SMALLER AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23748, 21 September 1942, Page 6

SMALLER AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

NEW YORK. Sept. 18. “The sinking of the United States aircraft-carrier Yorktown in the Midway Island battle again proves that the pre-war-designed huge aircraft-carrier is too vulnerable and is therefore outmoded,” writes Major Fielding Eliot in the New York “Herald-Tribune.”’ He adds: "This does not mean the end of the carrier. On the contrary, a new type of small carrier with a smaller aircraft capacity will appear in increasing numbers. Furthermore, a special type of heavily armoured carrier may be developed for amphibious warfare and landing operations.” The “New York Times,” in an editorial. states that it is a publicly known fact that the United States is building 15 new carriers—four of the Alaska class and 11 of the Essex class—of which some were laid down several years ago. Japan does not know how many of these may already be commissioned. The New York “Herald-Tribune” observes: “The high vulnerability of carriers has been amply demonstrated, chiefly at the expense of Japan. If we can look forward to the time when the Pacific Fleet may be able to move into the western Pacific, not only with preponderant surface forces, but also with a' carrier fleet which the Japanese will have nothing to oppose, . the results might weU be spectacular."