United States navy fleet problems and the development of carrier aviation, 1929-1933

摘要

The U.S. Navy first took official notice of aviation in 1910, but its developmentof carrier aviation lagged behind Great Britain??s until the 1920s. The first Americanaircraft carrier, the Langley, commissioned in 1919, provided the Navy with a valuableplatform to explore the potential uses of carrier aviation, but was usually limited toscouting and fleet air defense in the U.S. Navy??s annual interwar exercises called fleetproblems.This began to change in 1929 with the introduction of the carriers Lexington andSaratoga in Fleet Problem IX. After this exercise, which included a raid by aircraft fromthe Saratoga that ??destroyed?? the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, the carriers wereassigned a wider variety of roles over the next five years of exercises. During this time,the carriers gained their independence from the battle line, which the smaller and slowerLangley had been unable to do. Reflecting the advanced capabilities of the new carriers,the fleet problems conducted during Admiral William Veazie Pratt??s tenure as Chief ofNaval Operations, 1930-1933, began to test the employment of the new carriers as thecenterpiece of one of the opposing fleets within the exercises. The Lexington andSaratoga were used offensively during these exercises, employing their aircraft to sink surface ships, though not battleships, and successfully strike targets ashore. The carriersbecame successful in spite of the unreliability of early 1930s carrier aircraft, particularlythe torpedo bombers, that could carry heavy payloads.Lessons learned from the Lexington and Saratoga Fleet Problems IX through XIVinfluenced the design of the next generation of American aircraft carriers, the Yorktownclass,which were authorized in 1933. These new carriers were faster and much largerthan the carrier Ranger, commissioned in 1934 and designed before the Lexington andSaratoga began participating in the exercises. Features incorporated into the Yorktownclassbased on operational experience included the reduced need for large surfacebatteries because of the use of escort vessels, the emphasis of armoring against shellfireover aerial bombs and torpedoes, and the capability to launch large numbers of aircraftquickly.