Aircraft Carriers

Aircraft Carriers are the ultimate tool of modern power projection.  They are symbols of both naval strength and air superiority.  This episode covers their history and their future:

• 1840s: Balloon Carriers are invented
• 1900s: Seaplane Carriers are invented
• 1910s: Modern aircraft carriers are invented
• 1930s-1940s: WWII (five major carrier battles)
  
• Pearl Harbor: Japan's six carriers surprise the United States Navy
• Coral Sea: Japan's three carriers engage America's two carriers (both lose one carrier)
• Midway: America's three carriers engage Japan's four carriers and sink all four, with the help of codebreakers and reconnaissance.  Considered a turning point in the Pacific War
• Philippine Sea: America's sixteen carriers destroy or disable all but 35 of the 500 Japanese carrier-based aircraft
• Leyte Gulf: America's seventeen carriers decisively defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy in the largest naval battle in history
• WWII-present: US Carrier Strike Groups control the seas

For more information, read:
http://www.sandcastlevi.com/sea/carriers/cvchap1a.htm
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ships/carriers/cv-list.asp
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/carriers.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/aircraft-carrier.htm
http://www.combatreform2.com/submarineaircraftcarriers.htm
The Pacific War Companion by Daniel Marston
Jane’s Warship Recognition Guide
Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers (1921-1945) by Mark Stille
US Navy Bluejacket’s Manual

Military History Podcast is sponsored by Armchair General Magazine