In 1922, the U.S. Navy commissioned the construction of its first small experimental aircraft carrier. This was followed by two much larger and more capable aircraft carriers in 1927, with five more built before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, including three large Yorktown-class carriers. To undertake offensive action against the Imperial Japanese Navy, the U.S. Congress funded the largest aircraft carrier construction program in history, based on the Essex class, a larger version of the earlier Yorktown ships. Of the twenty-six ordered, fourteen were built and commissioned during World War II. These were complemented by many smaller classes of aircraft carriers, including light and escort carriers. After the war, ever larger and more capable aircraft carriers were constructed. Since 1975, when the first in a series of ten nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carriers was built, they have become a symbol of United States superpower and global power projection. These are set to be replaced in the coming decades by the even more advanced nuclear-powered Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.
Compiled and written by Michael Green, Aircraft Carriers of the United States Navy contains outstanding images of all the different types of carrier classes used by the U.S. Navy since 1922. These and the highly informative text with captions offer the reader a comprehensive overview of this fascinating subject.
Pages: 200, Dimensions: 18.9x18.9cm
