America's First Aircraft Carrier: USS Langley and the Dawn of U.S. Naval Aviation

ISBN-10: 1682475107
ISBN-13: 9781682475102
Category: History
Pages: 248
Language: English
Published: 2024-02-15
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Author: David F Winkler

Description

America’s First Aircraft Carrier tells the remarkable story of the USS Langley. The narrative provides an in-depth discussion of the ship’s origins as the collier USS Jupiter, which was built with a “first of” propulsion system that has been adapted for use in present-day Ford-class carriers. Author David F. Winkler considers the post–World War I debate for procuring carriers, the decision to convert Jupiter, and the identification of constructor Clayton Simmers as the father of the American aircraft carrier. The evolution of the Langley as an experimental ship was tied to the introduction of new doctrine for the United States. Promoting an independent naval air arm against Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell’s vision of an independent air force, the U.S. Navy saw Langley as an operational aircraft carrier that would change the way the Navy fought wars at sea. While the story of Langley is that of the origins of naval air combat, it is also a record of the vessel’s service in World War II until the ship’s final posting to the Asiatic Fleet, where she met her demise on February 27, 1942, off the southern coast of Java. Many of the U.S. Navy’s pioneering naval aviators are closely associated with this ship, including Kenneth Whiting, John H. Towers, Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier, Virgil C. Griffith, Mel Pride, Patrick N. L. Bellinger, Joseph M. Reeves, Gerald Bogan, Aubrey Fitch, Felix Stump, Ernest J. King, Warren G. Child, Dan Gallery, and Frank D. Wagner. A number of these individuals would go on to play critical roles during World War II. Langley’s story is their story. Aircraft carriers remain the centerpiece of American sea power projection. America’s First Aircraft Carrier provides the context on how CV 1, the “Covered Wagon,” and carrier development and utilization came to be.

Get the book

Similar books

The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People
By Paul S. Boyer, Clifford E. Clark, Karen Halttunen
By her own account, Peggy O'Neale Timberlake was “frivolous, wayward, [and] passionate.” While still married to a naval oflicer away on duty ...
The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, Volume I
By Paul S. Boyer, Clifford E. Clark, Karen Halttunen
... had married the widowed daughter of a Washington tavern keeper. By her own account, Peggy O'Neale Timberlake was “frivolous, wayward, [and] passionate.
Rice University: One Hundred Years in Pictures
By Karen Hess Rogers, Lee Pecht, Alan Harris Bath
... Bill, Kennedy, Jacqueline, Kennedy, John F., Kidd, Albert and Elizabeth, Kieran Timberlake (architects), Kilpatrick, John, Kirkland, William, Kissinger, ...
Cengage Advantage Series: The Enduring Vision
By Paul S. Boyer, Clifford E. Clark, Karen Halttunen
... 195–196, 361; abolishing of, 257 Ticonderoga fort, 157, 169 Tilden, Samuel J., 524 Timberlake, Peggy O'Neale, 301 Timbuktu, Mali, Sankore Mosque in, ...
The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, Volume 1
By Paul S. Boyer, Clifford E. Clark, Karen Halttunen
By her own account, Peggy O'Neale Timberlake was “frivolous, wayward, [and] passionate.” While still married to a naval officer away on duty, ...
The Cherokee Struggle to Maintain Identity in the 17th and 18th Centuries
By Jr., William R. Reynolds
Timberlake, p. 8 (9–10). 2. Timberlake, p. 36 (70). 3. Hoig, p. 45; Kelly, p. 22; Timberlake, p. 37 (72–73). 4. Alderman, p. 6; Timberlake, p.
Prehistoric Copper Mining in Europe, 5500-500 BC
By William O'Brien
Timberlake, S. 2002. 'Ancient prospection for metals and modern prospection for ancient mines: the evidence for Bronze Age mining within the British Isles', ...
The Sixties in the News: How an Era Unfolded in American Newspapers, 1959-1973
By William J. Ryczek
hadn't known Timberlake until the two moved in together. Kathy had worked at a series of jobs, including electronics assembler and a dancer in a bar, ...
A Borderland Confederate
By William Lyne Wilson
Terrill, Philip, killed Thompson, William S. Timberlake, George, wounded. Timberlake, Harry. Timberlake, J. H., wounded. Timberlake, J. L., wounded.
Golf in Columbus at Wyandot Country Club: A Lost Donald Ross Classic
By William R. Case
As the caretaker of the clubhouse, Timberlake was furnished living quarters on the second floor. Around 8:00 p.m., he descended into the basement for the ...