99514 U.S. NAVAL PLANES

Very often, the birth date of naval aviation in the US Navy is November 1910, when one of the pioneers of American aviation - Eugene Ely - took off by plane from the USS Birmingham. However, the experiences of World War I (1914-1918) did not lead to the intensive development of the American naval air force. The same was true after the Great War, when, at the Washington Disarmament Conference (1921-1922), American diplomats and high-ranking naval officers continued to recognize battleships as the main weapon of combat at sea, treating aircraft carriers as auxiliary units. However, under the considerable influence of the field tests conducted by Billy Mitchell, its first aircraft carrier, USS Langley (1922), entered service in the US Navy. At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific in December 1941, the US Navy had only four aircraft carriers in the fleet, and their main aviation weapons were the retiring M6 Zeke, Grumman F4F Wildcat machines or Vought SB2U Vindicator dive bombers. However, the huge production capacity of the American shipbuilding industry and efficient research facilities quickly changed this unhappy picture - such successful machines as fighters began to enter the line: the F6F Hellcat, and at the end of the war, the F8F Bearcat, a really large-scale SBD Dauntless (flight in 1938) or TBF Avenger. What's more - the construction of fleet-class aircraft carriers (Essex-class), light aircraft carriers and escort aircraft carriers began to be built almost on a tape. Suffice it to say that in May 1945, the US Navy had 28 aircraft carriers in the fleet and 71 escort aircraft carriers! It is also worth adding that the American Navy has gifted and reliable officers who can successfully use this arsenal in the course of fighting in the Pacific - one can mention, for example, admirals: Chester Nimitz, Raymond Spruance or William Halsey (with the graceful nickname "Taurus") .