Aircraft carrier
USS Franklin and Father O’Callahan
By Michael D. HullOn March 3, 1945, the 27,100-ton aircraft carrier USS Franklin churned out of Pearl Harbor and headed westward for the war zone. Read more
Aircraft carrier
General Douglas MacArthur’s Navy
By Glenn BarnettIn November 1941, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet weighed anchor in Shanghai, China, for the last time. Alarmed by the growing hostility and aggressiveness of the Japanese, Admiral Thomas Hart ordered the outnumbered and outgunned American vessels moved to the relative safety of Manila Bay in the Philippines. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Battle of Sibuyan Sea
By John WukovitsIn warfare, desperate times call for desperate measures, and in the fall of 1944 the empire of Japan found itself in precisely that predicament. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Two Typhoons Crippled Bull Halsey’s Task Force 38
By Michael D. HullAfter two grueling months of action in the Pacific, Vice Admiral John S. “Slew” McCain’s powerful Task Force 38 retired in late November 1944 to the big Caroline Islands base of Ulithi Atoll for a 10-day breather. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Against the Odds: Jeanette Rankin
By Martin K.A. MorganAn Associated Press report described “a chorus of hisses and boos” that echoed through the chamber when the Congresswoman from Montana cast her vote. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Sen Toku: Japan’s Underwater Aircraft Carriers
By Steven D. LutzAs soon as Colonel James Doolittle’s B-25 raid struck Japan in April 1942, Japan sought to wreak revenge on the United States, but by 1944 devastating aerial bombings on Japan by the Americans had become all too regular. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Mission to Madagascar: British Assault on Diego Suarez Port
By Cleve C. BarkleyIn early 1942 things could have hardly looked bleaker for the Allies. In Europe, Hitler’s war machine had steamrolled across the entire continent and was now battling before the gates of Moscow. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Prelude to Iwo Jima: The Japanese Assault On B-29 Base On Marianas
By Michael P. SlaterFrom an altitude of 30,000 feet, the swift Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew high over Saipan and Tinian, photographing the brisk and extensive engineering effort under way on the American airfields far below. Read more
Aircraft carrier
The Battle Of Midway: Turning the Tide in the South Pacific
By John WukovitsRarely in the history of warfare had one nation absorbed such numbing losses in so rapid a time as did the United States in the Pacific War’s first five months. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Seizure of the Surcouf
By Christopher MiskimonWhen built, the French Surcouf was the largest submarine in the world. She was named for Robert Surcouf, the famed French privateer who waged successful economic warfare against England during the Napoleonic era. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Sitzkrieg on the Western Front
By Michael HullWithin hours of the entry of Great Britain and France into World War II on September 3, 1939, the British liner SS Athenia was sunk by a German U-boat off the northwestern coast of Ireland, with the loss of 112 dead, including 28 American citizens. Read more
Aircraft carrier
The Douglas SBD “Dauntless” Dive-Bomber
By John D. GreshamWorld War II gave us many stories of aerial warfare, men and their machines fighting their way to victory and glory in the name of humanity. Read more
Aircraft carrier
Clash in the Sibuyan Sea: Gambier Bay
by Robert F. DorrWhen she went to the bottom of the sea at the height of the greatest naval battle in history, the USS Gambier Bay (CVE 73) became a legend for heroism and as the only U.S. Read more
Aircraft carrier
The Fairey Swordfish Torpedo Plane a.k.a. Stringbag
By Glenn BarnettThe spring of 1941, particularly the month of May, was a troubled time for Great Britain. The German battleship Bismarck had sunk the huge British battlecruiser Hood in just six minutes and was making a getaway to the coast of German-occupied France. Read more
Aircraft carrier
The Nazi Aircraft Carrier Program: Erich Raeder vs. Hermann Göring
by Blaine TaylorOn June 6, 1944, as the massive Allied naval armada made its way from ports in England across the English Channel to launch the projected D-day invasion at Normandy, a German fleet sortie swept down from its home ports on the North Sea and from occupied Norway. Read more
Aircraft carrier
The Repulse and Prince of Wales Battleships: How They Sunk
By Joseph M. HorodyskiDuring the 1920s and 1930s Great Britain built up its Far East defenses steadily if slowly, centering around Singapore as its primary naval base in the Pacific area. Read more
Aircraft carrier
The Pacific War: Bull Halsey & Raymond Spruance
By Michael HaskewOn the eve of the turning point of World War II in the South Pacific, the U.S. Navy’s most experienced aircraft carrier commander, Admiral William F. Read more
Aircraft carrier
The Vietnam War: The Swift Boat vs. the Destroyer
by Michael HaskewIn addition to standard aircraft carrier and warship patrol operations in the open sea, naval action during the Vietnam War developed a character of its own. Read more
Aircraft carrier
USS Houston And HMAS Perth Stood Tall At the Battle Of Sunda Strait
By John WukovitsThe haggard American sailors aboard the limping cruiser hoped that the journey upon which they had just embarked was the long-expected voyage back to the United States. Read more
Aircraft carrier
The HMS Illustrious & Other Armored British Carriers Left Their Mark
By Sam McGowanWhen one thinks of carrier warfare in World War II, the Japanese and U.S. navies usually come to mind. Read more
