USS Casablanca - Guide 351
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 พ.ค. 2024
- The Casablanca class, escort carriers of the US Navy, are today's subject.
Read more about the ship here:
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'Legionnaire' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
Pinned post for Q&A :)
Had battleships remained dominant and 20 inch guns had been commissioned, could rates of fire of 2rpm have been achieved and sustained for these 20/20.1 inch guns like those on the Shikishima in WoWS?
Hello, I heard some time ago that you liked to republish books that copyrights had expired, I didn't know they did?
If true I have a very old paperback copy of "War Fish", George Grider as told to Lydel Sims, published in 1959 by Pyramid Books by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company.
Grider Commanded the USS Flasher submarine in World War Two and was a junior officer on the USS Wahoo on it's last mission before it's loss. Dick O'kane was the XO.
Or would just like a chance to read? I live in the USA, we met on the USS North Carolina.
How usual was it to have battleships have their guns replaced by a greater number of lower caliber guns? Would it make a difference?
Weren't two escort carriers used in Korea, Baedong Strait and Sicily?
I should be learning Chinese.
Oh god this is good.
Only the USN could say, "Let's just build 50 aircraft carriers as an experiment and see if we want to get serious about mass producing them."
There is a reason the British Empire was all too happy to sit at the Washington Naval Conference and sign away their freedom to build exactly what they wanted; even the Royal Navy couldn't have exactly what it wanted, at least the Americans were committed on paper to not leveraging their huge economy to do things like build fifty big ships just as an experiment!
that would be a nice, funny and powerful sight@@genericpersonx333
It's what we should be doing right now.
Hm
@@schaferhundschmidt1798 why?
One of the most underrated ship classes. Among their crews, CVE was sarcastically said to stand for "Combustible, Vulnerable, and Expendable", but in the end "Kaiser's coffins" were Indispensable.
They were expendable and in a war that's acceptable better a Casablanca lost than an Essex class.
Exactly why the US needs to make a new version of this concept - NOW, not when shots are being fired! Supercarriers are nice and all, but if you park them within range of the Chinese Air Force, then it would be a lot better to have more smaller carriers (you'd lose less face if one is sunk and you'd lose less people, aircraft etc., too!)
@@dreamingflurry2729We already have 10: Amphibious assault ships, AKA helicopter carriers, modernized for F-35B’s
@@CorePathway Yeah! 10 and 10 < 50! Especially since ships (especially carriers!) take longer to build now than they did in the 40s! Can't slap some tripple-expansion-steam-engines on them anymore etc. - Hell, a modern radar-set is probably more complicated than a whole 1945 carrier-group!
@@dreamingflurry2729 So you want the US to build 30 small aircraft carriers? Why, when we now have cruise missiles?
My grandfather was an orphaned refugee from the Spanish Civil War, came to Portland and learned to weld building Casablancas. He later used those welding chops to become a successful artist. Very neat video.
Just hold on a minute there.
@@donwayne1357it's been more than a minute, what are we holding on for?
@@somebloke3869 I'm waiting for the latex wang dapple.
One of my favorite underrated ship classes. It’s a shame none were preserved as a museum ship considering it was the most numerous class of aircraft carrier ever.
Can't save them all and museums are often a business and as a result need people to visit. If a ship isn't "sexy" it won't bring people in.
It's why HMS victory has visitors from the world over but HMS Trincomalee is a forgotten gem.
@@AdamMGTF Sad but true.
Unfortunately you're both correct.
@@AdamMGTFRyan at the USS New Jersey has several videos on the economics of museum ships.
Long story short, they are expensive to maintain and without adequate goverment and public support, they don't do well. The US Navy carefully looks at a "Save the [Insert Ship Name Here]" Group's proposal for financial viability before deciding whether to release a ship to become a museum. Navy doesn't want to release a shop that will just become a derelict.
There was one (USS Cabot) that became a museum for a short time in New Orleans, but sadly they couldn’t afford to maintain it and it got scrapped. (That was a CVL though, not a CVE)
Be worth noting that these have skinner unaflow steam engines not standard reciprocating type. Very modern efficient and reliable steam engines.
And I do believe there is still one Skinner Unaflow still operating, on a car ferry between Wisconsin and Michigan.
Unaflow steam engines are reliable and sometimes more efficient than small steam turbines. These engines (especially the Stumpf type in Germany) were able to assert themselves well in shipbuilding. In WW II many new build German minesweepers were powered by coal fired unaflow steam engines, because diesel fuel was scare.
@@darrellsmith4204,the SS Badger has 2 3500 horsepower steeple compound Skinner Uniflow steam engines powered by 4 440 psi boilers with 2 Firite stokers per boiler. I think that the boilers were Babcock and Wilcox boilers but my memory is rusty.
Interesting fact the Polish navy asked if they could have a Casablanca-class escort carrier and when refused that and the British refused to give the Polish one of their carriers as well. Admiral Swirski in 1944 decided the most logical next step was to takeover the IJN Hosho aircraft carrier, not sure how they planned on doing this and that's all I know about it but that was such a fascinating story and I feel like I need more detail. Also after the war the Polish Navy had huge plans which included building 3 battleships and aquiring 6 Cassablanca-class escort carriers.
"not sure how they planned on doing this". If I had to guess, they would sail right up to it, signal "I AM A POLE!" and then fire on it until it surrenders.
Welp, nobody wanted us getting too strong. We were this convenient, but ultimately unfitting thing where we just wanted our country back, but that just wasn't sitting well with the fat cats of the day.
@@bjorntrollgesicht1144 Poland would be way too OP for both the Allies and the Axis
@@bjorntrollgesicht1144 Mostly the aging moustache twirling villain next door, and I'm not talking about the one stuck in his bunker.
@@Paludion the cobblers son cutthroat and failed clergyman?
My great-grandfather served aboard a Casablanca-class, the USS Kitkun Bay, from 1944 to 1946. He was there during the Battle of Guam, and was part of Taffy III. He was partly why i served in the Navy from 2017-2022. Thank you for covering her and her sisters Drach!
Great grandpappy would have been proud!
Fanshaw Bay, Kitkun Bay, Kalinin Bay, White Plains, Gambier Bay, or St. Lo?
@@connormclernon26 Kitkun Bay boss.
@@davidb6576 thanks man
Thank You for your Service. My Grand Dad served in Pacific on USS LST 864, saw occupation duty in Japan and I still have 2-IJN sake cups. Despite the sake cups, he had a hatred of Japan, I think from seeing film that US Navy found on almost every Island we took, they liked taking pictures those Japanese even then.
Important to note. Doris Miller, Pearl Harbor-hero and Navy Cross recipient for actions aboard USS West Virginia, died on USS Liscome Bay in the Battle of Mankin.
He may have been assigned to something combustible, vulnerable, and expendable in his final hours...
*But his new namesake is a Gerald R. Ford-class supercarrier.*
And that’s a better more honorable namesake than some other ships have had of late…
Glad they stopped naming the damn things after politicians
Doris? Hm...poor guy, for me that's woman's name!
@@johnthomas2485 At least they didn't continue naming ships after traitors (the last being the inexplicable SSBN-601 Robert E Lee)
@@dreamingflurry2729 even if he was named Ashley or Elizabeth, you wouldn't be saying it's a woman's name to his face. he was a big man.
I've been a fan of escort carriers for a long time. Bogues are my favorite (because of their multi-theater resume), but the 'Kaisers' deserve their own accolades. Nobody wanted them, 'til the US Navy decided to keep them all. You gotta' love that Kaiser engineers sorted an unwanted engine (even by triple-expansion standards) and gained speed over their turbine stable mates to boot. An escort carrier's only 'armor' was its boldness. Thanks for this Drach.
Well out. They need more attention I'd say.
The British *MAC Ships* are also little known, even though they served well with no losses.
...and their dyslexic sisters, even less.
Oregonian here, I love the history of ship building in Portland and Vancouver during WW2. Vanport was a town built to house the workers but it sadly was destroyed by a flood in 1948. You can still see the remains of the Vancouver shipyard along the Columbia. The other two shipyards in Portland are near St John's and on Swan Island; the later being converted to a massive dry dock. We also had a few smaller shipyards that produced other vessels such as Tugs, Net Layers, Submarine Chasers, Landing Craft, etc.
In a fun footnote, on the east side of what used to be the Vancouver Kaiser yard- warships of a sort are being built again. Vigor is building a new class of landing craft for the US Army now...
A true workhorse, no flash no thunder, and the ding, ding, ding as they came out of the shipyards must have driven the Japanese crazy!😅😅
Japanese: we built one carrier that should do
Americans: carrier printer goes brrrrr
Kamikaze: Allow me to introduce myself
40mm Bofors: Allow me to introduce myself
@@vinnynj78 Not enough dakka, we need 5"/38s with proximity detonation goodness!.
@@marckyle5895 Xidawang wowk kuku bera fine
"just" 50 carriers, more then any other navy could have dreamed of.
If someone asks you whether or not Japan could have ever won WW2, just show them this video.
Yeah, I've seen various what if scenarios regarding how successful Pearl Harbor was, etc, and really the only one that ends in a Japanese victory is the one where Pearl Harbor doesn't happen at all, Japan just invades the Philippines and the rest of the South Pacific, and America just imposes more sanctions. Thus Japan wins by not actually crossing the line that provokes America into actually going to war.
Which has rather significant implications for the other half of the war too - even with Lend Lease still being in play, removing the Americans from the front lines in WWII Europe at the very least makes for a much harder war for the Soviets and the British and the various minor allies supporting them. Not sure it means Germany would have won - by the time America enters the war they're already suffering logistical challenges against the Soviets, Stalingrad's probably happening anyway, and the British forces in Egypt are starting to get a handle on the North Africa situation, all before Operation Torch brings American forces into play directly, so...things are not looking all that great for Germany even without American troops on the ground...but it certainly does change the face of the war.
@@rashkavar Without Pearl Harbor, and the popular reaction to it, I don't think FDR could have built enough support to enter the European war.
@rashkavar fully agree. In my opinion, after the conquest of Western Europe and Scandinavia, Germany and the UK were pretty evenly matched - for example, look at aircraft production numbers. If Germany had fully mobilised already in 1939, then perhaps they could have put enough pressure on the UK together with Italy to force them to the table, but not as in our timeline. And UK + USSR is too much to chew for Germany, although the Brits and the Russians likely could not have achieved a full victory.
Agreed. Japan misread the media in the U.S. as being anti-war, which it was. They also didn't want to become involved in another war in Europe. Japan thus thought that the U.S. was so anti-war that we would just sit back and not risk American lives to save Asia. Well when you kill American military, we'll put a "boot in your a$$....it's the American Way!"
The channel Military History Visualized also has an excellent video, titled why Japan stood no chance in ww2. It is a day by day tally of warship production during the conflict, with totals for ship type like destroyer, cruiser, fleet carrier, and so forth.
My ex-wife’s grandfather was a radioman on Lipscome Bay. As he told it he’d been in the shack most of the day and his buddy finally convinced him to go outside and smoke out there instead of filling the radio shack with smoke. He agreed and as he was lighting up and exhaling his first drag of his smoke he saw the torpedo about a second or two before impact. Because he was outside it blew him overboard, so he was one of the few survivors of her sinking, similar incident happened when he was on the Mississippi, he said he never went on the weather deck after that unless ordered to do so!😂
I can understand that, even without being superstitious otherwise
On my first airshow one pilot was outstanding, the aerobatics of Harald Strößenreuther were way beyond what the others offered.
I was looking forward to see his again next year. Not too long before that, it came on TV he had crashed while teaching.
On another show Mark Hanna was demonstrating a P-51, again way beyond the standard fly-bys. Great, looking forward to next year.
He crashed in a spanish license-built Me 109...
Other airshow, interesting was a swedish guy that had built a repilca of the Spirit of St. Louis - a while later it broke up mid-air.
Someone took me up in a Slingsby T.21, open side by side training glider. Amazing how peaceful and quiet, you could hear the birds singing on the ground. Some months later, he died on an airmeet in eastern Europe, from a banal burst appendix.
I gave up visiting airshows. I do not want to risk other people's lives.
Not only did they do much for landing operations, the Casablancas also served in anti-surface-ship roles far more often than most people realize, including for part of Samar where they pretty much decided the result of the battle (but that was hardly the only time they did anti-surface work).
The Little Giants covers CVE ops in significant detail.
Biggest contribution: anti-submarine duty during transit.
That was their intended purpose but it was not their only major role by any means (the video points out that amphibious operations ended up being their mainstay, and they also did anti-ship work surprisingly often).
Hi Drach, Do like the new music.
I dislike change of stuff I'm used to. :|
the Skinner Uniflow isn't exactly a 19th century design, rather it was the end of naval steam engines, the Skinner Uniflow being being the final development of this technology that strangely enough still lives on in the Great Lakes and had been designed in the 1930's. It was a 19th century design as much as the Bugatti WR16 is. It was the last steam engine to successfully compete with Turbines, the end of a matured technology.
Also used to ferry replacement aircraft (and pilots) out to the fleets so they wouldn't have to go back to Hawaii or the West Coast to make up combat losses.
I've always had a soft spot for the Casablanca-class. Just something about the whole idea of an escort carrier and having them properly, purpose-designed and built for it tickles my fancy. Pity that they were so soon obsolete, but history is like that.
Henry J built 50 aircraft carriers over the objections of the Admirals, then he established a whole new health care system over the objections of the AMA-and succeeded both times.
Just hold on a minute there.
Couldn't save jeep
Do you want a lolipop with your cookie?
I do a lot of sailing on the Columbia. The remnants of those dockyards are still pretty distinct over at the Washington side.
The beauty of the Sangamons was that as converted T3 tankers they could carry an absolutely massive fuel load. This served them well in the North Africa landings, where they continuously refueled the DDs on station. They carried a crazy amount of draft, though (32 ft for a fully-loaded Sangamon vs 20 for a Casablanca).
Drach does the work and speaks with authority. No one is perfect. I doubt anyone thinks he is anymore than they might think that of any of us are perfect.
He does his homework and he has a broad and deep knowledge of what he speaks about.
I can learn from Drach. I have been a history nut for most of my life. That means I have a huge amount of data that I have absorbed. That doesn’t mean my database is accurate or in the proper context. My sense is that Drach has earned his eagles and I can benefit from his knowledge. This is how his channel should be- a source of digested knowledge that is clearly explained. If I were to disagree it is incumbent on me to prove any point I would want to put forward.
Well Done Drach - so far…. We now expect continuous excellence. I think you are good with that.
Live in Chicago. Have visited U-505 since I could walk. Amazing how the capture happened.
My dad helped build these ships. One day my dad's crew boss got injured and my dad was put in charge of the crew. After delegating tasks to the crew my dad went about his own work. Shortly thereafter half the manhole covers in the shipyard were blown sky high. My dad and the rest of the crew were questioned by the FBI who were investigating the incident as possible sabotage. Turned out one of the guys on the crew was colorblind and too afraid of losing his job to tell anyone. He couldn't see the color coding on the oxygen and acetylene lines and got them swapped around. I guess the old crew boss had known and made sure he never got that job, but my dad didn't know so when he gave the task to the guy the guy just said to himself "fuck it. fifty-fifty odds."
A good reason to have Left-hand threads on certain cylinders and the usual Right-hand threads on others.
Even high pressure air is a more powerful oxidiser.
I like this pick for the new intro music
I do still miss the old track though
I like the old theme music better.
The Gambier Bay and the St. Lo were lost about eleven months (Oct. 1944) after the Liscombe Bay (Nov. 1943) and not one month as stated.
Dorie Miller was lost with the Liscombe Bay
The Guadalcanal was not on escort duty, it was out actively hunting U-Boats. "The Happy Time" was decidedly over.
The hunting groups were part of escort activities, just more remote from the convoys :)
@@Drachinifel Beg to differ. To my mind, "Escort" means assigned to a specific convoy, staying with them across the (Atlantic, usually) Ocean. Hunter-Killer groups ranged the sea independently, looking for U-Boats.
And if you are looking for another similar ship, may I suggest USS Valley Forge? She was a movie star -- and you'd never guess what movie
@@chashague8479Silent Running.
@@chashague8479 When the Allies had more than enough ships for close convoy escort duty they were split up into 3 distinct groups: close escort (classic convoy escorting), support groups who would aid convoys under attack, and hunter-killer groups tasked with trying to attack U-boots in likely patrol areas independent of any specific convoy. The hunter-killer groups presence meant U-boots could be under attack while no convoys were in the immediate area. And when convoys did move through that area there were likely fewer U-boots available and they would have been under irregular attack before the convoy arrived.
@@chashague8479 a movie that featured music by P.D.Q.Bach and the cutest robots ever?
My Grandpa came to Vanport, from Tennessee, and my Grandma from North Dakota. That's how they met, working on ships there. My Grandma would be suspended on the side of a ship, welding, and my Grandpa would come along, eating a sandwich, and chat with her as she worked! I wish I knew what ships they worked on!
Both of my paternal grandparents built liberty ships in that shipyard. They made the drive every day from Kalama WA. My grandfather was a welder and grandmother a literal rosey the riveter.
After my family moved back to the Portland atea in '74, my Dad took my brother and me to what's left of the Kaiser shipyard in Vancouver. Even aftet that visit, we didn't know that the Cadablanca class had been built there. All we knew about was the Liberty ships. Even though it was only about 30 years after the last ship went down the ways into the Columbia, there was almost nothing left but broken concrete slabs where the ships were built and some pilings rotting in the river where the they were tied up after their launch.
Pity the shipyard wasnt preserved as a museum.
A remarkable class for sure.
Not the least of which because the entire class, near enough, was completed in eighteen months. From the laying down of the first to the commissioning of the last.
Just hold on a minute there.
@@donwayne1357 Not something you'd hear said in Kaiser's shipyards that.
I live just outside of Vancouver WA. There is a cool park on the Columbia with an observation tower where you can see all the old Kaiser Shipyard slipways.
You mentioned the last Escort carriers were scrapped in the 1960's. Look at the movie Magnum Force with Clint Eastwood. There is a chase at the end that ends up on what looks like an escort carrier. That movie I believe was made in 1972-73. I wonder if there was another class of escort carrier or they were Casablanca class vessels? Just a scrap of useless information from a Lunatic mind. Love these guides on Saturday, Coffee and a Guide.
I've always wondered what it was and it's story .
Might have been one of the Commencement Bay class CVE's, the class that came after the Casablancas. Some of them weren't scrapped until the early 70's
I was stationed in Alameda at the time when that movie was filmed. Those carriers were in the process of being towed over to Japan for scrapping. The producers saw them and thought it would make a great setting for the finale and got in touch, and that, as they say, was that.
The ship in Magnum Force was CVE-116 USS Badoeng Strait, a Commencement Bay class escort carrier.
@@CaptainColdyron222 I didn't know their names at the time, but I did see them parked over in Oakland, not far from where I was stationed.
Admiral Daniel Gallery's book "U-505" is full of great stories about his time as Captain of USS Guadalcanal in addition to the story of the actual boarding and capture of the submarine. Not only were Gallery's the first to conduct 24 hour flight operations off an escort carrier, they even managed to conduct flight operations with the captured submarine in tow, which was considered so unlikely Gallery had the ship cinematographer film it for proof.
Portland Oregon resident here, love seeing our history. We can really crank em' out, given proper motivation! Love our port city!
Except Vancouver, Washington is not a part of Portland, Oregon.
@@sadams12345678 Oregonian jealously of us Washingtonians…what else is new
@elliottmcnear8516 The video clearly mentions Kaiser yards on both sides of the river, did you miss that part or what?
Did you wake up an ass?
My father served aboard CVE81 USS Rudyerd Bay during the war, and immediately following the war when the ship served as part of the "Magic Carpet Fleet" bringing Marines and Soldiers back to the US mainland for mustering out.
My Father Kenneth McLaughlin WT/3 served aboard USS Gambier Bay. He crossed the bar in 1969 when I was 3.
Very cool, my grandfather served as radioman on the 24th of the Casablanca class USS Savo Island. He was in a little shindig known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which my grandfather called "a rather minor battle."
I like the intro music.
Interesting side note on Vancouver, WA.
It actually predates both its now larger neighbor to the south, Portland. AND the much more well known Vancouver, BC.
You packed a lot into only eight minutes. I new several people that had worked in the Vancouver yard. One in particular remarked that working there was some of the happiest days of her life, " As a 19 year old woman I was to do thing that a woman had never before been allowed to do". She worked on the Casablanca's out of a shop that moved as the construction progressed, starting on the ground and then lifted to the flight when there was room for it.
I highly recommend the following two book for anyone interested the Portland-Vancouver WWII ship production:
"War on the Home Front"', by Chauncey Del French, and "Liberty Factory", by Peter Mash. Both a available on line.
3.5 months to build an aircraft carrier, let's be real, the Japanese never stood a chance.
It’s easy to build, but easy to sunk.
The Japanese have might be stood a chance earlier
The Japanese never had a chance because even if they sank the American battle fleet the Americans had the industrial capacity to simply build another one. So it becomes a matter of we sunk the American fleet, now what?
@@copter2000...YOU'RE COMPARING APPLES AND ORANGES...
Sir. Thanks. Among the honored heroes who went down with the USS Liscome Bay was Dory Miller.🇺🇸
Another Great short Documentary. My Only Comment is that both My Mother and Our Aunt were Welder's on those Particular Ship's. What the USA did once they Entered the War. And Ramped up the Industry of Democracy with it's Tremendous Effort's. There wasn't anything They couldn't really Accomplish. The Results we're Fantastic. Thank You.
Gotta give Kaiser credit, dude could pump out ships at 3/4 impulse speed.
"We'll always have a five minute guide"
I'm shocked to find a Casablanca reference in the comments! Shocked!
@@RCAvhstape"Here is you're 5 minute guide, sir"
Cool! My grandfather was the navigator on the USS Mission Bay, CVE-59. They dodnt see much action, but they escorted FDR to the Yalta Conference.
Love this. My grandfather served on the Casablanca from her commissioning through to the end of the war. I'm always looking for more information on her in particular.
I’ve never seen actual names for escort carriers before! In documentaries you usually just hear something like “and several escort carriers.”. Thanks Drach!
Excellent timing. I just took my model of the CASABLANCA out of the package yesterday. However, I do not plan to build all 50 of them.
I have photos of U.S.S. Ommaney Bay (CVE 79) sinking, taken by a family member from his ship U.S.S. Abbot DD 629.
I had an employer that served on the USS Wake Island (CVE-65) in the Pacific as a Machinist Mate. He was the Petty Officer of the Watch in engine room when the Wake Island was hit by a Japanese plane in the bow on April 3rd 1945 off of Okinawa. He said he was sitting on a stole watching the gauges one moment and the next moment he found himself laying on the deck when the aircraft hit the bow.
This represents what made America great. Used exactly and no more resources then necessary to do their job efficiently. Consideration was also given to survivability.
Will there be a similar respective about the Sangemon-Class escort carriers? There were only four, but they had a very high reputation because their conversion from tankers to escort carriers meant they had a larger flight deck, a steadier landing deck, and could spend longer times at sea.
“Of all the ship joints in all the world, she had to sail into this one.” - Richard Blaine.
Obviously a different class of small US carrier, but four of them went to breakers are the Richmond end of the Richmond San Rafael Bridge in SF CA Bay area. This would have been mid to late 70's as we did not move to CA till '70. We would pass them on the way to skin diving for abalone on the coast. Only decades later I would see them again in a Dirty Harry movie.
My uncle flew with VC-19 off the Bogue and the Guadalcanal. He was a TBF pilot, he didn’t come home.
The loss of Liscome Bay is always something that stands out, as does HMS Avenger and Dasher, for the sheer ferocity of their sinkings. Obviously a magazine going up will be violent, but it still is unbelievable when reading about the eye-witness accounts. I can't remember who, but when telling of Avenger's loss, a sailor aboard a troopship immediately astern of the escort carrier articulated the swiftness in which Avenger sank by emphasizing she already was under when reaching the smoke of the explosion. Liscome Bay's survivors from below in the engineering spaces reporting walking out at the waterline, still well below decks, and walking out then off of the ship. Water lapping into an exposed engineering compartment that was aflame and had its top peeled off. And of course Dasher just spontaneously exploding and sinking, joining many accidental magazine detonations of warships.
The Juneau disappeared entirely before the smoke cleared, as well. It was assumed there were no survivors, as a consequence. Tragically, for the few who were left behind.
How quickly shipyards and other production facilities were set up and put into operation during WW2 is truly outstanding.
It's hard to fathom, honestly. These days everything seems to take forever. There's an old rail bridge in our town that's being pulled out and scrapped with a lighter replacement bridge being put in in its place for a biking/walking trail on the old line's route, and it was initially supposed to take six months of road closures, now bumped up to over a year after the replacement bridge buckled two days after they started to put it in. I'm pretty much certain you could have given this job to the SeaBees to do on any given Monday and their only question would have been what do you want us to do on Friday?
That was the real source of victory in both world wars.
America's factories built the victory.
@@richmcgee434 I live near Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in Maine.
I worked in machining and fabrication.
I would not hire shipyard workers.
Their work ethic is crap.
Yes, they COULD repair a sub in a week, but it's scheduled for 6 months, and it will darn well take 6 months, maybe a bit over.
In their defense I will say that in peace time the job is not producing ships, it is retaining the skilled workers for when you DO need ships.
@@tombogan03884 Been watching the old 70s Warship show and I just hit one of the episodes where the laziness of unionized dockies is a major plot point. It's pretty funny how just plain sacred of the union the navy is. Somehow I doubt the situation's has improved any in the intervening fifty years since the show was made.
When you hear the expression on how WWII was won, "It was British Intelligence, Russian Blood and American Steel", now you know what that means.
3 and a half months for an entire aircraft carrier...😮 That's cooking lads!
These are *tiny* by the standards of carriers, but still, I'm pretty sure there's some shipyards around today that would struggle to build a speedboat in 3.5months, so..
Three months to build a baby carrier! truly a part of American history I am proud of. Wish we could get some of that can-do hard working attitude these days.
My father served as an Electrician's Mate aboard the CVE-111 Vella Gulf. He said the most dangerous thing he ever did in WWII was to be hung in a bosun's chair over the edge of the flight deck to change the running lights in a high sea up in Puget Sound! :)
Another advantage over the Bogue/Attacker/Ruler class was that as purpose built ships, they had a flat hanger deck rather than following the curvature of the hull, making aircraft handling easier. However, they performed worse in the heavy North Atlantic seas which is one of the main reasons they went to the Pacific.
Chicago native here, thanking you for the reference to USS Guadalcanal.
The CVEs were more successful than anticipated. And 18 CVEs showed what they could really do against a large Japanese task force.
Thank you for this excellent video! My father served aboard the USS White Plains (CVE-66) as an aviation machinist mate (AMM) petty officer first class during the invasion of Saipan in June/July 1944, after having served at CASU-1 and CASU-2 from 1942 until the Mariana Islands Campaign. A piece on the Carrier Aircraft Service Units at Ford Island and Barber's Point and the invasion of Saipan would be awesome.
That last photo is incredible.
My mother-in-law’s first husband was one of those that didn’t survive the sinking of the Bismarck Sea.
My mom built liberty ships and carriers for Kaiser. Great video documentary
Of all the new intro songs, this one is pretty decent.
Nothing will truly replace the OG, but ohwell 💜
So far this is the one that best fits the drama and tone of the original.
It does put me in mind of Pirates of the Caribbean... Definite piratical overtones... 😀
@@johncunningham6928considering the ironclad-fast battleship era is so short compared to the span of naval history he covers, a bit of a piratical tone is appreciated imo, especially since some of the ships he has covered were well old enough to have faced pirated vessels.
This was very interesting, esp about how they freed up the larger carriers.
You have to imagine that a Ship class like CASABLANCA WAS a modern equivalent of a small MISSILE ship. Having 45 missiles // planes etc.
My father served on two of those, one in WW2 and another in the Korean War.
A Knox Class FF would be an interesting ship to look at
A bit outside the channels scope, but I agree
Yep. Channel ends at 1950. I'm sure there are others out there that cover newer ships
@@AdamMGTF bilge pumps if they ever release another episode
An uncle of mine that I never got to meet died on Bismarck Sea at Iwo Jima. He was a fireman and would most likely gone down trying to save the ship. My mother said I looked a lot like him.
Two were loaned to the French navy post war. The Bellow Wood and Lafayette.
They were Independence class light carriers, not Casablancas.
Best new intro music so far
My father was on one of those Casablanca class. U.S.S. Makin Island
"Hurry up" Henry Kaiser, one of the US's best and not all that well known weapons of WWII
My grandpa served on the USS Windham Bay Casablanca Class Carrier. Never got to here any stories but I know it was hit by a kamikaze and went through a typhoon that had the flight deck get rolled up. Thanks for doing this video. I will make sure to show my kids something that their great-grandfather served on.
Obligatory "My Grandfather Served on the Casablanca" post. I miss you, Grampa, and all your stories about your ship mates on the Casablanca. Thanks for this, Drach.
My grandmother christened the Thetis Bay. I have the inscribed marble and silver cigarette case that was presented to her.
I have no doubt that Kaiser would have loved to sell 100 hulls to the U. S. Navy ^^
I love these Escort Carriers.
Yes, its a shame they decided to not save any of them as a museum ship
I like this video's intro music the most of the new songs that you've been sampling.
Again, I would recommend the book "The Men of the Gambier Bay" by Edwin P. Hoyt. It does a splendid job of telling the story of both the ship and her air group from construction/formation to the end. What is amazing is how these little ships were such complete warships in most details. And just what can be accomplished with emergency ships and green crews.
I they were designed by the George Sharpe firm rather than Gibbs & Cox which did design the later Commencement Bay class. My father worked for Gibbs & Cox during this period and never said anything about the Casablanca Class. Th e G&C model shop produced a model of the Commencement Bay class that was displayed at the entrance to the office well after the war was over.
I went by what was recorded in Friedman :)
Mark Stille (US Navy Escort Carriers 1942-1945) also lists the designers as Gibbs & Cox, and TBH it wouldn’t surprise me if your father never interacted enough with the Casablanca class for them to be worth mentioning for him. Gibbs is a big firm now, and was absolutely massive in those days. It would be entirely possible for an employee to spend the entire 18-month period of their construction working other projects, and because they’re not the famous front line combatants or the wave of Liberty ships, they just sort of fade into the background. G&C did a lot of work both designing and procuring things during WWII. Some of it is less well remembered than others. We also did the LSM, and hardly anybody who isn’t a historian or a huge history buff even remembers that one existed.
@@michaelimbesi2314 I'm going by my fathers copy of "Gibbs & Cox, Inc. Naval Architects and marine Engineers" 1948. It lists everything designed by G&C up to that time and the only CVE's listed is the CVE105 class on page 74.
My dad joined the US Navy in the summer of 1941 and was on the USS Steamer Bay through the end of WW2
escort carriers are undervalued
Love videos about older ships. Great video
Just a side note on the Liberty's: at one point they were being launched at a rate of over 100 per month. Now that is truly Mass Production!
I prefer this music to the other new one
For all of the amazing work that Keizer did, very little of his legacy remains.
US Navy: "This is an experiment. We're not sure if irs gonna work."
Also US Navy: "Build 50 of 'em anyeay."
These little CVEs may not look like much compared to the larger Fleet Carriers like Yorktown and Essex classes, but they did a lot for the US Navy in the war. Excluding convoy escorting, ASW work, and ferrying around aircraft, they gave the USN lots of extra flight decks. The USN had the immense luxury of having these CVEs tasked with supporting ground troops, amphibious operations. This freed up the Fleet Carriers and the fast going Independence-class CVLs to worry more about air defense, reconnaissance, and antiship duties. A fantastic example of this was for Saipan in 1944. While US ground troops fought ashore, CVEs were part of a fleet whose sole purpose was supporting the ground effort. Meanwhile the other ships, especially the Fleet Carriers, were looking for trouble from the Imperial Japanese Navy. And the IJN would come looking for trouble too, as they brought their Carriers for the first time since 1942, as well as a massive air attack.
I bring this up because of the problems faced by the Japanese in the Battle of Midway, 1942. Nagumo was given a hard mission. Not only was he supposed to subdue the American defenses of Midway in preparation for an amphibious assault, but he had another mission to destroy the US Navy's Carriers. Dealing with land based targets using bombs was not the preferred weapons of armor piercing bombs and torpedoes to be used against capital ships. His Carriers were caught having to be focused on ground attack then all the sudden having to switch to antiship. They lost valuable time switching to ideal weapons for antiship work. Even for the 4 Carriers that Nagumo had, this was a big problem. This was disaster.
Meanwhile later in the war, these extra flight decks for the USN let them specialize in all aspects: Air to air, air to ground, and be able to go against warships.
These dinky little Escort Carriers look like nothing, but they gave the US Navy freedom. In the end, when you're a soldier on the ground or a sailor aboard some ship, it made absolutely no difference to you if the Hellcat strafing / rocketing you, TBF Avenger bombing / torpedoing you, came from a big expensive Fleet Carrier or some dinky little, cheap, slow going Escort Carrier.
In the Battle of Samar, at Leyte Gulf, 1944, Kurita in command of the powerful Center Force was dealing with an incessant swarm of naval aircraft. The Japanese dealing with these planes, the fierce resistance of the destroyers, swore up and down that they were facing Halsey's powerful fleet of Carriers who had a strong escort. They weren't. All they were dealing with were some Escort Carriers trying to (slowly) run away while their Destroyers fanatically fought to buy them time in doing so, and launching their planes towards the Japanese. Halsey's Carriers were nowhere near the area to help.
One of my favorite ship classes, for some reason I always loved the idea of little carriers. If you look at the list of how many the US made, it really shows the industrial power we truly had
My mom's dad was an "Airedale " on the USS Steamer Bay. His crew manhandled positioning aircraft on the flight deck. They would ferry replacement planes and pilots to the main fleet carriers and bring wounded back to Pearl Harbor. Also they would support military operations in the pacific theater. He once told me that the Japanese kamikaze was the scariest threat. Otherwise he didn't talk about it.
I've long had a soft spot for these little ships. Meant to be little more than ferry vessels, they were developed into very effective combat platforms in their own right: sub-killers in the Atlantic and tactical air support in the Pacific and later Korea.
Grandpa served on the Saginaw Bay CVE 82. Sadly never talked about it.