[PDF] Lake Michigans Aircraft Carriers eBook

Author : Paul M. Somers
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 12,69 MB
Release : 2003-11-05
Category : History
ISBN : 1439614776

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This is the story of the USS Wolverine and the USS Sable, two Great Lakes excursion ships converted for aircraft carrier training during WWII. Through the duration of the war, the United States Navy qualified 17,800 pilots for aircraft carrier operation. Training the pilots on either the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean would have exposed the training ships to the danger of submarine attack, while requiring the escort of fighting ships that were needed elsewhere. It would also have involved arming and armoring the ships used for training. Commander R.F. Whitehead came up with an idea that solved all of these problems. He suggested doing the training on the protected waters of the Great Lakes. The USS Wolverine and the USS Sable were chosen and became the only fresh water, paddle-wheeled, coal-fired aircraft carriers in the history of the world. Author Paul M. Somers shares his collection of vintage photos and a lifetime of research to detail the history of these two great vessels-from their life as cruise ships to their contributions to the war effort and then to their eventual scrapping.

Author : Sydney Swierenga
Publisher :
Page : 141 pages
File Size : 31,74 MB
Release : 2020
Category :
ISBN :

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This thesis details the complex conversions of two Great Lakes passenger ships into flattop aircraft carriers in 1942 and 1943, and the subsequent training of thousands of pilots aboard the carriers. The entire US naval fleet in 1942 consisted of eight carriers-all of which were desperately needed to fight the Axis powers on the open oceans. To save time and materials, the Navy elected to convert existing ships rather than build new carriers. Lake carriers did not need massive hulls, armaments, elevators and cabins below deck for plane storage and personnel, but they did need realistic carrier operating conditions. The Great Lakes, especially Lake Michigan, offered wind and wave conditions resembling those found on the open oceans. Navy Pier, in Chicago, provided ideal docking, because it was close to Glenview Naval Air base by air and to Glenview's satellite airfields where the planes were fielded, and pilots were bunked and fed. Hence, the carriers, Navy Pier, and Glenview had a symbiotic relationship; they each needed the other to allow the group to achieve its fullest potential. In 1942, the Navy requisitioned two of the largest passenger ships on the Lakes, SS Seeandbee and SS Greater Buffalo. American Shipbuilding Company retrofitted the two ships at their firm's docks at Cleveland and Buffalo. SS Seeandbee's conversion into USS Wolverine was completed in four months, but retrofitting SS Greater Buffalo into USS Sable took five months longer because the Navy decided to experiment with steel, instead of wood, decking.

Author : Taras C. Lyssenko
Publisher : America Through Time
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 32,69 MB
Release : 2019
Category : History
ISBN : 9781634991438

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America Through Time is an imprint of Fonthill Media LLC. Book is published by Arcadia Publishing by arrangement with Fonthill Media.

Author : Edmund L. Castillo
Publisher :
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 22,98 MB
Release : 1969
Category : History
ISBN :

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Traces the history of aircraft carriers from the first flight from a ship in 1910 to the present-day operations of a nuclear-powered carrier.

Author : Michael Green
Publisher : Capstone
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 35,95 MB
Release : 2000-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9780736888646

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Provides an introduction to aircraft carriers, the ships known as "floating airports," from their inception in the early twentieth century, through their development during World War II, to the various classes of carriers in use today.

Author : Antony Preston
Publisher : Lerner Publications
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 48,20 MB
Release : 1985
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9780822513773

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Traces the history of aircraft carriers since 1914, chronicling the role played by these ships in World War II and in modern defense systems.

Author : Norman Friedman
Publisher : US Naval Institute Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 10,16 MB
Release : 2022
Category : History
ISBN : 9781682477625

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"U.S. Aircraft Carriers Revised Edition is one of the most comprehensive references available on the entire development of U.S. Aircraft Carriers, starting in 1920, with USS Langley CV-1, continuing to Enterprise, the mass-produced Essex-class, and the large Midway-class of post-World War II. Friedman authoritatively analyzes the design and performance histories of this popular type. The long careers of the Nimitz-class and the new Ford-class are also included. Like Friedman's other design history books, U.S. Aircraft Carriers is based largely on formerly classified internal U.S. Navy records"--

Author : Tom McGowen
Publisher : Lerner Publications
Page : 72 pages
File Size : 18,33 MB
Release : 2001-01-01
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9780761318088

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Offers a history of aircraft carrier-based warfare, describing battles, planes, and weapons that helped the Allies win the war and practically rendered battleships obsolete.