AMERICAN NAVY'S CARRIER ARMADA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 230, 29 September 1942, Page 2

AMERICAN NAVY'S CARRIER ARMADA

SAN FRANCISCO, August 1. A HIGHLY illuminating contribution appeared in the magazine This Week relative to operations and potentialities of American warplanes in the battle of the Pacific. The author of the article, Donald E. l\eyhoe, furnished some interesting details, sending his dispatches from •Somewhere in the Pacific."

Above a Jap. island, flares suddenly blaze in the night," he wrote. iNavy planes roar down, blasting Jap. bombers before thev can take off. A munitions cache blows up: a hangar disintegrates. Three or four Zero fighters manage to get into the air—only to go down under taskforce pilots guns. As suddenly as they came our navy sky commandos are gone. To-day, hit-and-run raids, to-morrow, mass assaults! "With the huge new carrier force now being speeded, the navy will be able to hurl more than one 'thousand planes a night against Jap. bases. Attacks will dwarf even the smashing blows at Midway and the Coral oea.

Naval Strategy Revolutionised "Naval strategy has been revolutionised overnight. Aircraft carriers nave become the backbone of our neet. A gigantic carrier armada costing two billion dollars is being added to the 11 plane carriers already under construction. A number of the heavy cruisers now being built will be com-pleted-as carriers. Some of the partlyfinished dreadnoughts may emerge as a radically new type, with landing

decks high above their 16-inch gun turrets—perhaps the most formidable craft afloat. Some naval eiXperts urge the building of two or three hundred medium - sized carriers instead of 30 or 40 large vessels. The loss of even 50 such small craft would not be fatal. Fitting in with this scheme, fast merchant ships have been converted into flight-deck escorts, and more are coming. "Regardless of the. types built, the carrier fleet will be large enough to launch thousands of bombers. To man these planes, the navy is training 30,000 pilots a year, with a proportionate number of bombardiers, gunners, radiomen and mechanics. Practically all will be specially trained for task-force action, including large-scale air attacks. Fast carrier striking forces will be used in the Atlantic and other oceans, as well as in the Pacific. As convoy escorts, converted merchant ships have already released larger carriers for task-force action.

"In the Coral Sea and at Midway, Japan lost her most important carriers. Even if some are replaced, our navy will still have air superiority at sea. With carrier protection, offensives can be launched against enemy islands. Our carriers still face the menace erf land-based bombers, but by daring surprise attacks our task-force planes are steadily whittling down these Jap. squadrons. Once they are crushed, fleet marine units can occupy the most important islands—Wake, Guam and vital bases in Japanese mandated areas. From Guam, long-range army bombers could then reach Tokyo and the Philippines. Co-operating with these and army bombers from China, carrier squadrons will hit Japan's bases and industries at night.

Big Gambles Called For

"From their fleet of carriers, navy squadrons will be able to strike simultaneously at various points. Japan will be forced to spread her defence net to the breaking point. Before the last Jap. carrier is sunk,

we, too, may lose more of our floating airports. But war calls for big gambles; and where we do not have sufficient land bases, we must depend on the next strongest weapon—the carrier. In a battle of carriers the odds of superior training are on our side. In the Coral Sea, better reconnaissance and swifter - launched attacks outweighed superior Jap. numbers. One entire navy squadron took off in the time required for six Japanese planes to do so. Back of this speed is a precise system, developed through 20 years' intensive practice. Every move is timed to the second, as new navy pilots soon learn.

With the great increase in carriers, the loss of a pilot's floating home will be less serious. Flight-deck ships will operate in groups, or in close range of each other. Before pilots take off, Air-plot will give them the location of alternate rendezvous points, just as commercial air-liner pilots are given alternate airports in case of bad weather. Along with the carriers, destroyer and cruiser escorts are being provided on a huge scaile. Destroyer crews will be trained in rescue work. Even now the percentage of losses is small. Crews of the "tin can" guard have already become amazingly adept at saving navy pilots. Men like Dixon, O'Hare and other heroes of task-force battles typify the spirit of the naval air service. That same spirit, which blasted the enemy at Midway, will drive the Japanese Navy from the Pacific.

Into to-morrow's battles will go carriers with such famous old names as Bon Homme Richard, Ticonderoga,

Bunker Hill and Kearsarge. There will be a new Lexington with fighting airmen to avenge the loss of her gallant predecessor. On the flight decks of all these ships will be the fastest carrier planes in the world. A navy fighter with a liquid-cooled engine wili'loon be in service, topping even Jap. fllnd-based Zeros in speed and fire power. The new Avenger tor-pedo-bombers, which fought so well at Midway, will soon be hurling their "fish" into Japanese vessels. Navy planes by thousands are coming from aircraft plants. We may have other carrier losses before the flood of American carrier planes sweep Japan from the sea. But in the end there can be only one answer. For thousands of pilots with gold navy wings are waiting for just one command: "Pilots, man your planes!"