"Carrier launch capacity" Topic

What would be the capability for a carrier to launch a wave of planes?
Take the USS Enterprise…how many planes could be launched in the first wave? Maybe the IJN Hiryu?

Thanks

Not sure the exact numbers but I know they could spot a fair number – probably in the neighborhood of two squadrons. Certainly they could launch at least in squadron strength.

Well for Pearl Harbor the IJN from the Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku for the first wave launched 183 aircraft.90 Nakajima B5N Kate bombers and also
54 Aichi D3A Val dive bombers along with 45 Mitsubishi A6M Zeke fighters.The 2nd wave consisted of 171 consisted of
54 B5Ns, 81 D3As, and 36 A6Ms. Robert

At Pearl Harbor Hiryū launched 18 Kates and 6 A6Ms. At Midway for example the Enterprise on 3 Jun 42 at 0906 launched 33 VSB, 14 VT, 10 VF. And then at 1730 Commenced launching second attack group composed of 24 VSB. And launched between 8-20 fighters at various times for CAP during the day. Robert

If you can find a copy of _The First Team_, published by
the Naval Institute Press, 1984, and written by John B.
Lundstrom, you will find some info.

Example – on page 43, there is a narrative of
USS Lexington in the Wake Island (relief) Operation.
Lundstrom says she began launching a strike force at
0924, consisting of 16 SBDs, 13 Torpedo planes,
and 7 fighters.

Then, at 0933, she recovered two SBDs after the strike
aircraft had cleared the deck.

Arithmetic says she launched her strike of 36 aircraft
in NINE minutes ! Of course, the strike had been
pre-spotted. Still, that's one airplane every
15 seconds.

Now, Lexington had aboard at the time 68 operational
aircraft of all types (out of a total of 83 on board).

So she was launching roughly half her available aircraft
on a strike. Since doctrine at the time called for
holding a reserve (both for CAP and for second-strikes)
it seems reasonable to presume that this would have
been a 'first wave' as you're defining it.

Still, that is a very fast launch, even presuming the
deck had been 'spotted' for a quick launch.

Of course, Lexington and Saratoga were very big – the
Enterprise class was smaller, but could probably launch
similar numbers in a similar time-frame.

The Essex class even more so. The Independences and the
CVE's would have been slower, but they weren't attack
carriers.

I recommend that book to anyone who can find it. It has
a wealth of information on the pre-war Naval Aviation
commnity, doctrine, development of tactics, etc. It
covers the war from just before Pearl Harbor to just
after Midway.

Good analysis, Ed.

Thanks guys!

Don't forget that this was simply airplanes flying off the deck, not carefully lining up and spotting on steam catapults like today.

A launch every 15-30 seconds would be pretty simple to do with your strike already on-deck, loaded, and running.

You're probably thinking of the concept of the "deckload strike" as described in Friedman, etc. For navies with the best flight deck doctrine (US, possibly Japanese, and later in the war British), I believe that such a strike was pre-spotted. The number of planes which could be pre-spotted was a function of the plane types, the length of the flight deck, and the wind speed over the deck (in turn partially a function of the carrier's speed, which is one reason why Ranger was not normally used as a first-line carrier).

MH

Alright,
I've been looking for the definition used here for "spotting".
Please define the term for me. Would really like to know what that means!
Thanks

Aircraft are "spotted" when positioned on deck for launch by the flight deck crew. Robert

Well, I'll be damned if I knew that!
Thank you, Robert, you are very informative…

The spotting on catapults is really critical today, since you need to be perfectly aligned with the cat or really bad things happen.

@Hinds: Until the development of the angled flight deck, every carrier strike had to be pre-spotted, and then operated pretty much as a scramble. As soon as the first bird is airborne, you need to be able to catch anyone that has trouble, and until the whole strike is up, your deck is fouled.

@Hinds: Until the development of the angled flight deck, every carrier strike had to be pre-spotted, and then operated pretty much as a scramble. As soon as the first bird is airborne, you need to be able to catch anyone that has trouble, and until the whole strike is up, your deck is fouled.

I generally agree with you. I qualified my from-memory post with "I believe" because I thought I remembered situations where a less efficient flight deck doctrine (between the wars?) might involve additional planes being brought up from the hanger, and added to the strike. Doing this wouldn't impact the ability to land planes "in trouble", but would instead just add significant delay / fragmentation to the overall strike, which is why don't think it was considered good practice in WWII.

MH