Quote:That's 8 carriers by my count.
CV-1 was the Langley a converted oiler. CV's 2 and 3 were the Lexington and Saratoga which were converted battle cruisers. Lexington was sunk at Coral Sea, (1942) and Sara survived the war.
The Langley was CV-4 which was built from the keel up as a carrier but so small that she was effectively an escort carrier and ferry in the Atlantic.
CV-5 was the Yorktown ( Sunk at Midway, 1942 )
CV-6 was the Enterprise which survived the war.
CV-7 was the Wasp ( Sunk supporting Marine operations on Guadalcanal, 1942)
CV-8 was the Hornet ( Sunk at the Battle of Santa Cruz ( 1942)
If the Japanese had managed to sink the Big E and the Sara in 1942, the fact is that American industrial production would have ensured that by mid 1943 we would have outweighed them in carriers and every other class of screening vessel with ships that were newer, faster and had radar. There was no "decisive battle" in the Pacific. The Japanese were beaten before they ever attacked. And, they knew that going in.
Quote:"Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices."
--Adm Isoroku Yamamoto
