How Carriers Fought: Carrier Operations in WWII PDF
Preview How Carriers Fought: Carrier Operations in WWII
HOW CARRIERS FOUGHT To my daughter. HOW CARRIERS FOUGHT Carrier Operations in World War II LARS CELANDER Philadelphia & Oxford Published in the United States of America and Great Britain in 2018 by CASEMATE PUBLISHERS 1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083, USA and Th e Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE, UK Copyright 2018 © Lars Celander Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-621-5 Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-6120-062-2 (epub) A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing. Printed and bound in the United States of America Typeset in India by Versatile PreMedia Services. www.versatilepremedia.com For a complete list of Casemate titles, please contact: CASEMATE PUBLISHERS (US) Telephone (610) 853-9131 Fax (610) 853-9146 Email: [email protected] www.casematepublishers.com CASEMATE PUBLISHERS (UK) Telephone (01865) 241249 Email: [email protected] www.casematepublishers.co.uk Contents Preface vii Glossary viii Introduction x Part I. Carrier Operations 1 1 Navigation and Communication 2 2 Flight Operations 22 3 Aircraft Carried 44 4 Finding the Enemy 52 5 Detecting Incoming Strikes 65 6 Aerial Attacks 70 7 Defending Against Aerial Attack 87 8 Fighter Direction 101 9 Logistics 109 Part II. Carrier Battles of World War II 117 10 Early Scouting and Raiding by Carriers 118 11 Battle of the Coral Sea 123 12 Battle of Midway 134 13 Operation Pedestal 145 14 Battle of the Eastern Solomons 149 15 Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands 158 16 Battle of the Philippine Sea 173 17 Battle of Leyte Gulf 188 18 Carrier Operations in a Larger Context 196 Part III. Th e Art and Evolution of Carrier Operations 203 19 Combat Models 204 20 Concentration vs. Dispersion 209 vi • how carriers fought 21 Fighters vs. Bombers 213 22 Battleships vs. Carriers 220 23 Armored Flight Deck vs. Size of Air Group 225 24 Eff ectiveness of Heavy AA Guns 235 25 World War II Carrier Design Revisited 242 26 Th e Art of Carrier Operations 248 27 Evolution of Carrier Operations 253 Appendix - Postwar Developments 258 Notes on Sources 270 Bibliography 273 Index 279 Preface It all started as an itch. Having read many books and articles on the big carrier battles of World War II, there were still a number of things I did not understand. Th ings like what actually went on and why things happened the way they did. I looked for books that told me not so much about the “what,” “why,” or “when” but about the more elusive “how.” From time to time, some interesting and useful tidbits of information showed up but never a complete description. Th ere are many excellent books detailing what happened in those battles, how the events unfolded, what led up to them, and their signifi cance in various ways. But that was not what I was looking for. I wanted something written more from the perspective of a commander, a tactician, a systems engineer, or an analyst, not a traditional historian. How did they do it? Why did they do it like that? Could they have done it a better way? Not fi nding any book on the topic, I started digging around on the Internet. Gradually I started to get a decent understanding of how a carrier battle really was fought. Th e best way to understand something is often to try to explain it to someone else. By writing things down as an essay, I forced myself to structure my understanding and to clarify my thinking. It also identifi ed the gaps in my knowledge, forcing me to go searching for what I had not yet understood. Having done that, I found myself with an essay that I then posted on my personal website. Th is led to some very encouraging feedback; the essay seemed to fi ll a need. Nothing like it appeared to exist, at least not in the open literature. Similar analyses might well have been done by military professionals but perhaps not in a form intended for a wider audience. In short, not fi nding the book I wanted to read, I wrote it myself. Lars Celander Glossary of Terms AA Anti-Aircraft AEW Airborne Early Warning AP Armor Piercing ASW Anti-Submarine Warfare CAP Combat Air Patrol CIC Combat Information Center HE High Explosive IFF Identifi cation Friend or Foe IJN Imperial Japanese Navy RN Royal Navy USN United States Navy Albacore Fairey Albacore biplane torpedo bomber Avenger Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber Barracuda Fairey Barracuda dive/torpedo bomber Bearcat Grumman F8F Bearcat fi ghter Betty Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” twin-engine medium bomber Catalina Consolidated PBY Catalina twin-engine fl ying boat Corsair Vought F4U Corsair fi ghter Dauntless Douglas SBD Dauntless scout/dive bomber Devastator Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber Emily Kawanishi H8K “Emily” four-engine fl ying boat Fulmar Fairey Fulmar two-seat reconnaissance/fi ghter Hellcat Grumman F6F Hellcat fi ghter Helldiver Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bomber Jake Aichi E13A “Jake” fl oatplane Jill Nakajima B6N “Jill” torpedo bomber Judy Yokosuka D4Y “Judy” dive bomber Kate Nakajima B5N “Kate” torpedo bomber Kingfi sher Vought OS2U Kingfi sher fl oatplane Liberator Consolidated PB4Y Liberator long-range patrol bomber glossary of terms • ix Martlet Grumman F4F Wildcat fi ghter (in British service) Mavis Kawanishi H6K “Mavis” four-engine fl ying boat Sea Hurricane Hawker Hurricane fi ghter (naval version) Seafi re Supermarine Spitfi re fi ghter (naval version) Skua Blackburn Skua two-seat fi ghter/dive bomber Swordfi sh Fairey Swordfi sh biplane torpedo bomber Val Aichi D3A “Val” dive bomber Wildcat Grumman F4F Wildcat fi ghter Zero Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” fi ghter
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