in the engagement).
The IJA building its own carriers has to be the most extreme example of interservice rivalry in history.
The Imperial Japanese Navy had it’s own Tank Corps and own Motor Pool equipped with trucks that they refused to let the Imperial Japanese Army use. Nor were many of the parts between the services interchangeable. By mid 1944 the Imperial Japanese Army was designing it’s own submarines and relations between the two services had degenerated to an icy formality. By then there were three official weather services in Japan: one for the Army, one for the Navy and one for Civilians.
@@williampaz2092 Imagine how much harder it would have been to defeat them if they had had better interservice cooperation, as the Allies did.
The IJA was using its carriers to deliver aircraft to the front lines right from the beginning of WW2. The IJA submarine forces came later (they built submersible landing craft and supply ships - the landing craft could run up on the shore and open a bow ramp to land troops and equipment onto the beach (a submersible Higgins boat effectively).
@@doolie1779 They did have interservice “discussions” - unfortunately they usually involved swords. The Japanese gave an entirely new perspective to “making their point”.
My father served aboard CVE-111, the Vella Gulf, at the end of WWII. Thanks for this review
Portland oregons shipyard built 22 of these carriers in 20 months! That's absolutely amazing. When we work towards a common goal we can do anything. Ty for your efforts
Great video. Definitely earns a like and follow. Keep up the good work and God bless
Great vid! The CVEs were definitely unsung heroes, giving vital coverage to convoys in submarine infested waters.
At first glance at the picture used at 0:09, I thought the P-38s looked like Droid Star fighters
CVE - 48 was returned to United States custody as lying' on December 5th 1945 while still n the United Kingdom at Faslane. She was stricken for disposal by the US Navy in 1946, and was subsequently sold to Metal Industries (Salvage) Ltd. She was broken for scrap at Faslane later that year.
Mass-produced "good enough" industrial warfare. I have a sinking feeling we're going to see what plays out in more modern times in this arena yet again.
Great video about a subject no else has covered in any detail. At least I don't remember finding anything on RUclips about it. Very infromative and interesting to learn that it was the British who came up with the idea of creating escort carriers to protect the North Atlantic convoys. Thanks!
There is a series of games called Pacific Theatre of Operations released on computers and home consoles, and I spent my summers playing the ones that released on the Super Nintendo in the mid 90s. CVEs fascinated me to no end, because as described in the video, they were mini-carriers, and i deployed them often in that capacity in my games.
CVS combustible Vulnerable Ship is probably my favorite nick name for these
Combustible Vulnerable Expendable CVE
Your commentary was very useful and made good use of ten minutes of historical review.
Small, light weight and extremely cheap.
These were some of the ships that faced off against Yamato and center force during the battle off samar. Not bad for baby flat tops.
The only carriers to engage Japanese heavies with their 5" guns in a surface action.
Only carrier sunk by surface fire.
Thank your for sharing those interesting videos and stories of the navy's rolls in the WWII
Thank you - I very much enjoyed watching your insightful and informative account of the Escort Carrier, as both my late father and his brother served on CVN's HMS Striker & HMS Persuer (affectionately known within RN circles at the time as the Sewer. In March 1963 we were £10 POMS (Prisoner of Mother England that Aussies called the £10 Brits) We ailed aboard the MV Fair Sea (13,000 tonnes) that you depicted . I was 8 years old at the time and vividly remember only seeing about 10-15ft of the hull of this former CVN above the quayside. Morred behind our former CVN was the RMS Queen Elizabeth (a proper ship) where her supertcructure was not visible from standing at the stern the stern of our former CVN. I recall questioning my father on whether we would make it to Australia packed in like sardines on MV Fair Sea. Happy Days! ROB
My mom worked at the Keizer shipyards in Vancouver Washington where they built 50 escort carriers in about 18 months.
grew up, and still live in Vancouver Washington, where all 50 Casablanca's were built in 2 years. Slipways are still there on the Columbia River.
"But one they COULD, in a stretch"
Laffy 3 has entered the chat!!!
The Sangamon and Commencement Bay were the best escort carrier classes.
My dad served on the Chenago
CVEs were also modified during the 50s & 60s for LPH helicopter carriers while production of purpose built helo carriers was ramping up.
Lots of smaller navies today could use Escort Carriers to round out their capabilities, or for use by Coastguards and Border Forces.
Excellent informative film, thankyou.
My Father served on USS Gambier Bay CVE-73
I would consider U.S.S. Guadalcanal the most famous because it was the only carrier to capture a German U-boat, the U-505,now located in Chicago, Illinois at the Museum Of Science And Industry!
Having airports on the oceans is very helpful cause you can use them as stepping stones across the water
Spig weed. John Wayne in the movie. On wings of Eagles!
Helped develop escort carrier tactics.
A great movie! Maureen Ohara, Dan Daley, Ward Bond, and Tige Andrews as Pincus! What a great cast!
Interesting. Thank You
Really interesting with some genuinely new information and understanding, for me at least. I would make one significant request, however, and that is to insert dates with a commissioning of these ships. It's incredibly unhelpful try to represent actively comprehend a timeline without any dates attached.
C.V.E. Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable.
The Wildcat stayed in production (by Eastern Aircraft division) as the FM. Because they could operate off of CVE's.
imagine if we needed these again. we dont have the industry anymore, let alone the workforce.
My hometown of Vancouver, Washington (Not in Canada or DC) Produced a chunk of the Casablanca Class CVEs--including the CVE-76, the Kadashan Bay, on which my Grandfather served.
Well done! Thanks!
Only video I’ve found about Escort carriers. Seemed like a good idea especially in the Atlantic .
An interesting CVE that stuck around was the USS Croatan which helped with the U.S. Army's initial major combat deployment to Vietnam in 1965. Robert Mason wrote about it in his famous book "Chickenhawk"
I remember a John Wayne movie where he mentioned creating "Jeep carriers"
Well, clearly you are missing something here since the escort carrier (CVE) was clearly capable of handling heavy cruisers and Gambier Bay was shelled by Yamato for an hour before accumulating enough damage to sink. Clearly labelling them as escort carriers was a subterfuge. They were primarily designed to combat armored surface ships. This was clearly shown in the battle off Samar. Anyway, you did all right in the description of the little buggers and they rolled off the assembly line. A convoy with a reasonable number of ASW escorts and an escort carrier near bye was probably going to get to its destination with many fewer losses than with the escort carrier.
Actually the reason The Gambier Bay survived so long is because the Japanese were using armor piercing rounds which had the odd effect of going into the hole and out the other side which was not normal. Trust me, I know my grandfather was on the Gambier Bay. I've studied that battle on my life. Another thing, if you study the battle it becomes very apparent how easy. It was to kill an escort carrier because some of the Japanese switched to high explosives and that cause the lot of damage they they sink pretty quickly after that
Uh, no. Just because a weapon is effective in one instance doesn't mean it was ACKSHUALLY ALWAYS SECRETLY INTENDED for that purpose. That's like saying the Flak 88 was ACKSHUALLY meant to be an anti-tank gun all along lmao.
Escort carriers I really thought they are escorting/protecting the whole carrier battle group, while those big big carriers go out to fight with the enemies.
I really that those planes from the escort carriers are the one protecting/defensive role. While planes from the big carriers taking the offensive role.
they were heavily involved in the Battle of Philippines Seas. Flying off CAP and attacking Japanese fleet
Another good video, admittedly I could watch one twice as long. Though I'm sure once you start including "this detail and that" the question becomes, when to stop and how many will watch.
It was a brilliant concept! America recognized the pre-eminence of Air Power early in the war and far surpassed all other combatants (including the British) except the Japanese in Carrier operations! No other country even tried to convey Air Power to the extent that America did on land and by sea! No other country produced aircraft rugged enough for Carrier use! Carrier operations are a hazardous ballet where everything is synchronized to the minutest detail and one tiny mistake can be catastrophic! Back then they learned OJT! The U.S. Navy is the most powerful force on the seven seas, and they're maintaining the Legacy achieved by the men at Midway and Coral Sea and other battles where the ships never saw each other!
My father served aboard CVE 58 USS Corregidor during WW2. It was the fourth of fifty Casablanca class escort carriers.
My father was in the air crew on USS Anzio CVE57
@@billdoolen3948 Those were amazing things our fathers experienced when they were just boys.
My Dad worked in a shipyard in Portland in WW2 . He said besides Liberty Ships they made a lot of these and he called them Baby Carriers
Unsung heroes of WWII, they deserve remembrance, if only for the desperate defense of Taffy III at the Battle off Samar.
CVE24 USNS Croatan . . . . served long enough to get the 1st Air Cav to Vietnam
Took me a hot second to spot that those were wingless p-38...spicy take off ;)
My great, great, Uncle served aboard the U.S.S Bismarck Sea CVE-95 she tragically sank off of Iwo Jima because of 2 kamikaze attacks on February 21 1945 my great, great, uncle did not survive and we have reason to believe he either died by the one of the kamikaze attacks or if he drowned but his name is honored on a plaque inside the U.S.S Yorktown which is in South Carolina
Even God said it was ugly. And it was the day the alien's went home.
The Japanese had escort carriers right from the start of WW2. That’s how the Japanese Army got fighters into Malaysia in 1942.
The Japanese Army also operated submarines right through WW2 as submersible landing craft.
Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable
A little rickety, but a good presentation of a forgtton/unsung ship concept.
US: Builds 50 of one class of CVE’s in a year.
Japan: “OMG US team needs a nerf!! Too OP!!!
Interesting!
However, I still think that for all but the US, there is a definite role today for smaller carriers for other navies. For example, the British Royal Navy has decided on two smaller Supercarriers (non-nuclear) instead of a much more expensive full scale US-like Supercarrier like the Ford. Actually, there is a lot of good, solid common sense in that decision, as when the Prince of Wales suffered a prop shaft failure on the eve of an operational sortie to US. The Queen Elizabeth was quickly prepared, and set off to complete the mission instead. Not possible with just one supercarrier! As a bonus the two British carriers together carry more planes in their air wings than Ford does, and is vastly cheaper to build both and operate them than one Ford. In fact, for the same construction cost, they could have built a third carrier, and have some change left over. The three Air Wings would have been much more expensive than Ford's though, but give a much greater operational capability. Three such carriers could very easily out-sortie the Ford when operating together, while the crew complement would only be slightly larger in total.
Certainly something to think about.
The USS Card was the last Jeep Carrier to be sunk. The Viet Cong sunk the Card in Saigon Harbor in 1964. Refloated and refurbished, it finished its career ferrying aircraft to South Vietnam.
Awesome video!
I've wondered why they don't build a Super Oiler with a flight deck.
A couple nuclear reactors, the mechanics to create synthetic fuel
A flight deck to launch & recover V-22's and F-35B's.
The capacity to pull up beside a fleet vessel (including aircraft carrier) & transfer fuel and supplies at sea.
@a Cyclone Steve. No need for "oilers" Today's CVN is able stay at sea indefinitely, as she's designed to, and as long as she's kept supplied by U.S. NAVY supply ships and the helicopter carriers traveling with the squadron. Especially if it's a task force.
U.S. NAVY veteran PO3
'73>'77 ✌🇺🇸
@@geoben1810 So many things to talk about. "as long as she's kept supplied" is a very important caveat.
I'm thinking more of the British or Japanese fleets & marine operations, but a supercarrier only has a few days of fuel for full flight operations. if supply ships(oilers), or the bases they are from, are disrupted, a carrier is almost useless.
I've read a book called Twilight's Last Gleaming. It points out that America can not conceive of the idea of losing a war. Not choosing to pull out, like in Afghanistan or Vietnam, but loosing. Terms set by others, the one's that beat us. It is beyond our capacity to comprehend. Having a ship like this would create a tremendous amount of flexibility.
i think they will return as a easy and cheap way to launch drones at sea.
CVE...Combustible... Vulnerable.... Expendable
In the second "Dirty Harry" movie with Clint Eastwood, there is a scene where retired escort carriers are shown.
Used to ferry helicopters to Vietnam. So their lifespans were a touch longer.