Aircraft Carriers

The Yorktown Class

When war began the most modern class of aircraft carriers was the Yorktown Class. The Yorktown Class was comprised of three ships, The Yorktown, The Hornet, and The Enterprise. These three ships were some of the biggest carriers built at the point of their construction, and were the most modern carriers going into the war. The Yorktown class carriers had better defensive weaponry were slightly larger than their predecessors, the Ranger Class and Lexington Class Carriers. The Enterprise, nearly identical to the other two ships in the class, is a good example of what a ship in the Yorktown Class would look like. The Enterprise could house 96 aircraft in its hanger below deck, about 15 more than aircraft carriers had done before.(1) Unlike many earlier carrier, the Enterprise had elevators instead of cranes that it used to bring the fighter planes on to deck with.(2) The deck of the Enterprise was massive, being 809 feet long and 86 feet wide.(3) It was equipped with three catapults that assisted in launching the planes off the deck and an arresting gear that helped decelerate the planes upon landing.(4) The larger decks with improved methods of getting aircraft in and out of the sky quickly allowed for the Yorktown Class to be more efficient than its predecessors at fighting battles. Yorktown class carriers also had a very strong defense. Each of the three ships were fitted with eight 127mm, four 1.1 inch anti-aircraft guns, and 24 browning .50 caliber machine guns.(5) The ships were also fitted with experimental radar capabilities that allowed them to identify enemy attacks from the air earlier than before and allow them to prepare for the attacks.(6) The wide array of defense weaponry and large size of the Yorktown Class aircraft carriers made it the most advanced aircraft carrier in the beginning of World War Two. However, about a year after the war began the The Untied States began production on the Essex Class Carriers was created, and would soon claim the title of most advanced aircraft carrier.