"Favorite WWII Carrier?" Topic

Which is your favorite carrier of WWII?

The Carden-Lloyd.

Enterprise of course.

Actually it would be the Yorktown, taking so many beatings the Japanese thought they killed three carriers and not just one.

Lady Lex my Uncle fought on her till she was sunk.
Then Essex

The universal

What Monsieur Sage said. In all it's lovely variants.

Especially the MG Carrier one.

Eric

HMS Eagle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the Kaga!

Ark Royal….English
Enterprise….USA

Malta.

Sink it. I dare you.

Ark Royal….English

Gawd 'elp us.

When will you Septics learn the difference?

The Lexington

Formidable – my dad was on her for a while.

Thought Enterprise was a cruiser? Plus it was British. Battle honours included The Atlantic (1939-1940), Norway (1940), Biscay (1943) and Normandy (1944). It was broken up in 1946.

Actually, looking up British warship names, a more interesting one is the next one in the book – Erebus. The description of the second Erebus reads 'The second was the Bomb which disappeared with Franklin, 1845-48. Must look up ths Franklin and how he disappeared! – I assume it's not the American of an earlier period.

Actually, looking up British warship names, a more interesting one is the next one in the book – Erebus.

It was a bomb ketch, refitted for polar exploration. She vanished during Franklin's expedition to navigate the North-West Passage.

Well, I'd vanish too if you sent me up there.

Isn't that why The Other Colonials built the St. Roch?

Eric

USS robin

Illustrious and Eagle for the Taranto job.

Victorious, for being there when the USN was short handed in the South Pacific.

Indefatigable and Implacable, just to watch the faces of the other navys' sailors as the japanese planes bounced off.

CV14 USS Yorktown, The only carrier I've been on board, so far.

Runners up:

British – HMS Eagle.
Japan- Zuikaku.

US – Enterprise
Japanese – Ryujo
British – Victorious

Enterprise

USS Yorktown (without her, Midway would have gone badly)
HMS Illustrious
Shokaku

Enterprise

It's hard to choose one favorite from so many powerful, majestic vessels.

I hold in the highest regard USS Gambier Bay and St. Lo, fought to the last extremity by gallant crews at The Battle off Samar and incredibly, by their sacrifice saving the landing force in Leyte Gulf.

USS Hornet, Enterprise and Yorktown won the Pacific War for the United States at Midway. Their adversaries Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu and Soryu of Kido Butai had wreaked havoc from Pearl Harbor until they died flaming on that deadly day.

The war of the carrier fleets was spectacular but brief. That time is past and will not come again.

GarrisonMiniatures, about Lord Franklin:

YouTube link

Yorktown

USS Langley. I have a problem with sequels.

I remember calling HMS Invincible a carrier once and receiving a clip round the ear from my step dad who retorted "Its a through deck cruiser boy" opps

John;
The fact that some sequels are better than others…

My Grandfather was the draftsman (the Checker) who approved the gears and such on USS Hornet and USS Wasp. My Granny (his Wife) did the turbines on Hornet. Or may have been Wasp. Whichever was first.

I, however, stay firmly with the Habitant side of the family and say the UC was the best carrier of them all.

Eric

USS Saratoga cause she is the only one you can still see.

USS Ranger- the only US carrier to sink German ships other than U-Boats.

My 1/1200 one sank the Graf Zepplin in a Seapower III duel many years ago.

Love the rotating stacks

Dave G
The PT Dockyard

USS Saratoga ( CV3) was sunk during the Atom bomb tests on July 25, 1946. Until recently she was open as a scuba diving site.

USS Saratoga CV60 commissioned in 1956 is still afloat at Providence RI but attempts to turn her into a museum have been unsuccessful so she still may be scrapped.

BTW I also like the Lady Sara She earned 7 battle stars in WW2 and per WIKI at the time of her sinking " … Saratoga had brought home 29,204 Pacific war veterans, more than any other individual ship. At the time, she also held the record for the greatest number of aircraft landed on a carrier, with a lifetime total of 98,549 landings in 17 years."

USS Enterprise. CV6, The Big E. Nobody better and one ship deserving of a warrior death rather than the breakers. Much like my favorite battleship, HMS Warspite.

USS Enterprise

Atlantic Theater
HMS Ark Royal

Pacific Theater
USS Enterprise
USS Yorktown
USS Hornet

Absolutely the Enterprise. It's an absolute crime that she was scrapped, especially when you consider how many of the later classes were turned into museum ships.

Honorable mention goes to the Wolverine and Sable. Perhaps the most unique carriers in the war.

The Big E for the U.S. Stood alone in the Pacific against the Japanese, who after Midway and Guadalcanal, still had 4 large and several small fleet carriers. Sara gets honorable mention.
For the Japanese I like the Junyo, a converted luxury liner turned fleet carrier.
The Illustrious Class were awesome with their armored flight decks.

For me I have not one but six Carriers as some of my Favorites,and they are:

1.Akagi
2.Kaga
3.Zuikaku
4.Taiho
5.Shinano
6.Lexington

With regards to the scapping of the Enterprise you're right Flintloque it was an absolute crime,but they were'nt able to come up with the funds to save her.

It's kinda ironic that Admiral Nimitz helped raise the funds to save the Japanese Battleship Mikasa,since it was symbolic to the Japanese but we could'nt raise the ten million dollars to save the Enterprise.

Captain Gideon

Akagi as well. link

Giuseppe Miraglia,Chitose and Chiyoda. Robert

Aquila!

Graf Zeppelin. Pure and zimple.

Tone-class Scout Cruisers, and the Ise/Hyuga BBVs. I-400 class SSCVs.

What, those aren't real carriers?

Fine, Shinano.

The Bren Carrier…

HMS Argus, she was the first and served with distinction.

'It was a bomb ketch, refitted for polar exploration. She vanished during Franklin's expedition to navigate the North-West Passage.'

Thank you

'GarrisonMiniatures, about Lord Franklin:

YouTube link'

Thank you.

USS Enterprise, the WWII version. She held the line
in the Pacific alone for a while.

And for grins, USS Wolverine and USS Sable – paddle-
wheel aircraft carriers…

my vote has changed to the enterprise….she was almost certainly the most influential individual ship in action of the second world war.

The Enterprise, although my neighbor served on the Franklin. He was sure he would die as his battle station was as the bilge watch and doomed to be be the last man off. However, because he was in the bilges, they forgot about him when the kamakazis hit.

USS Saratoga CV60 commissioned in 1956 is still afloat at Providence RI but attempts to turn her into a museum have been unsuccessful so she still may be scrapped.

Newport, actually. Well, probably Middletown.

Looks-wise, I like Kaga and Akagi in the multiple-flying-off-deck era.
-Kle.

Zuikaku for me, with Akagi and Kaga as runners up.

The Bearn gets an honorable mention.

War Pigeons, especially a Dickin medal one.