Download or read book The Dawn of Carrier Strike written by David Hobbs and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography of a British pilot set against the backdrop of the Royal Navy’s fight to regain control of its aviation after the First World War. The establishment of the RAF came at a cost—and it was the Royal Navy that paid the price. In 1918 it had been pre-eminent in the technology and tactics of employing aircraft at sea, but once it lost control of its own air power, it struggled to make the RAF prioritize naval interests, in the process losing ground to the rival naval air forces of Japan and the United States. This book documents that struggle through the cash-strapped 1920s and ’30s, culminating in the Navy regaining control of its aviation in 1937, but too late to properly prepare for the impending war. However, despite the lack of resources, British naval flying had made progress, especially in the advancement of carrier strike doctrine. These developments are neatly illustrated by the experiences of Lieutenant William Lucy, who was to become Britain’s first accredited air ‘ace’ of the war and to lead the world’s first successful dive-bombing of a major warship. Making extensive use of the family archive, this book also reproduces many previously unseen photographs from Lucy’s album, showing many aspects of life in the Fleet Air Arm up to the end of the Norway campaign. The inter-war concentration on carrier strike would be spectacularly vindicated during World War II—and it was the Royal Navy that had led the way.

Download or read book The British Carrier Strike Fleet written by David Hobbs and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2015-10-15 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a follow-up to the highly regarded British Pacific Fleet, David Hobbs looks at the post-World War II fortunes of the most powerful fleet in the Royal NavyÑits decline in the face of diminishing resources, its final fall at the hands of ignorant politicians, and its recent resurrection in the form of the Queen Elizabeth class carriers, the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Despite prophecies that nuclear weapons would make conventional forces obsolete, British carrier-borne aircraft were almost continuously employed. The Royal Navy faced new challenges in places like Korea, Egypt, and the Persian Gulf. During these trials the Royal Navy invented techniques and devices crucial to modern carrier operations, pioneering novel forms of warfare tactics for countering insurgency and terrorism. This book combines narratives of poorly understood operations with clear analysis of their strategic and political background. With beautiful illustrations and original research, British Carrier Strike Fleet tells an important but largely untold story of renewed significance as Britain once again embraces carrier operation.

Download or read book Carrier Strike written by Eric Hammel and published by Daniel Hammel. This book was released on 2020-12-21 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CARRIER STRIKE The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942 By Eric Hammel The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a strategic naval action in the bitter Guadalcanal Campaign, was history’s fourth carrier-versus-carrier naval battle. Though technically a Japanese victory, the battle proved to be the Empire of Japan’s last serious attempt to win the Pacific War by means of an all-out carrier confrontation. Only one other carrier battle occurred in the Pacific War, in June 1944, in the Philippine Sea. By then, however, the U.S. Navy’s Fast Carrier Task Force was operational, and Japan’s dwindling fleet of carriers was outnumbered and completely outclassed. Though hundreds of Japanese naval aviators perished in the great Marianas Turkey Shoot of June 19–20, 1944, it was during the first four carrier battles—in the six-month period from early May through late October 1942—that the fate of Japan’s small, elite naval air arm was sealed. It was at Coral Sea, in May, that Japan’s juggernaut across the Pacific was blunted. It was at Midway, in June, that Japan’s great carrier fleet was cut down to manageable size. And it was at Eastern Solomons, in August, and Santa Cruz, in October, that Japan’s last best carrier air groups were ground to dust. After their technical victory at Santa Cruz, the Japanese withdrew their carriers from the South Pacific—and were never able to use them again as a strategically decisive weapon. Of the four Japanese aircraft carriers that participated in the Santa Cruz battle, only one survived the war. Following Santa Cruz and the subsequent series of air and surface engagements known as the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the Imperial Navy’s Combined Fleet never again attempted a meaningful strategic showdown with the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Though several subsequent surface actions in the Solomons were clearly Japanese victories, their results were short-lived. After November 1942, Japan could not again muster the staying power—or the willpower—to wage a strategic war with her navy. Once the veteran carrier air groups had been shredded at Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz, Japanese carriers ceased to be a strategic weapon. The Santa Cruz clash was deemed a Japanese victory because U.S. naval forces withdrew from the battlefield. That is how victory and defeat are strictly determined. But on the broader, strategic, level, the U.S. Navy won at Santa Cruz—because it was able to achieve its strategic goal of holding the line and buying time. Japan was unable to achieve her strategic goal of defeating the U.S. Pacific Fleet in a final, decisive, all-or-nothing battle. The technical victory cost Japan any serious hope she had of winning the Pacific naval war. The “victory” at Santa Cruz cost Japan her last best hope to win the war in the Pacific. Once again, author-historian Eric Hammel brings to the reading public an exciting narrative filled with the latest information and written in the edge-of-the-seat style that his readers have enjoyed for nearly two decades, in nearly thirty acclaimed military history books. As was the case with its companion volume, Carrier Clash, this new book is based upon American and Japanese battle reports and the recollections of many airmen and seamen who took part.

Download or read book Carrier Strike written by Donald Nijboer and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-12-15 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among many other developments, World War II saw naval warfare shift from the battleship to the aircraft carrier, which remains one of the iconic weapons of the war and the core of modern battle fleets. Developed in the 1920s and 1930s, the aircraft carrier came into its own in World War II and featured prominently in numerous battles, including the Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, and Leyte Gulf. Later in the war, with many of its own carriers destroyed and its carrier-borne air force crippled, the Japanese relied on kamikazes to replace its aerial strike force and to attack the United States’ carrier force, and the United States used its carriers to attack the Japanese homeland. In this photo history, Donald Nijboer traces the history of aircraft carriers, from their early development just after World War I, to the Japanese carrier-borne attack on Pearl Harbor, through the great battles of the Pacific War, which featured some of military history’s great ships: the Yorktown, the Enterprise, the Hornet, the Lexington, and other vessels. Special sections cover British carrier operations in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as the limited carrier operations of the German Navy, including the Graf Zeppelin.

Download or read book American Carrier Air Power at the Dawn of a New Century written by Benjamin S. Lambeth and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2006-05-22 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Afghanistan war, U.S. carrier-based fighters substituted almost entirely for land-based theater air forces. The Navy's carriers again played a key role in conducting around-the-clock operations against Saddam Hussein's forces in Iraq. American carrier air power is now able to conduct coordinated deep-strike missions well beyond coastal reaches. The Navy's performance over Afghanistan and Iraq showed how the nation's carrier force can provide around-the-clock target coverage, consistently accurate target attack, and multiple successful target attacks per sortie.

Download or read book Carrier Combat written by David W. Wragg and published by Alan Sutton Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the role of the aircraft carrier in war which is illustrated by first hand accounts of action during the Second World War and the Gulf Conflict.

Download or read book Carrier Strike written by Eric M. Hammel and published by Pacifica Press (CA). This book was released on 1999 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eric Hammel. It was a Japanese victory-but it spelled the end for Japan in the war at sea. In Carrier Strike, critically acclaimed military historian Eric Hammel gives a blow-by-blow, edge-of-your-seat account of this crucial naval battle-a turning point in the bitter Guadalcanal Campaign. Drawing on American and Japanese battle reports and the recollections of aviators and seamen who were there, Hammel recreates World War II's fourth - and last - carrier versus carrier battle, the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942. Written in the heart-stopping style that Hammel's readers have come to expect, Carrier Strike offers the only up-to-date, up-close, in-depth look at the battle that cost Japan any hope of winning the war in the Pacific.

Download or read book Earth Strike written by Ian Douglas and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-02-23 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the vein of the hit television show Battlestar Galactica comes Earth Strike—the first book in the action-packed Star Carrier science fiction series by Ian Douglas, author of the popular Inheritance, Heritage, and Legacy Trilogies and one of the most adept writers of military sf working today. Earth Strike rockets readers into a vast and deadly intergalactic battle, as humankind attempts to bring down an evil empire and establish itself as the new major power. Fans of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, welcome aboard the Star Carrier!

Download or read book Carrier Strike Force written by Ernest A. McKay and published by Julian Messner. This book was released on 1981 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the creation of a new American carrier fleet in the pacific following the attack on Pearl Harbor and its success in blocking enemy expansion and leading the attack on Japan.

Download or read book Taranto written by David Hobbs and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-30 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “If you only read one book on the development of the Fleet Air Arm and Naval air warfare in the Mediterranean during World War 2 then this should be it.” —Military Historical Society After the Italian declaration of war in June 1940, the Royal Navy found itself facing a larger and better-equipped Italian surface fleet, large Italian and German air forces equipped with modern aircraft and both Italian and German submarines. Its own aircraft were a critical element of an unprecedented fight on, over and under the sea surface. The best-known action was the crippling of the Italian fleet at Taranto, which demonstrated how aircraft carriers and their aircraft had replaced the dominance of battleships, but every subsequent operation is covered from the perspective of naval aviation. Some of these, like Matapan or the defense of the “Pedestal” convoy to Malta, are famous but others in support of land campaigns and in the Aegean after the Italian surrender are less well recorded. In all these, the ingenuity and innovation of the Fleet Air Arm shines through—Taranto pointed the way to what the Japanese would achieve at Pearl Harbor, while air cover for the Salerno landings demonstrated the effectiveness of carrier-borne fighters in amphibious operations, a tactic adopted by the US Navy. The author’s years of archival research together with his experience as a carrier pilot allow him to describe and analyze the operations of naval aircraft in the Mediterranean with unprecedented authority. This provides the book with novel insights into many familiar facets of the Mediterranean war while for the first time doing full justice to the Fleet Air Arm’s lesser known achievements. “A full and fascinating story.” —Clash of Steel

Download or read book British Aircraft Carriers written by David Hobbs and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a meticulously detailed history of British aircraft-carrying ships from the earliest experimental vessels to the Queen Elizabeth class, currently under construction and the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Individual chapters cover the design and construction of each class, with full technical details, and there are extensive summaries of every ship's career. Apart from the obvious large-deck carriers, the book also includes seaplane carriers, escort carriers and MAC ships, the maintenance ships built on carrier hulls, unbuilt projects, and the modern LPH. It concludes with a look at the future of naval aviation, while numerous appendices summarise related subjects like naval aircraft, recognition markings and the circumstances surrounding the loss of every British carrier. As befits such an important reference work, it is heavily illustrated with a magnificent gallery of photos and plans, including the first publication of original plans in full colour, one on a magnificent gatefold.??Written by the leading historian of British carrier aviation, himself a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot, it displays the authority of a lifetime's research combined with a practical understanding of the issues surrounding the design and operation of aircraft carriers. As such British Aircraft Carriers is certain to become the standard work on the subject.

Download or read book US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1922 45 written by Mark Stille and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-20 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The USS Langley, the first American aircraft carrier, entered service in 1922. Despite being converted into an aircraft tender, it was the first step in a new direction for the US Navy and naval warfare. This book covers the design, development and operation of USN aircraft carriers built prior to World War II, including their aircraft and weaponry. It also explains their various successes and losses such as the first carrier vs carrier battle at Midway; the battle of the Coral Sea; the battle of the Philippine Sea; and the Operation Torch landings.

Download or read book The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe 1939 1945 written by David Hobbs and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2022-03-30 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive history of the Royal Navy’s naval aviation component’s campaigns during World War II. For the first time, this book tells the story of how naval air operations evolved into a vital element of the Royal Navy’s ability to fight a three-dimensional war against both the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. An integral part of RN, the Fleet Air Arm was not a large organization, with only 406 pilots and 232 front-line aircraft available for operations in September 1939. Nevertheless, its impact far outweighed its numbers—it was an RN fighter that shot down the first enemy aircraft of the war, and an RN pilot was the first British fighter “ace” with 5 or more kills. The Fleet Air Arm’s rollcall of achievements in northern waters went on to include the Norwegian Campaign, the crippling of Bismarck, the gallant sortie against Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as they passed through the Channel, air attacks on enemy E-boats in the narrow seas, air cover for the Russian convoys, air attacks that disabled Tirpitz, and strikes and minelaying operations against German shipping in the Norwegian littoral that continued until May 1945. By the end of the war in Europe the FAA had grown to 3243 pilots and 1336 aircraft. This book sets all these varied actions within their proper naval context and both technical and tactical aspects are explained with “thumbnail” descriptions of aircraft, their weapons and avionics. Cross reference with the Fleet Air Arm Roll of Honour has been made for the first time to put names to those aircrew killed in action wherever possible as a mark of respect for their determination against enemy forces on, above and below the sea surface which more often than not outnumbered them. The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe completes David Hobbs’s much-praised six-volume series chronicling the operational history of British naval aviation from the earliest days to the present. Praise for The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe “In this masterly addition to his series on the Fleet Air Arm at war, David Hobbs addresses naval air operations in the Atlantic, the North Sea, the Arctic, and the English Channel.” —Professor Andrew Lambert, Warship 2023 “With lots of action it rattles along and is a very good read.” —The Armourer Magazine, May 2022

Download or read book US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1922 45 written by Mark Stille and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-20 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The USS Langley, the first American aircraft carrier, entered service in 1922. Despite being converted into an aircraft tender, it was the first step in a new direction for the US Navy and naval warfare. This book covers the design, development and operation of USN aircraft carriers built prior to World War II, including their aircraft and weaponry. It also explains their various successes and losses such as the first carrier vs carrier battle at Midway; the battle of the Coral Sea; the battle of the Philippine Sea; and the Operation Torch landings.

Download or read book Carrier Strike US Naval Warfare in the Pacifi written by Donald Nijbor and published by . This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the end of the day on December 6, 1941, the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor lay shattered. In a single devastating surprise attack the Imperial Japanese Navy had demonstrated the awesome striking power of a combined carrier fleet - before proceeding to rampage across the Pacific, seizing territory from the Aleutians to Singapore. With the highly maneuverable Zero fighter and 'Val' dive-bomber, flown by experienced crews, the Japanese were able to overwhelm even the best Allied resistance. But within a year of Pearl Harbor, the tide had turned. The US Navy's successful Guadalcanal campaign marked the beginning of a remarkable fight-back. Fast new fleet carriers such as the Essex and Independence class warships were introduced and the ruggedly powerful Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter gave the US a clear advantage in the air. In a series of epic naval battles and running skirmishes, the US Navy's Fast Carrier Task Force inflicted massive damage on the Japanese fleet before a new threat began to appear - the kamikaze. Unable to score hits by conventional means, the Japanese took to crashing bomb-laden aircraft directly into American vessels. Yet despite such fanatical tactics, the US Navy's carrier fleet fought its way across the Pacific to launch attacks on the Japanese homeland in 1945. In Carrier Strike: US Naval Air Warfare in the Pacific, historian Donald Nijboer tells the full story of the American carrier fleet during the Second World War - the vessels, the crew, the aircraft and the pilots as well as their British Royal Navy allies and the deadly Imperial Japanese Navy forces they faced in combat

Download or read book TASK FORCE 58 written by ROD. MACDONALD and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Scratch One Flattop written by Robert C. Stern and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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