Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated History of Their Impact PDF
Preview Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated History of Their Impact
Other Titles in ABC-CLIO’s WEAPONS AND WARFARE SERIES Air Defense, Shannon A. Brown Ancient Weapons, James T. Chambers Artillery, Jeff Kinard Ballistic Missiles, Kev Darling Battleships, Stanley Sandler Cruisers and Battle Cruisers, Eric W. Osborne Helicopters, Stanley S. McGowen Machine Guns, James H. Willbanks Medieval Weapons, James T. Chambers Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918, Justin D. Murphy Military Aircraft, 1919–1945, Justin D. Murphy Military Aircraft in the Jet Age, Justin D. Murphy Pistols, Jeff Kinard Rifles, David Westwood Submarines, Paul Fontenoy Tanks, Spencer C. Tucker AIRCRAF T CARRIERS AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THEIR IMPACT Paul Fontenoy Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado Oxford, England Copyright © 2006 by ABC-CLIO All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fontenoy, Paul E. Aircraft carriers : an illustrated history of their impact / Paul Fontenoy. p. cm. — (Weapons and warfare series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-85109-573-X (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-85109-578-0 (ebook) 1. Aircraft carriers—History. I. Title. II. Series. V874F65 2006 359.9'4835—dc22 2006007471 06 07 08 09 / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, Inc. 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 Acquisitions Editor: Alicia Merritt Media Editor: Ellen Rasmussen Media Manager: Caroline Price Production Editor: Cisca Louise Schreefel Editorial Assistant: Alisha Martinez Production Manager: Don Schmidt Manufacturing Coordinator: George Smyser This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS Introduction to Encyclopedias of Weapons and Warfare Series, Spencer C. Tucker vii chapter one 1 Origins and Early Development of the Aircraft Carrier chapter two 23 The Aircraft Carrier Matures chapter three 67 Capital Ships chapter four 113 The Cold War and After chapter five 169 Joint Operations Reference Section 181 Bibliography 373 Index 389 About the Author 409 INTRODUCTION TO ENCYCLOPEDIAS OF WEAPONS AND WARFARE SERIES Weapons both fascinate and repel. They are used to kill and maim individuals and to destroy states and societies, and occasion- ally whole civilizations, and with these the greatest of man’s cultural and artistic accomplishments. Throughout history, tools of war have been the instruments of conquest, invasion, and enslavement, but they have also been used to check evil and to maintain peace. Weapons have evolved over time to become both more lethal and more complex. For the greater part of man’s existence, combat was fought at the length of an arm or at such short range as to represent no real difference; battle was fought within line of sight and seldom lasted more than the hours of daylight of a single day. Thus, individ- ual weapons that began with the rock and the club proceeded through the sling and boomerang, bow and arrow, sword and axe, to gunpowder weapons of the rifle and machine gun of the late nine- teenth century. Study of the evolution of these weapons tells us much about human ingenuity, the technology of the time, and the societies that produced them. The greater part of technological de- velopment of weaponry has taken part in the last two centuries, es- pecially the twentieth century. In this process, plowshares have been beaten into swords; the tank, for example, evolved from the agricul- tural caterpillar tractor. Occasionally the process is reversed and military technology has impacted society in a positive way. Thus modern civilian medicine has greatly benefitted from advances to save soldiers’ lives, and weapons technology has impacted such areas as civilian transportation or atomic power. vii vviiiiii ASECRKINESO WINLTERDOGDMUECNTTIOSN Weapons can have a profound impact on society. Gunpowder weapons, for example, were an important factor in ending the era of the armed knight and the Feudal Age. They installed a kind of rough democracy on the battlefield, making “all men alike tall.” We can only wonder what effect weapons of mass destruction (WMD) might have on our own time and civilization. This series will trace the evolution of a variety of key weapons sys- tems, describe the major changes that occurred in each, and illus- trate and identify the key types. Each volume begins with a descrip- tion of the particular weapons system and traces its evolution, while discussing its historical, social, and political contexts. This is fol- lowed by a heavily illustrated section that is arranged more or less along chronological lines that provides more precise information on at least 80 key variants of that particular weapons system. Each vol- ume contains a glossary of terms, a bibliography of leading books on that particular subject, and an index. Individual volumes in the series, each written by a specialist in that particular area of expertise, are as follows: Ancient Weapons Medieval Weapons Pistols Rifles Machine Guns Artillery Tanks Battleships Cruisers and Battle Cruisers Aircraft Carriers Submarines Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918 Military Aircraft, 1919–1945 Military Aircraft in the Jet Age Helicopters Ballistic Missiles Air Defense Destroyers We hope that this series will be of wide interest to specialists, re- searchers, and even general readers. Spencer C. Tucker Series Editor AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
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