Evening star., 1945-10-08
Mitscher Cites
Need for Stronq
Carrier Force
Tells Midshipmen
War Proved Value
Of Air Supremacy
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
ANNAPOLIS, Md, Oct. 8.-Vice
Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, deputy
chief of naval operations for air,
said today that our carrier suprem-
acy should be maintained in the
postwar period and added that car
air power is the present.
day medium for enunciating the
principles of naval warfare"
In speech before the brigade of
at the Naval Academy
which is celebrating it's centennial
this week. the former commander
of Task Force So of Pacific fame
said:
I'm seeking basis upon which
to establish the composition of the
Navy of tomorrow we must
not for moment lose sight of the
fact that our carrier supremacy de-
feated Japan and that carrier su-
premacy should be maintained.
Carrier Supremacy Proven.
With the passage of time, there
will undoubtedly appear weapons
to challenge the carrier, but re-
member this-we have proven the
efficacy of carrier air power and
until such a time as other weapons
are proven to be superior we should
not neglect the power that is car
rier supremacy"
(The Associated Press reported
from Washington last night that it
had been learned that the Navy has
drawn plans for its postwar fleet al
locating secondary role to aircraft
carriers, despite the role played by
aviation in the winning of the war.
fThe Associated Press said that
battleship-minded top officials had
forbidden discussion of these post
war plans by the so-called "air ad-
mirals," and that proponents of a
larger role for aviation were hopeful
that Congress would insist on hear
ing from the men who directed the
carriers against Japan, such as
Admiral Mitscher.)
Must Have Combined Power.
Admiral Mitscher told the mid
shlpmen that "carrier-based air
power proved beyond the shadow of
a doubt that air power and sea
power are one and the same thing"
and that "it is upon this premise
that your training as naval officers
should be based"
He said there was no new principle
of naval warfare involved in carrier
warfare.
The carrier planes range is $50
to 300 rifles, while the maximum
range of our largest main battery
gun is Is miles," he explained. Con
sequently, our carrier plane becomes
the weapon of offensive action
against the enemy"
The admiral told of how carrier
planes defend themselves against
enemy attack while en- route to the
target, take offensive action against
hostile aircraft, how they assist in
clearing beachheads, and how the
carriers themselves shoot down
enemy planes.
"In short" he summed up, "car-
rier-based power is the present-day
medium for enunciating the princi-
Piles or naval warfare"
Integrated Team.
He defined carrier supremacy as
mot the application of air power
alone but "the well-rounded, in
tegrated team of air -surface-ground
forces working towards the same OBJ
jective-destruction of the enemy -
The Mars Sd, mammoth flying
boat just off the assemly line; the
Navy's best fighting planes; a Jap
anese kamikaze and German jet
propelled plane-all have been
brought here to join in the celebra-
ton of the Naval AcademyS an
niversary.
Admiral Mitscher and Vice Ad-
miral Aubrey w. Fitch, superintend-
ent of the academy, met the Mars
when 1t landed at Holland Field be-
side Thompson Stadium today.
The giant Mars, with a wing span
of 210 feet, is moored to a dock
which can be picked up and flown
away-the latest in advanced sea-
plane mooring.
The japanese suicide plane on ex-
hibit is in effect a piloted bomb. 1t
was captured on Okinawa. The Ger
man twin-engined jet plane was
found in an underground factory in
Germany.
The smallest of the aircraft on ex-
hibit is the old Grumman Wildcat in
use at the beginning of the war in
carrier activities. 1t put up the most
successful defense of Guadalcanal.