PARAMOUNT NEED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 256, 29 October 1942, Page 5

PARAMOUNT NEED

SEA-BORNE AIRCRAFT Serious Loss To U.S. In Present Struggle SYDNEY, Oct, 28. The loss of the Wasp, and the severe damaging of another aircraftcarrier in the battle at present taking place in the Solomons, are grievous blows to a branch of the American Navy that was relatively weak when hostilities broke outsays the military correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. America entered the war with seven aircraft-carriers and 11 building, and since then three have been destroyed, together with the obsolete carrier-tender Langley. This heaw toll has necessarily exerted a cramping effect on naval strategy, because, while the carrier has been shown to be very vulnerable, it is a type of vessel for which as yet no alternative has been found. As against the losses, three new carriers have been launched this year, and the number under construction had increased by last month to 13. The extended Vinson programme, adopted this month, authorised the construction of approximately 30 vessels of a modified Hornet type. No details have been released, but it is known that American naval thought is strongly of opinion that the newer type of carrier, of between 15,000 and 20,000 tons, is a much more serviceable craft than the old 30,000-ton Lexington class. Priority in American naval construction is now being given to carriers.

Hasty Conversion of Vessels The need for more carriers was so urgent that early in the Pacific war America hastened to convert a number of cruisers and merchant vessels, and the chairman of the United States House of Representatives Naval Affairs Committee, Mr. Carl Vinson, announced on September 22 that 35 such vessels were well on the way and that "they were only a beginning." A considerable number of these must now be available. As a result, although the American Navy is now considerably weaker in the kind of carrier that took between 76 and 80 planes, its total strength in vessels carrying seaborne aircraft is probably greater than at the time of Pearl Harbour. Neither this fact nor the extent of enemy losses, however, should in any way detract from the conclusion that the paramount need of the American Navy is to have larger quantities of vessels that can serve as carriers. The distance factor in the Pacific war zone makes this inevitable, and the need would still be there, even if .Japanese carrier strength were annihilated. As it is. Japan has lost six carriers out of 12 to 15 which she had on starting, though it must be remembered that some of the vessels she listed as carriers were mere seaplane tenders without a flightdeck. As in the case of America, Japan has been converting large merchantmen, and many of these are known to be in service. Since the wastage rate of carriers is so high, and since so many advantages accrue to their use under Pacific conditions, much of the future of the Pacific war will depend ffjxm the result of the race for carrier construction, at least until the day j when ultra-long-ranged bombers will i relegate sea-borne aircraft to a less | important role in war.