The US Navy's Pre-War Carriers Quiz

Answer: Jupiter

USS Jupiter was built as one of a class of four colliers for the US Navy, commissioned in April 1913. The ship was originally assigned to the Pacific Fleet, before transiting to the Atlantic in October 1914. Upon the entry of the United States into the First World War, Jupiter was used both for coaling and cargo transport duties until 1919. In August of that year, she was transferred back to the Pacific, where the ship was selected for conversion into the US Navy's first aircraft carrier. In December 1919, Jupiter returned to Norfolk, Virginia, where she was decommissioned and put into dry dock for conversion. At the same time, Jupiter was renamed as USS Langley.

Langley was recommissioned in March 1922 to serve as a platform for the Navy's first experimental efforts in naval aviation. Having completed trials, the ship began full flight operations in January 1923 in the Caribbean. Over the next few years, Langley undertook a range of flying trials, operations and displays with the fleet, with most of her service undertaken in the Pacific, to which she was transferred in 1924. However, by the mid 1930s, larger and more advanced carriers had entered service, which led to Langley being decommissioned in October 1936 for conversion into a seaplane tender. It was in this role, serving with the Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines, that Langley was operating when the US entered the Second World War.

Answer: Tacoma

Unlike later pre-war carriers, Lexington (along with her sister Saratoga), was not equipped with a standard steam turbine propulsion system, but was instead fitted with what was described as a "turbo-electric" system - steam from the boilers was used to provide power to four generators that generated electricity. This was then used to power a pair of electric motors located on each of the ship's four propeller shafts, making the propulsion system ostensibly a massive electric generating station.

In late 1929, a drought in the west of Washington led to Lake Cushman receding. The lake provided water for Cushman Dam No. 1, a hydro-electric plant that was the primary source of power for the city of Tacoma. Once the water level receded below the dam's intakes, the city's electrical supply was significantly reduced, which led to the city requesting help from the federal government. The government's response was to send Lexington, which had been at the nearby Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, to Tacoma, and rig up lines from the ship's electrical generating system into the city power grid. Lexington remained hooked up from 17 December 1929 to 16 January 1930, by which time rain and snow-melt had raised the water levels in Lake Cushman.

Answer: USS Los Angeles

USS Saratoga was the second of two aircraft carriers built for the US Navy through the conversion of a pair of incomplete battlecruiser hulls cancelled as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922. Laid down as a battlecruiser in September 1920, Saratoga was launched in April 1925 and eventually commissioned in November 1927. Following initial trials, the ship sailed from Philadelphia on 6 January 1928 to begin a shakedown, with the first fixed-wing aircraft landing on board five days later.

During the 1920s, the US Navy instituted an experimental programme to use rigid airships (airships with the envelope supported by a rigid metal framework rather than just gas pressure) as a way of extending the reach of a reconnaissance force at sea. Two such aircraft, USS Shenandoah and USS Los Angeles, were built and commissioned into the US Navy in 1923 and 1924. In 1927, Los Angeles was stationed on the east coast, and a decision was made to test the feasibility of mooring an airship to an aircraft carrier. Making use of the fact that Saratoga was at sea, Los Angeles rendezvoused with the aircraft carrier and, despite conditions being less than ideal, successfully moored on Saratoga's flight deck, the first time such a manoeuvre had taken place, allowing the airship to be refuelled and resupplied. However, despite initial success in operating with airships, the advent of radar, combined with the loss of most of the US Navy's examples, saw the use of rigid airships end before the Second World War.

Answer: Eastern Fleet

Ranger was the first purpose built aircraft carrier in the US Navy. Commissioned in June 1934, she was closer in size to the pioneering USS Langley than the much larger Lexington and Saratoga, and was also significantly slower, also lacking torpedo protection. Although Ranger served in the Pacific during the pre-war period, in January 1939 she left San Diego to undertake operations in the Caribbean based at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, before proceeding to Norfolk to take up station with the Atlantic Fleet. It was while based in Virginia that Pearl Harbor was attacked - the loss of almost all of the Pacific Fleet's battleships led to a need for more aircraft carriers to be sent to Hawaii. However, Ranger's limitations in terms of size, speed and protection led to her being left in the Atlantic Theater.

In April 1942, Winston Churchill sent a message to President Roosevelt requesting reinforcement of the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet, at the time stationed in Ceylon, following the Indian Ocean Raid, in which the Japanese had attacked British shipping and bases in the region. This had resulted in the loss of three major British warships, the heavy cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Cornwall, and the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes. Churchill requested that the US send Ranger, plus the battleship USS North Carolina, to reinforce the Eastern Fleet. Admiral Ernest King, the US Chief of Naval Operations, was adamant that no major US fleet unit, especially Ranger, be sent to the Indian Ocean, and drafted a response to Churchill's request bluntly stating this. In an effort to maintain diplomacy, President Roosevelt amended this to play up Ranger's deficiencies, with instead the ship being used to ferry fighters for the 10th Air Force based in India.

Answer: Frank J. Fletcher

USS Yorktown was the first of a new class of aircraft carrier designed as a result of the experience gained by the US Navy in using the four carriers that came before. Commissioned in September 1937, Yorktown was initially stationed in the Atlantic, also spending time in the Caribbean, before transiting to San Diego in April 1939, remaining attached to the Pacific Fleet until early 1941. At that time, German U-Boats were operating with increasing success against shipping intended to reinforce the United Kingdom, and so the US Navy, in an effort to improve the strength of the Atlantic Fleet, transferred Yorktown, three battleships, three cruisers and twelve destroyers, back to the Atlantic coast.

By December 1941, Yorktown had conducted a number of successful "Neutrality Patrols" to ensure the safety of merchant shipping in American waters. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor decimated the Pacific Fleet's battleships, with all but one sunk or badly damaged, leaving just the three aircraft carriers to carry the US response to the Japanese. As a result, to reinforce the Pacific, Yorktown was despatched back to Hawaii. Stopping off in San Diego en route, Yorktown collected Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher, at that time commander of the Pacific Fleet's cruisers. Raising his flag in Yorktown, he became the commanding officer of the newly constituted Task Force 17, one of a number of new task groups, each formed around an aircraft carrier, intended to begin the naval battle with Japan.

Answer: Wake Island

Enterprise was the second of the planned class of two Yorktown-class carriers built for the US Navy. Commissioned in May 1938, she operated as part of the Atlantic Fleet until April 1939, when she was ordered to the Pacific. Initially stationed in San Diego, the ship, alongside the rest of the fleet, was forward deployed to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in an effort to shackle the increasingly expansionist aims of Japan in the Pacific region. As part of her role, Enterprise, alongside the other carriers assigned to the Pacific Fleet, were tasked with transporting aircraft to aid in the defence of the island bases the US had established in the Pacific. On 28 November 1941, Enterprise departed Pearl Harboron another such mission, delivering a US Marine Corps fighter squadron to Wake Island, located 2,500 miles to the west of Hawaii.

Originally, Enterprise was scheduled to return to Pearl Harbor on 6 December, but bad weather led to the ship being delayed, and she was still more than 200 miles distant on the morning of 7 December. Having launched a number of search aircraft, which were ordered to then return to Hawaii, the ship received reports that Pearl Harbor was under attack by the Japanese. Having undertaken a fruitless search for the enemy, Enterprise finally returned in the evening of 8 December. The ship was refuelled and resupplied within 12 hours, and returned to sea to guard against possible additional attack, at the same time removing the carrier from harm's way.

Answer: HMS Eagle

In 1935, as a means of freeing up tonnage within the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty for aircraft carriers, the pioneering USS Langley was withdrawn from service for conversion into a seaplane tender. This allowed the US Navy to build a new, modern aircraft carrier to take its place. USS Wasp was built as a smaller version of the existing Yorktown-class, with a number of differences included to save weight - low-power propulsion machinery, no armour, and no torpedo protection. Wasp was launched in April 1939, and commissioned twelve months later, serving as part of the Atlantic Fleet, as part of which she was involved in the protection of shipping from German U-Boats in US waters.

Following the entry of the United States into the Second World War, Wasp was one of a number of major units of the Atlantic Fleet that sailed for the United Kingdom to reinforce the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. Wasp's primary task during this period was to serve as a means of ferrying fighter aircraft to the besieged Mediterranean island of Malta. A major element of this came with Operation Bowery, a repeat of a previous operation, in May 1942 - 47 Spitfire aircraft were loaded aboard Wasp in Glasgow, which sailed for the Mediterranean on 3 May; five days later, the force was joined at Gibraltar by the Royal Navy carrier HMS Eagle, carrying an additional 17 Spitfires. On 9 May, the Spitfires were launched, with long-range fuel tanks, from the two carriers, with a total of 61 of the 64 aircraft arriving safely. Around the same time as Operation Bowery, the US Navy lost two aircraft carriers, which required the recall of Wasp to he United States for transfer to the Pacific.

Answer: North American B-25 Mitchell

Following the repudiation of the Washington and London Naval Treaties, the US Navy put in place plans for a third Yorktown-class aircraft carrier. USS Hornet was commissioned on 20 October 1941 as the final US aircraft carrier commissioned before the United States entered the Second World War. The ship was initially commissioned at Norfolk and was undertaking shakedown and carrier qualifications when Pearl Harbor was attacked less than two months after the ship entered service. As a result, it was determined that Hornet would be required as soon as possible to reinforce the Pacific Fleet, which led to her training programme being accelerated.

In February 1942, a pair of B-25 Mitchell medium bombers were loaded aboard Hornet before departing on a training mission off the coast of Virginia. While at sea, the two land-based aircraft were then successfully launched from Hornet's deck. No explanation was forthcoming to the ship's company, who then sailed for the Pacific on 4 March. Arriving in San Francisco on 20 March, Hornet's own aircraft were stored in the ship's hanger, and 16 B-25s were loaded onto her flight deck. Hornet departed on 2 April on a secret mission to undertake a bombing mission of Japan. The so-called "Doolittle Raid", named for the commanding officer of the B-25 squadron, took place when the B-25s were successfully launched from Hornet on 18 April and dropped bombs on Tokyo, the first time since the the attack on Pearl Harbor that the US had attack the Japanese home islands.

Answer: USS Hornet

Following her relocation to the Pacific, USS Hornet became one of the US Navy's primary units in the first year of the war with Japan. After playing her part in the Doolittle Raid, she played a major role in the Battle of Midway in June 1942, before being assigned to the campaign in the Solomon Islands that began in August, Between August and October, Hornet was the only operational aircraft carrier in the South Pacific, and had sole responsibility for air cover over the islands until joined by Enterprise on 24 October. Two days later, Hornet and Enterprise took part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, which saw Hornet suffer severe damage through a coordinated attack by Japanese aircraft. Having lost power, and with further attacks causing more damage, Hornet was ordered to be abandoned, and sank in the morning of 27 October, having been in commission for just 372 days.

Of the other pre-war carriers that were lost during 1942, Langley, having been converted to a seaplane tender, was attacked by Japanese aircraft while transporting 32 US Army Air Force fighters to Ceylon on 27 February; Lexington was damaged after sustained air attacks by Japanese carrier aircraft during the Battle of the Coral Sea and sank on 8 May; Yorktown, which had suffered damage but remained operational following a first wave of air attacks, succumbed to a second wave of from Japanese carrier aircraft during the Battle of Midway, sinking on 7 June; and Wasp was lost as a result of being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during the battle for Guadalcanal on 15 September.

Answer: USS Saratoga

Despite being the oldest US carrier remaining after 1942, Saratoga played a major role throughout the Pacific War. She required repairs in the first half of 1942 after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, becoming the new flagship of Admiral Fletcher following the Battle of Midway, and saw service during the campaign for Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands, being retained in the South Pacific throughout 1943, and again, following refit, in 1944. Saratoga was eventually withdrawn from operations in March 1945, owing to the number of more modern ships, and was used as a training ship for the remainder of the war. After the war's end, the ship was used as part of Operation 'Magic Carpet', the mission to repatriate US servicemen from all theaters, before being assigned as a target vessel in Operation 'Crossroads', an series of atomic bomb tests. Saratoga was eventually sunk in the second 'Crossroads' test on 25 July 1946, and was officially decommissioned on 15 August the same year.

Of the other two pre-war ships to survive the war, Ranger was assigned as a training carrier in the Atlantic Fleet in January 1944, before transiting to the Pacific in July. She remained in this role until the end of the war before returning to the Atlantic, where she was finally decommissioned on 18 October 1946, before being sold for scrap on 31 January 1947. Enterprise's war service became legendary, as she was the most decorated ship in the US Navy by the end of the war, having seen combat in almost every major action in the Pacific. Assigned to Operation 'Magic Carpet', she transferred to the Atlantic in September 1945, making three voyages to and from Europe before being decommissioned on 17 February 1947. Despite efforts to preserve her, Enterprise was eventually sold for scrap on 1 July 1958.