U.S. Navy Ships
U.S. Navy Ships
Overview
World War II brought about a complete change to the United States Navy. At the beginning of the war The United States was a third rate navy, but by the end of the war, at its peak, the U.S. Navy was operating 6,768 ships on V-J Day in August 1945, including 28 aircraft carriers, 23 battleships, 71 escort carriers, 72 cruisers, over 232 submarines, 377 destroyers, and thousands of amphibious, supply and auxiliary ships.[12]
>> Aircraft Carriers
| Name | USS Yorktown |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Launched | August 4, 1936 |
| Fate | Sunk by Submarine I-168, June 7, 1942 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Class and Type | Yorktown Class Aircraft Carrier |
| Displacement | 25,500 long tons standarrd |
| Length | 824 ft 9 in (overall - 1943) |
| Speed | 32.5 Knots |
| Complement | 2,217 officers and men (1941) |
| Armament | From October 1943:
|
| Aircraft Carried | 90 aircraft |
| Name | USS Entrerprise |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Launched | October 3, 1936 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1958-1960 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Class and Type | Yorktown Class Aircraft Carrier |
| Displacement | 21,000 long tons standarrd |
| Length | 827 ft 5 in (overall - 1943) |
| Speed | 32.5 Knots |
| Complement | 2,217 officers and men (1941) |
| Armament | From October 1943:
|
| Aircraft Carried | 96 aircraft maximum |
| Name | USS Hornet |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Launched | December 14, 1940 |
| Fate | Sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 27, 1942 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Class and Type | Yorktown Class Aircraft Carrier |
| Displacement | 20,000 long tons |
| Length | 824 ft 9 in (overall) |
| Speed | 32.5 Knots |
| Complement | 2,919 officers and enlisted (wartime) |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft Carried | 72 |
U.S. Forces
>> Battleships
USS Missouri (BB-63)
Picture Credit: By USN – U.S. Navy photo 80-G-453331 from Navsource.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36886386
| Name | USS Missouri |
| Builder | Brooklyn Nayv Yard |
| Launched | January 29, 1944 |
| Fate | decommissioned in 1955, recommissioned several times and now a museum at Pearl Harbor |
| General Characteristics | |
| Class and Type | Iowa class Battleship |
| Displacement | 48,110 long tons |
| Length | 887 feet 3 inches (overall) |
| Speed | 32.5 Knots |
| Complement | 117 officers, 1,804 enlisted men |
| Armament |
|
>> Destroyers
USS O'Bannon (DD-450)
Picture Credit: By USN – Official U.S. Navy photo NY9-8425-3-51 from the U.S. Navy Mare Island Naval Shipyard available at Navsource.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24017237
| Name | USS O'Bannon |
| Builder | Bath Iron Works |
| Launched | February 19, 1942 |
| Fate | She was sold for scrap on 6 June 1970 and broken up two years later |
| General Characteristics | |
| Class and Type | Fletcher-class destroyer |
| Displacement | 2,050 tons |
| Length | 376 ft 6 in (overall) |
| Speed | 35 Knots |
| Complement | 329 |
| Armament |
|
REFERENCES
- ** Top Image: The USS Yorktown is hit on the port side by a torpedo launched from a plane off the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu during the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. (Image: National Archives and Records Administration, 80-G-414423.)
- (2) By Unknown author – U.S. Navy photo USAF-3725, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=166484
- (5) https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-midway
- (12)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_history_of_World_War_II#United_States