Evening star., 1942-06-14

Guinea, the latter action being carried
out by carrier planes operating from land
bases. And the Coral Sea battle has
provided striking evidence of carrier
potency.
The leader of the Marshall and Gilbert
Islands raid, Vice Admiral William F.
Halsey, says "the airplane serves in the
dual capacity of the far-seeing eye and
the far-shooting gun; an eye that sees
hundreds - even thousands - of miles,
and gun whose bullets, In the form of
bombs and torpedoes, strike from equally
distant points"
The large carriers are very fast good
for long, quick dashes and sudden with
drawals-of special value to navies that
operate over the vast distances of the
Pacific. Their planes, with a radius of
about 300 miles, can patrol large areas
and unload bombs and torpedoes hum
dreds of miles from the ship.
Respect for Battleship Retained.
But being lightly armored, they are
more vulnerable than battleships. They
conditions are too bad, their planes can't
leave the ship. Their fighter planes in
addition, are no match for land-based
planes, for the special equipment they
need for landing and taking of on car
riers decreases their endurance, speed
and maneuverability.
As they must avoid if possible, battles
with land-based fighters, the air ex-
tremists-those who emphasize the i'm
portance of air power almost to the ex-
clusion of other weapons-view carriers
as of limited value. The answer, they
declare, is giant land-based planes, able
to traverse half the world and needing
no help from ships on the surface of
the sea.
But few naval aviators look so far
ahead And most naval authorities re-
tain a great respect for the battleship.
What if the weather is bad, they ask,
and the carriers can't launch their
planes? Only the battleship can then
protect the convoy or the task force.
What if the carrier or carriers are sunk.
and their planes must flee or crash? If
enemy battleships are being engaged,
battleships-with their long range guns.
firing deeply penetrating explosives-will
be needed to oppose them.
They predict that some great naval
battle of the future will thus turn into
an old-fashioned slugging match be-
tween two or more dreadnoughts. AS
long as the enemy has such ships, we'll
| need them, too, they say. But. it is
| freely admitted, battleships cannot ope-
rate without the protection of carriers
| planes.
Most of Jap Carriers Small.
The aircraft carrier has achieved its
present eminence in slow stages. AL
though the British had one at the close
of the World War, this country didn't
| get its first carrier until 1922. BY 1881
the United States had only three car
.riers, to Is battleships; on Navy Day OF
1910 there were six carriers and II bat
tleships. The plan for the two-ocean
| Navy. announced late in 1910, called
} for Is carriers and 80 battleships.
The carrier advanced in importance,
some say, in proportion to the improve
| ments in aviation. Planes now can fly
faster, take off more easily and safely.
bomb more accurately than in the World
War; they have more fire power, have
heavy armor and can fly in worse
weather.
But the japanese, apparently. have ac-
| corded far more recognition to the grow
ing importance of the naval air arm
than either America or Great Britain.
| year or two ago. it has been estimated,
they had Is carriers, compared to seven
each owned by this country and the
| British.
Most Of their carriers are small ac-
commodating not more than 80 to 40
| planes. 1t is believed that We lately
have been converting cargo ships INTO
carriers of this size.
What size and how many carriers are
to be built under the new program has
not been announced. But 1t is the guess
| of experts that before the construction
is completed the fleet will have at least
| two or three times as many carriers as
battleships.