July 31, 2018

Naval Aviation Development in World War II - U.S. Navy Versus Royal Navy Experience

Naval History and Heritage Command writer Carsten Fries's recent narrative of the support lent by the British carrier HMS Victorious to the U.S. Pacific Fleet in the first half of 1943 brings to mind a comparison of naval aviation experiences of these two navies during World War II. Although the U.S. Navy through its early history felt much like a

July 20, 2018

USS Robin: When the CNO Needed a Royal Navy Carrier - Part II

Editor's note: This is Part Two of "USS Robin: When the CNO Needed a Royal Navy Carrier." Read Part One here.Victorious departed Norfolk on Feb. 3 en route to the Panama Canal and assigned the U.S. Navy two-syllable call sign "Robin." Intensive flight operations utilizing U.S. Navy procedures, both with Martlet IV (Wildcat F4F-4) fighters and the

July 20, 2018

USS Robin: When the CNO Needed a Royal Navy Carrier - Part I

In autumn 1942, Adm. Ernest J. King, the Chief of Naval Operations, faced a dilemma: The battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, and the still-ongoing Guadalcanal campaign had severely weakened the U.S. Navy's fleet carrier presence in the Pacific. USS Lexington (CV 2) had been lost at Coral Sea, USS Yorktown (CV 5) at Midway, and Hornet (CV 8) during