Figure 1.--The 'USS Ranger' (CV-4) was the first American carrier built from the keel up. It did not prove to be aucessful design and thus wass the only carrier of its class. Ranger was relatively small, similar to the 'USS Langley', the first american carrier. Designers did not include the island superstructure in the original design. With the outbreak of World war II, the Navy decided that 'Ranger' was too slow for the Pacific Fleet's carrier task forces, Ranger was used in the Atlantic, including Operation Torch. Here we see 'Ranger' in port at New York bfore the War. The press caption read, "The Real Thing: Richard Lewis reflects apparent lack of interest in his toy plane s he gazes at the real planes of the aircraft carrier USS Ranger docking April 29, upon arrival with the Atlantic Squadron of the U.S. Fleet for a seventeen-fay World's Fair visit." The photograph ws date April 29, 1939. Notice that the air complement was still biplanes. Richard had the more modern plane. The U.S. Navy would enter World War II with mono-wing aircraaft, but obsolete model badly inferior to Japanese aircraft. The American crriers were better designed than the Japanese cariers, but the aircraft were a different matter.

When the Japanese strck at Pearl Harbor, the United States had afleet of nearly 350 major combat ships (December 1941). An equal number were under construction. [Westcott] Japanese assessments were based primarily on the active units at the time. Of course, the US. Navy, unlike the Imperial Fllet had to ocen commitments. The United States had a substantial force of big-gun battleships. The general consensus within the Navy was that battleship ws the capital ship type and that fleet actions would be won by big-gun battleships. Frtunately for the United Sttes, this was also the assessment of most Japanese commanders. The U.S. Navy after the Japanese pulled out of the Washington naval limitation treaty tesumed building battleships, although not immeditely. The first new bttle ship was the USS North Carolina (BB-55) (1937). As the danger of war increased, the United States began expanding the fleet. There were some forward thinking admirals that saw the future was with carriers and naval aviation. Thus the United States also buit a fleet of carriers, smller than the battleship fleet, but still substntial. And although given little attention at the time, there was also a sizeable submarine force. Tragically, the Navy refused to invest in developing a reliable torpedo. The United States fleet was substantial. The backbone of the flle was 17 battleships (with 15 under construction). They included: 1 Arkansas (1912), 2 New York class (1914), 2 Nevada class (1916), 2 Pennsylvania class (1916), 3 New Mexico class (1917-1919), 2 California class (1920-1921), 3 Colorado class (1921-1923), 2 North Carolina class (1941). Not fully ppreciated were 7 aircraft carriers (with 11 under construction): 2 Lexington class (1927), 1 Ranger (1933), 3 Yorktown class (1937-1941), 1 Wasp (1941). Also important were 18 heavy cruisers (with 8 Baltimore class under construction): 2 Pensacola class (1929-1930), 6 Northampton class (1929-1930), 2 Indianapolis class (1932-1933), 7 Astoria class (1934-1937), 1 Wichita (1939). There were 19 light cruisers (with 32 Cleveland class under construction): 10 Omaha class, 7 Brooklyn class, 2 Helena class, 6 anti-aircraft cruisers (4 in service, 2 almost ready). There were 171 destroyers (with 188 Benson, Livermore and Fletcher class under construction): 1 Allen (1917), 71 Flush-Deckers (1918-1922), 8 Farragut class (1934-1935), 12 Mahan class (1936-1937), 8 Porter class (1936-1937), 5 Somers class (1938-1939), 2 Dunlop class (1938), 19 Gridley class (1938-1940), 38 Benson and Livermore class (1940-1941). Finlly there were 114 submarines (with 79 Gato class under construction): 8 ‘O’ class (1918), 19 ‘R’ class (1918-1919), 38 ‘S’ class (1919-1924), 3 Barracuda class (1924-1925), 1 Argonaut minelayer (1928), 2 Nautilus class (1930), 1 Dolphin (1932), 2 Cachalot class (1934), 10 ‘P’ class (1935-1937), 16 ‘new S’ class (1937-1939), 12 ‘T’ class (1941-1942). The Navy would prove to be unprepared for World War II, but it was much better prepared than the Army. Fortuntly for the Army, it would have more time than the Nacy to prepare for combat. The U.S. Navy was America's primary military force in 1941. It fit in more with isolationist thinking which was opposed to American particiption in another War. Many thought that the Navy by dminating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans could provide the security needed to keep America out of another War. As World War II developed, President Roosevelt woud order the U.S. Navy into an undeclared shooting war with German U-boats (September 1941) before the Japanese carriet attck on Pearl Harbor propelled America into the War. It was a combination of code breaking, the number of ships underconstruction, and rapid developmnt of advance planes that would allow the U,S, Navy to recover so quickly from Pearl Harbor.

Navigate the CIH World War II Section:
[Return to Main World War II U.S. Navy page]
[Return to Main World War II country navy page]
[Return to Main U.S. Navy page]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[About Us]
[Aftermath] [Biographies] [Campaigns] [Children] [Countries] [Deciding factors] [Diplomacy] [Geo-political crisis] [Economics] [Home front] [Intelligence]
[POWs] [Resistance] [Race] [Refugees] [Technology] [Totalitarian powers]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[Return to Main war essay page]
[Return to CIH Home page]

Created: 5:11 AM 12/18/2011
Last updated: 11:45 PM 12/11/2012