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Aircraft carriers were defined as having displacements of at least 10,000 tons and used exclusively for launching and landing aircraft. The total tonnage limit for carriers was 135,000 tons for UK and America, 81,000 for Japan, and 60,000 tons for Italy and France. [ 14 ]
Over 700 different aircraft models were used during World War II. [1] [better source needed] At least 135 of these models were developed for naval use, [2] [better source needed] including about 50 fighters [3] [better source needed] and 38 bombers.
List of aircraft carriers of World War II Ship Operator Class Type Displacement (tons) First commissioned Fate Admiralty Islands United States Navy: Casablanca: escort carrier: 8,188 13 June 1944 scrapped 1947 Adula Royal Navy: Rapana: merchant aircraft carrier: 16,000 1 February 1944 returned to merchant service post-war Akagi Imperial ...
This article is part of a series that covers World War II from the vantage point of aircraft carrier operations and is focused upon the types and names of the carriers themselves. It contains complete lists of aircraft carriers that operated at some point during the period from 1937 to 1945.
It became apparent early in the war that control of the air was prerequisite for successful surface action both on land and at sea. [b] [9] For much of the war, Britain and America fought mainly on the seas, [10] [clarification needed] where successful Allied naval operations permitted effective support and reinforcement of troops in North Africa, the Soviet Union, western Europe and the Pacific.
The development of armoured flight deck carriers proceeded during World War II, and before the end of World War II both the USN, with USS Midway, and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), with TaihÅ and Shinano would also commission armoured flight deck carriers, while all USN fleet aircraft carriers built since 1945 feature armoured flight decks.
They did not perceive that they needed aircraft carriers. [16] As part of the largest fleet in the world, Britain had seven aircraft carriers at the time of the declaration of war with Germany on 3 September 1939. [b] and another five (of six planned) under construction. [17]
Birmingham attempts to fight fires aboard Princeton during Battle of Leyte Gulf. Completed in the course of 1943, and coming into service with the first eight of the Essex-class carriers, the nine Independence-class ships made up a vital component of the Fast Carrier Task Force, which carried the Navy's offensive through the central and western Pacific from November 1943 through August 1945.