Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-02-19

is somewhat analogous to providing
guns with hut one round Of ammunition
per gun. Equality in aircraft does not
in itself mean equality in effective air
strength unless there is also equality in
facilities necessary to support sus-
tanned action unless there Is also equal
ity IN facilities for repleniSlmenL OF
fuel and ammunition supply"
Mobile Landing Platform"
THE aircraft carrier" the admiral
continued, itself is nothing more nor
less than a mobile landing platform. a
sort of floating flying field which Is as
essential to sustained aircraft operations
at sea as are flying fields necessary to
aircraft operations on shore. The more
decks there are available. the more
rapidly airplanes can be rcarmed and
refueled. the more effective are the air
operations Without landing decks, air
operations at sea must practically cease
after the initial flight Of planes
The admiral emphasized that the
carrier does not become obsolete IN the
sense that a bat;leship or cruiser does
because the facilities for service OF air
craft are built on top OF the hull, while
the guns of a battleship or cruiser and
their operating mechanism are built
into the hull
Pointing TO the availability Of $4,000
tons for aircraft carriers. the admira!
said the l3.300-ton carrier had been
determined upon because five OF such
size could be built. Provided only that
the ships are large enough TO assure a
stable landing platform. and long
enough to provide necessary landing
and take-of run for the planes. small
ship can receive on board. rearm. re-
fuel and launch approximately as many
4 large one. said the admiral
With these fundamental considera-
lions prominently in mind compare the
potential air-operating strength OF g
33.ooo-ton ship such as the Lexington
with that which would result were the
same total tonnage devoted 10 the con-
structlon Of two smaller ships Of $500
tons each" he continued The smaller
ships together can carry and operate
greater tota! number OF planes be-
cause their combined free deck area
and combined deck length Is inherently
greater. Once planes are in the air.
the limiting factor in speed OF air
craft operations is how fast planes
may land on the flight decks OF car
rierS. On any carrier, regardless OF
It's size, only one plane can land OF a
time and II takes no longer for a Diana
to land on small deck than on large
one, On the one larger carrier only
one line OF planes may be operated
across the deck With the two smaller
! carriers combined, two lines may be
operated simultaneously.
Decks Hard TO Hit.
The two smaller carriers can. there
fore. put given number of planes
INTO the air IN approximately hal. the
time; and ,since the small carriers can
each handle planes practically as fas.
as the one large one, after the initial
flight is put IN the air. the two small
carriers together can receive on boar !
/ and refuel and rearrn twice as many
opSatlng planes as can the one !aygs
! one. Inat means that with Two sinai!
carriers there are more ABILITIES avail
able for Scrricelns planes carried o.,
other SHIPS than Is the case with one
large carrier of equal total disp.ace-
fnent.
The flight decks OF the smaller car
rlers are individually scarcely II a. all
less resistant 20 the explosive etFec; Q,
bombs or gun projectileS aud each IS
harder 70 hit because i, IS d smaller
target. From the standpoint Of p-otec-
tiuEi. therefore,. TIE TWO small carriers
together are greatly superior 70 r., one
large one because both decks must b.,
!. disabled before The air operations Of
either carrier are stopped Il. either
Is disabled after its lanes are III the
air. Us planes may c~atinue ~ operate
! iron, the deck o! the other"
or the value Of aviation from the
tactical standpoint, Adm,ra! MoGet;
said 1t Is row agreed by ali close
students OF naval operations that SUI
premacy OF the surface in any naval
engagement between forces o! compare
bic size cannot be had with .nferierity
in air strength
without III any way going into the
extremely controversial subject of the
ability or otherwise OF bombing air
craft or torpedo planes IL sink hsar!!y
armored hattleSh!pS." the admiral de-
clarcd, there Is ample justification fox
the statement that. AS between Two M
tons which have anywhere near Gem
parable gun power or angWhsrs near
comparahlc ship tonnage NJ SEA, victory
IN war nj SEA will inevitably 81 ~ that
fleet and Ia the nation which gains and
maintains clear supremacy III the air.
q