USS Saratoga (CV-3)

History of USS Saratoga (CV-3)

USS Saratoga (CV-3) is identical to her sister ship USS Lexington (CV-2). Sarah actually entered service (a month) earlier than Lady Lex because her keel was laid about six months earlier, making her the second aircraft carrier built by the US Navy.

However, the Navy has other plans for the Lexington-class, as it originally came from a 1916 construction plan and consisted of six battlecruisers - which would be named after the Navy's first six frigates.

The concept of "half cruiser, half battleship" is a new idea for the US Navy. The six classes will have a main battery of 10x14-inch guns, displace 34,300 tons, and travel at 35 knots. The concept was to outsmart foreign cruisers and use "hit and run" tactics against the "super dreadnoughts" of World War I. On paper, the Lexington-class cruisers can use their own 8x15-inch guns against super-dreadnoughts like the German Bayern-class, which itself displaces 32,000 tons and travels at 22 knots. The Lexington C-1 class will be able to run around the Bayern class and, if built, cross the "T" at will.

The downsides of the proposed Lexington C-1 class are reduced armor for higher airspeeds, the use of no less than five stacks (and their respective boiler systems) on the armored deck.

At the end of World War I, the C-1 battery was modified to 8x16 inch guns, and this was still a vision that could only be realized on paper, more armor meant lower speed. Additionally, the design was pared down to two chimneys instead of the original five, and the next logical step was to move the boilers under the armored deck.

Six C-class ships were laid between August 1920 and 1921. The Washington Naval Treaty - a treaty between major world powers (ironically Japan and Germany) after World War I - restricted major warship building, so all construction of the six American cruisers ceased in early 1922. [ /p]

The Washington Naval Treaty only allows for the conversion of two Lexington-class cruiser aircraft carriers already under construction. The keel already laid in Camden, New Jersey, became the USS Saratoga, while the USS Lexington was under construction in Quincy, Massachusetts. The keels of the proposed USS Constellation, USS Ranger, USS Constitution and USS America were eventually scrapped.

In retrofitting two aircraft carriers and trying to circumvent some of the treaty's restrictions, the U.S. Department of the Navy began suggesting that a capital ship could add as much as 3,000 tons of air defense -- the carriers are so classified. It is fitting that Imperial Japan also used this clause in the construction of its WWII navy. Since the treaty limited the maximum displacement to 33,000 tons, the Sara's official displacement did not exceed that when empty, but at full combat load the actual displacement was closer to 43,500 tons. At the time of her construction, Saratoga cost US taxpayers $43,856,492.

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By comparison, the only U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in service at the time was the 542-foot, 19,360-ton USS Langley (CV-1), launched in 1913. Langley is a converted coal barge that can carry 34 aircraft.

On the other hand, the USS Saratoga (CV-3) has a steel hull and her extended flight deck is 888 feet long. The hull is unchanged from the original 830-foot cruiser design, thanks to the Sara's speed and maneuverability.

The proposed flight deck is 874 feet long, welded to the steel hull, and clad with planks to reduce overall weight. The deck is 111 feet 9 inches wide, and her draft is 31 feet. Wood floors are sealed with joint compound and then painted.

Since the hull section is in cruiser garb, in order to save construction costs, the characteristics of the aircraft carrier must match the original hull shape (not the other way around). The dimensions of the interior of the fuselage had to allow for a large aircraft hangar attached to the ammunition bay, all of which had to fit neatly around the larger turbines and corresponding boilers.

The original funnel design was discarded, allowing the starboard side funnel to be located aft of the large island superstructure. However, the accumulation of this enormous weight along one side caused the boat to lean slightly to starboard. The cockpit was long enough to accommodate the aircraft of the day, but only wide enough to launch and take one aircraft at a time. Sara is designed to accommodate 90 aircraft, but typically carries 83 aircraft. To move the aircraft to the hangar below and back to the flight deck, two deck lifts were installed.

Since the flight deck is shorter than a typical runway, aircraft takeoffs are aided by flywheel catapults.

The Saratoga is equipped with eight GE turbo-electric propulsion engines, two per propeller shaft. Together they produced over 180,000 shaft horsepower and were able to produce 32.25 knots (at least on paper), but in her trials she was able to hit an impressive 34.99 knots - although it's unclear if that statistic is This is done when the ship is fully loaded. To generate this power, the vessel is equipped with 16 White & Foster oil-fired boilers to generate the required steam. To expel gas and smoke, the projectiles are fed into a larger flat flue, 105 feet long, forming an 80-foot-tall hopper.

She can travel 10,000 nautical miles at 10 knots. In peacetime, her aircrew consisted of 2,212 officers, soldiers, and airmen, but in 1942 she had about 3,300 airmen, excluding the Air Wing. Therefore, the crew quarters are temporary and overcrowded.

The idea at the time was to arm the Sala as a capital ship for self-defense. At launch, her primary armament consisted of four twin 8" 200mm/55 caliber guns and twelve single 5" Mk 10 130mm/25 caliber guns. Auxiliary weapons are relatively trivial, with only eight installed individually.

050 caliber gun. This arrangement was considered adequate against enemy surface ships, as Saratoga needed no escort cover at all. However, the core of an aircraft carrier is not designed to attack surface ships head-on, so 8-inch guns are not a fully practical solution.

Their entire armament platform was reviewed and modified only after some war experience. Additional defenses include her belt armor. Along the waterline, this is 5 inches to 7 inches thick. To protect the island, 3" flat armor was used, and 4.5" sloped armor was installed on the servos.

When the Sara was launched, the Philadelphia Evening News wrote: "This American first-tier aircraft carrier is unmatched by any other Navy...". Sarah received her new crew and squadron on January 6, 1928, and departed from Philadelphia on January 6, 1928, for her "Shake Down" cruise in the Caribbean. The USS Saratoga joined the fleet along with the USS Lexington, which were huge ships compared to the USS Langley. According to renowned military historian Norman Friedman, the USS Saratoga and her sister ships are examples of aircraft carriers that became famous as battleships some 25 years ago, such as the British HMS dreadnoughts. This class is the standard for aircraft carrier development and can be emulated in all navies around the world.

Sara and her sister ships were faster and carried more aircraft than any other aircraft carrier in the world at the time - the Imperial Japanese Navy certainly took notice.

The Navy and its first aircraft carrier pilots - known as "Langley pilots" - developed carrier tactics using the three aircraft carriers they owned. Her training at the time was in a warship-oriented navy. At the same time, however, the world is changing. What types of ships will the carrier task force consist of? What positions will they hold in the task force, and who will be given command of such a task force?

Career U.S. Navy officers heading to Annapolis were trained in battleship naval tactics; the dominance of aircraft and carriers seemed to come in second place at the time.

Saratoga devotes most of its time to fleet training exercises designed to outline the critical role of aircraft carriers in future warfare. Both CV-2 and CV-3 joined the fleet to conduct mock attacks on the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor.

Saratoga helped develop tactics for a fast carrier attack, using destroyers and cruisers as protective barriers, although they did not use actual battleships as they proved too slow for maneuvering forces. Officers who know the carrier know they are dealing with high-value enemy targets, and naval exercises continue to develop tactics to protect the carrier.

Saratoga was stationed at Naval Station San Diego, California from 1931 to 1941. Her home port at sea allows families to be housed nearby and normal refueling and resupply at the dock. For routine maintenance, Sara sailed down the coast to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard in Washington State.

Saratoga remained in Hawaiian waters until Japan began attacking ships in Chinese waters in 1933. Due to naval problems in the region, Sarah returned to the Caribbean for exercises in 1934 and returned to the Pacific via the Panama Canal in 1935.

She returned to San Diego and trained in Hawaiian waters until 1938 and during the XIX fleet issue; she surprised the fleet with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor from 100 miles from Oahu, which ironically A lesson is quickly forgotten.

On January 6, 1941, she entered the Bremerton Naval Shipyard for a belated modernization. Her flight deck has been widened and remodeled forward. Added a torpedo blister on the starboard side. It is equipped with an upgraded first-generation RCA CXAM-1 radar system. The radar can be used not only to detect the distance of approaching enemy aircraft, but also to detect the height and number of aircraft in a flight group.

So far, most surface ships can spot an aircraft at 50 miles, some at 100 miles. Large surface vessels can be detected up to 15 miles away.

Her refit was completed in April 1941, and she remained in Hawaiian waters until her scheduled dry dock refit at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard's Puget Sound in November 1941. She returned to San Diego on December 7, 1941.

Saratoga receives word of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl, and she is quickly loaded with supplies, extra ammo and bombs, and an extra crew. The key to the Japanese attack was to capture the American carrier at the dock, but that wasn't the case. In addition, the Japanese pilots did not use oil supplies. While Japan dealt a heavy blow to the Pacific Fleet, it left America's most important asset -- its aircraft carrier -- unscathed.

She can achieve tactical victory in numbers, but not strategically by force.

Saratoga took off on the 8th with a naval air squadron, but the boys were moved to reinforcement Wake Island, which was under attack by the Japanese Navy. Back at Pearl Harbor, the Tangier cargo ships were loaded with supplies and troops, and the greasy Neches fleet was ready. They were escorted by several destroyers and set course for Vic.

Sarah docked at Pearl Harbor on December 15 and disembarked after refueling that day. Faster than the freighter and tanker, Sara caught up with the convoy on the 17th, all of which were bound for Wake Island.

However, delays for this force were exacerbated by slow escort operations and the need for refueling of destroyers. On the 21st, news came from the Pearl that Japanese planes had attacked the island en masse and troops were coming ashore, so Saratoga and the convoy were recalled to Hawaii, and Wake Island fell the next day.

Naval action kept Saratoga in Hawaiian waters in case of another Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but it didn't. Ordered to join the USS Enterprise, she returned to sea. On January 11, 1942, the Saratoga was discovered by the Japanese submarine I-6. Commanding I-6 is Lt. PhD.

Inaba fired three Type 89 torpedoes from 4,700 yards, hitting Sala with one torpedo on Sala's port side. Three boiler rooms sucked in more than 1,000 gallons of water, killing six firefighters. The boat pitched to starboard due to the extra weight and lost speed. Using their pumps to stabilize the boat, the crew was able to bring 16 knots back to the Pearl on their own.

In port, her 8-inch guns were dismantled to bolster shore facilities throughout Hawaii - proving largely useless against the aircraft aboard the Saratoga.

After minor repairs at Pearl Harbor, Saratoga went to Bremerton Naval Shipyard for permanent repairs. Obviously Sara needed extra anti-air protection, so we replaced the 12 x 5" Mk10 130mm 25 caliber machine guns and 2 x quad 1.1" machine guns with 5 x single 5" 38 caliber machine guns and 9 x quad 1.1" machine guns Machine gun 40mm AA Bofors cannon. In addition, 5 quad mounts have been added for the 20mm anti-aircraft gun and a single 20mm anti-aircraft gun.

She left Washington State and arrived in San Diego in late May 1942 to train a new batch of pilots to take off and land from the cockpit of an aircraft carrier. Saratoga receives information about the upcoming Operation Midway; she begins loading supplies and weapons, waiting for her escort screens to be assembled. On June 1, the fleet sailed for Pearl Harbor and arrived for refueling on June 7, missing the Battle of Midway, which took place on June 6-7, 1942.

USS Hornet and USS Enterprise needed Sara's spare plane, so on June 11, she transferred 34 planes and some fliers and returned to Pearl Harbor. Sara added Navy and Army aircraft and brought them to Midway to strengthen the defense.