Bogue class (1941) USA – Escort Aircraft Carriers (1941-50) Bogue, Breton, Card, Copahee, Core, Croatan, Nassau, Altamaha, Prince William, Barnes, Block Island The C3 Cargo-based mass produced Carriers USS Hercules, the first C3 cargo in 1940 The Bogue class represented in absolute terms under USN service only ten vessels, but in reality no less than … Read more
USA (1918) 60 ASW vessels PE1-60. Ancestors of WW2 PC Boats: The ‘Eagle boat’ resulted from a request to Henry Ford by the US government to apply his techniques to deliver in record time a very large series of steel-hulled medium-range ASW patrol boats before the end of the war. Eagle Boats were also tailored … Read more
USA (1912) USS New York, Texas The New York class became the first American battleships with 14-in guns and the last with coal, twin turrets, no AA and classic 1900s scheme protection. BB34 New York after the 1926 refit. Behind her, BBs of the Nevada class. Note the livery of the time, light grey for … Read more
WW2 American Cruisers USA, 1921-1947 – 62 cruisers From Omaha to Worcester, two decades of conventional cruiser development (1918-47) The term of ‘conventional cruiser‘ appeared in the late 1950s when the first missile cruisers were developed, notably in the US the “three T*” carrying ships, to describe a gun-armed vessel as primary armament. The USN … Read more
USA 355 submersibles (1917-45) The US Navy submarines (Submersibles*) contribution to the war are certainly greater than Battleships, and on par with the aircraft carriers and LSTs in helping turning the tide of the war in 1942. In the Pacific, they were instrumental in the defeat of Japan, using the same tactics as German U-Boats … Read more
USA (1921-1945), 150 aicraft carriers The leading country in Aircraft Carriers The US Navy started during WW2 with a small fleet of carriers, with a slow training ship, the Langley, two fast, large fleet ones, the Lexington class, the Ranger, and two of the new Yorktown class, so six in all (two more in completion, … Read more
USA (1910) Wyoming, Arkansas The Wyoming class: Last USN 12-in battleships: The Wyoming and Arkansas were a gradual improvement of the 12-in gun battleship formula, cumulating three pairs of superfiring turrets, all axial. They were completed before the Royal Navy revealed their first 13.5 in gun armed battleships, and would be the last of their … Read more
USA – 1914-1945, 28 battleships Two generations of battleships: On December 6, 1941, the US Navy was confident. Despite two coastlines to defend and a few overseas possessions, an opinion and a congress opposed to the war, the fleet’s hopes rested on no less than twenty battleships, at the time, the largest capital ships force … Read more
WW2 US destroyers USA (1917-45) 1,224 destroyers, 18 classes The US Navy Destroyers represented the formidable industrial effort consented by the United States to win the war on two oceans. They were versatile and highly standardized, to the point as producing only four wartime classes of 50+ up to 180 ships, the Bensons, Fletcher, Sumner … Read more
Brooklyn class cruisers (1936) USA (1936-37) USS Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Savannah, Nashville, Phoenix, Boise, Honolulu, St Louis, Helena. The Brooklyns: Defining a new standard in US cruisers It seems strange to consider some of the numerous cuiser classes that preceded WW2 or went through the war, some were more famous than others. The Pensacola “opened the … Read more
