A Carrier at War


Book Description

In combat with the men and women of today's U.S. Navy




Aircraft Carriers at War


Book Description

The Cold War : a campaigner's perspective -- Korea : the forgotten war -- Korea : naval operations -- Korea : air combat tactics -- Korea : grande finale -- Tactical nukes -- The Pentagon, a seaplane tender, and typhoons -- Nuclear propulsion : Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover -- The Enterprise : full speed ahead -- The Enterprise : Vietnam -- The Enterprise : fast turnaround -- The Enterprise : Vietnam redux -- The Pentagon : aircraft carrier program manager -- The Syrian invasion of Jordan -- Vietnam : commander, Seventh Fleet -- Vietnam : Battle of Haiphong Harbor -- Vietnam : the cease-fire and Paris Accords -- Chief of Naval Operations -- Chief of Naval Operations : aviation programs -- The Joint Chiefs of Staff -- Elder statesman -- The future : past is prologue -- Envoi : keel-laying ceremony for the George H.W. Bush.




Carrier War


Book Description

A military historian explores these mammoth warships. A great gift for WWII buffs. Though the aircraft carrier has become the cornerstone of the modern fleet, it is a relative newcomer to the world of navy vessels. It wasn’t until World War II that the carrier’s outstanding effectiveness forever altered the future of naval warfare. Through gripping historical anecdotes and breathtaking paintings by the most respected aviation and military artists, this crucial period lives again. Begin with the earliest demonstrations of planes flying from and landing on a vessel at sea and the carrier’s evolution in the period between the wars. The British, Japanese, and US fleets all obtained true carriers, with their numbers growing by leaps and bounds by the onset of World War II—especially in America, which had the largest of all. Written by a renowned military historian, packed with thrilling accounts of daring missions, and illustrated with stirring aviation art, here is a unique look at one of the most effective weapons platforms in the world.




Pacific Carrier War


Book Description

A detailed and comprehensive study of the carrier formations of the Pacific War, including their origins, development, and key battles from the Coral Sea, through Midway and Guadalcanal to the battle of the Philippine Sea. The defining feature of the Pacific Theater of World War II was the clash of carriers that ultimately decided the fate of nations. The names of the battles become legendary as some of the most epic encounters in the history of naval warfare. Pre-war assumptions about the impact and effectiveness of carriers were comprehensively tested in early war battles such as Coral Sea, while US victories at Midway and in the waters around Guadalcanal established the supremacy of its carriers. The US Navy's ability to adapt and evolve to the changing conditions of war maintained and furthered their advantage, culminating in their comprehensive victory at the battle of the Philippine Sea, history's largest carrier battle, which destroyed almost the entire Japanese carrier force. Examining the ships, aircraft, and doctrines of both the Japanese and US navies and how they changed during the war, Mark E. Stille shows how the domination of American carriers paved the way towards the Allied victory in the Pacific.




The Carrier War


Book Description

Presents photographic records of the Pacific War in World War II as seen from both sides.




The Ship that Held the Line


Book Description

The American fleet aircraft carrier Hornet is widely acknowledged for the contributions she made to the war effort. The Doolittle Raid, launched from the Hornet's deck, inaugurated America's Pacific counteroffensive and transformed the aircraft carrier into one of the world's prime strategic weapon systems. She was one of three carriers to participate in the victory at Midway and the fighting around Guadalcanal. Through the experiences of this key warship and the eyes of her crew and the aviators who flew from her deck, Lisle Rose recreates the first desperate year of the war in the Pacific. He tells how the Hornet was molded into a deadly weapon of war, how the ship was fought and ultimately lost, and what it was like to live aboard her at a time when the fate of the United States depended on the Navy's tiny carrier fleet. In chronicling the carrier's operational history, the author contends that the fate of the Hornet's air group at Midway remains one of the great controversies in modern naval history and that the ship's importance in helping to keep the Japanese juggernaut at bay during the most critical period of the Pacific war is incontestable. His arguments ring true today as the controversy continues. Rose succeeds both in letting the reader see things the way the men of the Hornet did and in placing their experiences in a broad historical context.




Enterprise


Book Description

This is the epic and heroic story of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and of the courageous men who fought and died on her from Pearl Harbor to the end of the conflict. Acclaimed military historian Barrett Tillman recounts the World War II exploits of America’s most decorated warship and its colorful crews— tales of unmatched daring and heroism.




Scratch One Flattop


Book Description

A study of the historic World War II naval battle, the first involving aircraft carriers and first in which neither warship was in sight of the other. By the beginning of May 1942, five months after the Pearl Harbor attack, the US Navy was ready to challenge the Japanese moves in the South Pacific. When the Japanese sent troops to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the Americans sent the carriers Lexington and Yorktown to counter the move, setting the stage for the Battle of the Coral Sea . . . In this book,historian Robert C. Stern analyzes the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first major fleet engagement where the warships were never in sight of each other. Unlike the Battle of Midway, the Battle of the Coral Sea has received remarkably little study. Stern covers not only the action of the ships and their air groups but also describes the impact of this pivotal engagement. His analysis looks at the short-term impact as well as the long-term implications, including the installation of inert gas fuel-system purging on all American aircraft carriers and the push to integrate sensor systems with fighter direction to better protect against enemy aircraft. The essential text on the first carrier air campaign, Scratch One Flattop is a landmark study on an overlooked battle in the first months of the United States’ engagement in World War II. “His research into sources on both sides is exhaustive and he has used Japanese translators where necessary and appropriate to best illuminate materials. His effort has taken years of meticulous scholarship and it shows. . . . Highly recommended.” —Lisle A. Rose, The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord




Carrier


Book Description

They are floating cities with crews of thousands. They are the linchpins of any military strategy, for they provide what has become the key to every battle fought since World War I: air superiority. The mere presence of a U.S. naval carrier in a region is an automatic display of strength that sends a message no potential enemy can ignore. Now, Tom Clancy welcomes you aboard for a detailed look at how these floating behemoths function. With his trademark style and eye for detail, Clancy brings you naval combat strategy like no one else can.Carrier includes: * Takeoffs and landings: flying into the danger zone * The aircraft onboard: their range, their power, their weaponry * The role of the carrier in modern naval warfare * Exclusive photographs, illustrations and diagrams Plus: An interview with the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jay Johnson




Ironclaw


Book Description

"Fast-paced, exciting and informative, with a realism and authenticity that this old carrier aviator has not seen in a long, long time." Admiral J. L. Holloway III, USN (Ret.), Chief of Naval Operations, 1974-78 A fine Tom Clancy-style account...From the start, the reader is in the cockpit. Kirkus Reviews The book that straps you into the cockpit of one of the world's most exhilarating and dangerous occupations. Slammed back into his ejection seat, catapulting from the heaving aircraft-carrier at 150 miles per hour in two seconds, he plunges into the darkness above the black waves. He is a rookie pilot on his first flight off the deck of the famed USS Midway, a "nugget" strapped in the electronics-crammed cockpit of one of the world's most expensive, sophisticated - and powerful - military machines. He is a member of the elite EA-6B Prowler squadron - call sign Ironclaw. And for Sherman Baldwin, a Yale grad turned navy carrier pilot on the eve of the Gulf War, the adventure has just begun. Here is the real world of military aviation - a world far more exciting than the depiction in bestselling novels and popular Hollywood films. Baldwin records in white-knuckled prose what it's really like to make the grade as a navy carrier pilot: the high-stakes, high-pressure world of piloting multimillion-dollar aircraft, precision flying through enemy fire over hostile territory, and zero-tolerance aircraft landings in the dead of night, when one miscalculation could result in a fatal crash. He also offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the humor and camaraderie that bind these special individuals together, characters with nicknames like "Beast," "Chief Rat," and "Simba." From the mission-planning room to chaotic action of the carrier deck to emergency midair refuelings and the outbreak of the Gulf War, Baldwin captures the G forces of the world's steepest and most dangerous learning curve.