With the advent of heavier-than-air flight, the aircraft carrier has become a decisive weapon at sea.
 In 1911 aircraft began to be successfully launched and landed on ships with the successful flight of a Curtiss Pusher aboard the USS "Pennsylvania".
 The British Royal Navy pioneered the first aircraft carrier as floatplanes, as flying boats under performed compared to traditional land based aircraft.
 The first true aircraft carrier was the HMS "Argus" , launched in late 1917 with a complement of 20 aircraft, a flight deck of 550 ft and 68 ft wide.
 The last aircraft carrier sunk in wartime was the Japanese carrier "Amagi", in Kure Harbour in July 1945.
 The greatest loss of life was the 2,046 killed on the "Akitsu Maru"—a converted passenger liner with a small flight deck, carrying the Imperial Japanese Army's 64th Infantry Regiment.
USS "Rich" (DD-820/DDE-820) was a "Gearing"-class destroyer in the United States Navy during the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
 She was the second ship named in honor of Lieutenant (j.g.) Ralph McMaster Rich (1916–1942), who was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership as a fighter pilot off the USS "Enterprise" (CV-6) during the Battle of Midway.
USS "Holton" (DE-703), a "Buckley"-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named after Ralph Lee Holton, who was born on 19 September 1918, and graduated from the Naval Academy in December 1941.
 He was awarded the Navy Cross for his valiant rescue work aiding survivors of the stricken aircraft carrier "Lexington" on 8 May 1942 in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
 As officer-in-charge of a boat detailed to rescue survivors from the burning carrier, Ensign Holton, under a hail of flaming debris from bombs, ammunition, and gasoline exploding on "Lexington", persistently returned to the stricken ship and thus effected a series of daring rescues in which he saved the lives of many members of the ship's crew who otherwise would have been lost.
 Less than a month later, on 6 June, Ensign Holton was reported missing and presumed dead as his ship, the destroyer "Hammann" , was sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Battle of Midway while assisting the aircraft carrier "Yorktown" .
Captain Cecil E. "Cece" Harris (December 2, 1916 – December 2, 1981) was a schoolteacher, United States naval aviator and World War II ace fighter pilot.
 Harris is remembered for actions in the Pacific Ocean Theater which earned him nine combat medals including the Navy Cross, the highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor.
 He ended the war as the Navy's second-highest-scoring ace, credited with shooting down 24 Japanese planes.
 Harris scored 16 of his aerial victories in just four days, downing four enemy aircraft each of those days.
 Never during the course of his 88-day tour with VF-18 did a bullet hit his aircraft.
 It has been said that Harris "was arguably the most consistently exceptional fighter pilot in the US Navy..."
USS "Rich" (DE-695) was a "Buckley"-class destroyer escort , the first United States Navy ship named in honor of Lieutenant (j.g.) Ralph M. Rich (1916–1942) who was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership as a fighter pilot off "Enterprise" during the Battle of Midway.
USS "Enterprise" (CV-6), was the seventh U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name.
 Colloquially called "the Big E", she was the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy.
 A "Yorktown"-class carrier, she was launched in 1936 and was one of only three American carriers commissioned before World War II to survive the war (the others being "Saratoga" and "Ranger" ).
 She participated in more major actions of the war against Japan than any other United States ship.
 These actions included the Attack on Pearl Harbor (18 dive bombers of VS-6 were over the harbor, 6 were shot down with a loss of eleven men, making her the only American Aircraft carrier with men at Pearl Harbor during the Attack and the first to receive casualties during the Pacific War), the Battle of Midway, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, various other air-sea engagements during the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
 "Enterprise" earned 20 battle stars, the most for any U.S. warship in World War II, and was the most decorated U.S. ship of World War II, She is also the first American ship to sink an enemy vessel during the Pacific War, the sole surviving pilot of the six planes shot down over Pearl Harbor sank Japanese submarine I-70 on 10 December 1941.
 On three occasions during the Pacific War, the Japanese announced that she had been sunk in battle, resulting in her being named "The Grey Ghost".
Ralph W. Cousins (July 24, 1915 – August 5, 2009) was a United States Navy four star admiral and aviator.
 As an aircraft carrier pilot, Cousins led dive-bomber attacks against the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 for which he was awarded the Navy Cross.
 During the Vietnam War from 1967–1969, Cousins commanded the attack carrier strike force of five carriers stationed off the coast of Vietnam.
 In 1970, Cousins was promoted to four star admiral and appointed Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
 From 1972 to 1975, he commanded the US Atlantic Fleet and NATO forces.
USS "Douglas H. Fox" (DD-779) an "Allen M. Sumner"-class destroyer , was named in honor of Lieutenant Commander Douglas H. Fox, the commanding officer of the destroyer USS "Barton" , who went down with his ship when she was torpedoed and sunk in the naval battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942.
 Fox was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his contribution to the defeat of a superior enemy force in this battle, and was later awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a second Navy Cross for earlier actions on 26 and 30 October and 3 November, when he rescued survivors of the aircraft carrier USS "Hornet" under hazardous conditions.
Ralph McMaster Rich (22 January 1916 - 18 June 1942) was an aviator of the United States Navy during World War II.
Randolph Mitchell Holder (born September 20, 1918 in Jackson, Mississippi), was commissioned Ensign April 10, 1940 following flight training.
 Reporting to Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6) in the famous aircraft carrier  , he took part in the early carrier operations in the critical months following the attack on Pearl Harbor and then fought in the pivotal Battle of Midway, first of the great American successes in the sea war.
 In the gallant attack of the torpedo planes early on June 4, 1942, Holder and his comrades attacked the Japanese ships without fighter cover.
 Though Holder and many others were shot down while pressing this attack, they forced radical maneuvers and diverted Japanese air cover so as to make the later raids lethal to the enemy fleet.
 Lieutenant (j.g.) Holder was presumed dead next day, June 5, 1942, and was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously for his heroism.

Question:  Lieutenant (j.g.) Ralph McMaster Rich (1916–1942), was a fighter pilot who was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership on an aircraft carrier, that launched in what year?
Answer: 1936