RetroWARTHINK 027: FUBAR USN DID IT Again in WW2: Murdered 700x of its Own Men by Naval Stupidity


 The 1942 screw-up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Langley_(CV-1)

USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3) was the United States Navy's first aircraft carrier, converted in 1920 from the collier [EDITOR: bulk coal carrying ship] USS Jupiter (Navy Fleet Collier No. 3), and also the US Navy's first turbo-electric-powered ship. Conversion of another collier was planned but canceled when the Washington Naval Treaty required the cancellation of the partially built Lexington-class battlecruisers Lexington and Saratoga, freeing up their hulls for conversion to the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga. Langley was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American aviation pioneer. Following another conversion to a seaplane tender, Langley fought in World War II. On 27 February 1942, while ferrying a cargo of [32x] [wheeled] USAAF P-40s to Java, she was attacked by 9x twin-engine Japanese bombers[3] of the Japanese 21st and 23rd Naval Air Flotillas[2] and so badly damaged that she had to be scuttled by her escorts [WHO HAD NO ORGANIC AIR COVER].

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This tragic loss of 700x Sailors screams out military incompetence on several levels.

The USN began WW2 fucked-up vividly portrayed in the epic, "In Harm's Way".

As the war raged, the USN began to get its collective act together but even in 1945 it was still FUBAR in many ways--but far better adapted to global naval war than today's abomination is.

THE USN HAS YET TO FULLY GET ITS ACT TOGETHER FOR NAVAL WARFARE.

Think about that.

Excellent Innovations Squandered by USN Stupidity


Braggart Boasting the USMC Learned from its Mother Service, the USN

QUOTE:

President William H. Taft attended the ceremony when Jupiter's keel was laid down on 18 October 1911, at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. She was launched on 14 August 1912, sponsored by Mrs. Thomas F. Ruhm; and commissioned on 7 April 1913, under Commander Joseph M. Reeves.[4] Her sister ships were Cyclops, which disappeared without a trace in World War I, Proteus, and Nereus, both of which disappeared on the same route as Cyclops in World War II. [EDITOR: the Bermuda Triangle, people. How about that for INSANITY? Doing the same things over & over expecting somehow a different result?]

Jupiter was the first turbo-electric-powered ship of the U.S. Navy. Neptune had been built with a steam turbine and geared drive--but performance was inferior to the earlier Cyclops with its two triple expansion steam engines. Jupiter's electric drive, designed by William Le Roy Emmet and built by the General Electric Company, consisted of two electric motors, each directly connected to a propeller shaft, powered by a single Curtis turbine and alternator set. At 2,000 rpm and 2,200 volts the set delivered a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) [You can RUN faster than this. Yet the USMC LAW requirement specifies this same fatally slow speed. How will this NOT result in being sunk in WAR when it didn't work 70x years ago in low-tech WW2?] with propellers at 110 rpm There was also a weight saving with the turbo-electric drive being 156 tons versus the 280 tons of equivalent machinery for Cyclops.[5]

Jupiter was converted into the first U.S. aircraft carrier at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia. On 11 April 1920, she was renamed Langley in honor of Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American astronomer, physicist, aeronautics pioneer and aircraft engineer, and she was given the hull number CV-1. By the spring of 1921, memories of World War I were swaying [EDITOR: civilian normie] public opinion away from warship construction toward disarmament. Article VIII of the Washington Naval Treaty provided an exemption for experimental aircraft carriers in existence or building on 12 November 1921. The Washington Naval Treaty was signed on 6 February 1922; and Langley was recommissioned on 20 March 1922 for the purpose of conducting experiments in seaborne aviation. [EDITOR: no such vigor in the WOKETARDED USN today!] The commanding officer was Commander Kenneth Whiting, who had first proposed conversion of a collier to the General Board of the United States Navy three years and twelve days earlier.[7][4] [EDITOR: GMTA, do we even have such boards today? Just BS digital excuses from keyboards/mouses.]

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16 mph is un-survivable in naval warfare; this was already known in the world war before--WW1. What was the Jupiter/Langley? A technology toy ship for the Navy's Jessica Lynch underclass?

It's fatally tragic and ironic that the Jupiter was re-named the Langley after an aviation pioneer who tried to launch planes without enough flight deck take-off run from houseboats when this same lack of flight deck while carrying space-hogging ARMY planes without folding wings on a cut-down flush flight deck led to her sinking and loss of 700x men's lives in WW2.

The Langley--the Aircraft Carrier with Flush Flight Deck--Has it Right

At 542 feet long, the Langley's flush flight deck could easily Short Take-Off/Vertical Land (STOVL) operate current F-35B jump jets carrying all possible heavy ordnance especially with a ski jump that marine AV-8B Harrier II pilots found only need 300 feet of flight deck to operate from.  

SLV Hitting the Beach = Fast LST

An Australian Stern Landing Ship aka a 30 mph Fast Landing Ship Tank (F-LST) being considered for the USMC LAW requirement with a Langley-type flush flight deck and ski jump could be successfully operated with a ship-steering bridge under this top deck as the Langley did for decades all around the world. In our Aircraft Battle Frigate/Cruiser proposal/essay we advocate a retracting superstructure but we could get the job done simpler by having the bridge underneath the ski jump--even leaving room for a 76mm naval automatic cannon turret for air/sea defensive/offensive firepower.   

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/07/futurewarthink-034-mahan-delusional-us.html

Not Even 1x P-40 Sent to Thwart the Flammable Japanese Schnell Bombers?

USS Langley as a Seaplane Tender Missing 1/2 her Flush Flight Deck, WTFO?

Absurd USN Convoys with ZERO AIR COVER

WikiQUOTE:

On the entry of the U.S. into World War II, Langley was anchored off Cavite, Philippines.[4][16] On 8 December, following the invasion of the Philippines by Japan, she departed Cavite for Balikpapan in the Dutch East Indies. As the Japanese advance continued, Langley proceeded to Australia, arriving in Darwin on 1 January 1942.[16] She then became part of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) naval forces. Until 11 January, Langley assisted the Royal Australian Air Force in running anti-submarine patrols out of Darwin.[4][16]

Langley went to Fremantle to pick up a cargo of 32x P-40 fighters of the Far East Air Force's 13th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional), along with U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) pilots and ground crews.[16] At Fremantle, Langley and the cargo ship Sea Witch (loaded with an additional 27 unassembled and crated P-40s), joined Convoy MS.5 which had just arrived from Melbourne bound for Colombo, Ceylon with troops and supplies eventually destined for India and Burma. The convoy was composed of the United States Army Transport Willard A. Holbrook and the Australian troop transports Duntroon and Katoomba, escorted by the light cruiser USS Phoenix. [EDITOR could have supplied AIR COVER--if she hads seaplane fighters instead of just observation types] MS.5 departed Fremantle on 22 February.[4][17] En route to Colombo, Langley and Sea Witch were directed by ABDACOM to leave the convoy and instead proceed individually to deliver the planes to Tjilatjap, Java.[4][17]

In the early hours of 27 February, Langley rendezvoused with the destroyers USS Whipple and USS Edsall, which had been sent from Tjilatjap to escort her.[4][16] [EDITOR: HOW? They had no air cover for themselves, too] Later that morning, a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft located the formation. At 11:40, about 75 mi (121 km) south of Tjilatjap, the seaplane tender, along with Edsall and Whipple were attacked by sixteen (16) Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's Takao Kōkūtai, led by Lieutenant Jiro Adachi, flying out of Denpasar airfield on Bali, and escorted by fifteen (15) A6M Reisen fighters. Rather than dropping all their bombs at once, the Japanese bombers attacked releasing partial salvos. Since they were level bombing from medium altitude, Langley was able to alter helm when the bombs were released and evade the first and second bombing passes, but the bombers changed their tactics on the third pass and bracketed all the directions Langley could turn. As a result, Langley took five hits from a mix of 250 and 60 kilograms (550 and 130 pounds) bombs as well as three near misses,[18] with 16 crewmen killed.[19][note 1] The topside burst into flames, steering was impaired, and the ship developed a 10° list to port.[4][16] Langley went dead in the water as her engine room flooded. At 13:32, the order to abandon ship was passed.[4]

After taking off the surviving crew and passengers (Whipple rescued 308 men and Edsall 177 survivors) at 13:58, the escorting destroyers stood off and began firing nine 4-inch (100 mm) shells and two torpedoes into Langley's hull at 14:29 [4] to prevent her from falling into enemy hands, scuttling her at approximately 8°51'04.2"S 109°02'02.6"E[16] After being transferred to the oiler USS Pecos, many of Langley's crew were lost when Pecos was sunk en route to Australia by Japanese carrier aircraft.[21] Thirty-one of the thirty-three pilots assigned to the USAAF 13th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) being transported by Langley remained on Edsall to be brought to Tjilatjap, but were lost when she was sunk on the same day by Japanese warships while responding to the distress calls of Pecos.[16]

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Because of the on-going USAAF/USAF prejudice against folding wings, the P-40s on the Langley's deck were tightly packed together such that NOT EVEN 1x could take-off to defend the ship and hundreds of embarked Sailors from enemy air attack. Not even 1x P-40 on a turn-table catapult or a rail for self-defensive launching and pilot ditching like the British Hurricats did.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/YFpUQABlpb3r/

The USN at that time routinely launched seaplane observation aircraft from turn-table catapults on battleships, cruisers--and even some destroyers. The know-how was "on deck". THERE WAS NO FUCKING EXCUSE CREATING A SEAPLANE TENDER THAT CAN'T DEFEND ITSELF when both feasible fighter aircraft and turn-table catapults were available.  This BULLSHIT continues to the present day with our centralizing bureaucratic USN's TIN CAN cruisers/destroyers not operating at least 1x F-35B jump fighter jet from their stern helipads for self-defensive AIR COVER:

www.combatreform.org/seaplanefighters.htm

YES, the Langley's flush flight deck distance was cut into for space to crane lift on/off seaplanes that otherwise could have launched a pair of LTs. Welsh & Taylor in wheeled P-40s who would have flamed the unarmored Japanese Betty bombers in short order and then ditched alongside and inflated air bags to remain afloat for the pilots to be recovered since they couldn't land back lacking tail-hooks .

1931 USN Biplane Fighters Had Flotation Air Bags--Why Not Every Naval Aircraft?

http://navsource.org/archives/02/020168.pdf

Every airplane that regularly flies over water should at least be a semi-seaplane by skis and watertight airframes that exact ZERO AERODYNAMIC PENALTY on flight performance.

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/07/retrowarthink-025-doolittles-raiders.html

And no, STFU with this civilian, normie bureaucratic BS that "air cover should have been supplied to the Langley and her escort destroyers via a separate unit aka aircraft carriers".  Eva Green should be issued to me as my wife, too.

Did not fucking happen.

Remember the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier, HMS Glorious and her destroyer escorts gloriously being sunk at the cost of 1, 700x lives lost by German battleship guns because its idiot submarine tribe captain was in a feud with his air wing commander 2x years earlier in WW2?

RAF "air cover" also didn't happen to save the HMS Repulse & Prince of Wales battleships both lacking their own, organic seaplane fighters from being sunk by the same fucking Jap Betty schnell bombers did it? This bureaucratic BS to not make fighting units as self-sufficient as possible because the USN/RN bureaucracies don't trust subordinates to be so empowered because the former are uber snobs and have treated the latter like shit--has to DEAD STOP IMMEDIATELY.

Moreover, what about all of today's USN's frigate/destroyer/cruiser surface ships who have only a helipad for crap slow, short-range helicopters which can't air defend?

In the 1950s, some USN officers were not aircraft carrier mafia dumbshits and realized EVERY surface ship needs its own fighter cover correctly concluding a Convair supersonic, SeaDart seaplane fighter could be turn-table catapult launched for air defense, then land by skis and float by choice--not emergency ditching--to be crane recovered for re-fuel/re-arm re-use. However, despite being the 1st seaplane to break the sound barrier, the BS aircraft carrier mafia got the SeaDart program cancelled, damning us into this fatal over-reliance on handfuls of stupor carriers that will be awash in flames and/or sunk at the outbreak of war by drone air/space C4ISR surveillance and hypersonic PDMs like the CHICOM DF-21 carrier killing ballistic missile. 

During this USN massive defeat at sea, thousands of men/women will be thrown into the water burned-up, to die of salt water and sun exposure, flesh-eating sharks (TBATE) and likely CHICOM gunning them to death in the water (TBAM) without any seaplanes to rescue them:

www.combatreform.org/seaplanetransports.htm

www.combatreform.org/p6mseamaster.htm

"Jaws"

https://tubitv.com/movies/607203/jaws?start=true

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)

At 00:15 on 30 July 1945, Indianapolis was struck on her starboard side by two Type 95 torpedoes, one in the bow and one amidships, from the Japanese submarine I-58,[20] captained by Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, who initially thought he had spotted the New Mexico-class battleship Idaho.[22] The explosions caused massive damage. Indianapolis took on a heavy list (the ship had had a great deal of armament and gun-firing directors added as the war went on, and was therefore top-heavy)[23] and settled by the bow. Twelve minutes later, she rolled completely over, then her stern rose into the air and she sank. Some 300 of the 1,195 crewmen aboard went down with the ship.[4] With few lifeboats and many without life jackets, the remainder of the crew was set adrift.[24]

Navy command did not know of the ship's sinking until survivors were spotted in the open ocean three and a half days later.

First to arrive was an amphibious PBY-5A Catalina patrol plane flown by Lieutenant Commander (USN) Robert Adrian Marks. Marks and his flight crew spotted the survivors and dropped life rafts; one raft was destroyed by the drop while others were too far away from the exhausted crew. Against standing orders not to land in open ocean, Marks took a vote of his crew and decided to land the aircraft in twelve-foot (3.7 m) swells. He was able to maneuver his craft to pick up 56 survivors. Space in the plane was limited, so Marks had men lashed to the wing with parachute cord. His actions rendered the aircraft unflyable. After nightfall, the destroyer escort USS Cecil J. Doyle, the first of seven rescue ships, used its searchlight as a beacon and instilled hope in those still in the water. Cecil J. Doyle and six other ships picked up the remaining survivors.

Many of the survivors were injured, and all suffered from lack of food and water (leading to dehydration and hypernatremia; some found rations, such as Spam and crackers, among the debris of the Indianapolis), exposure to the elements (dehydration from the hot sun during the day and hypothermia at night, as well as severe desquamation due to continued exposure to saltwater and bunker oil), and shark attacks, while some killed themselves or other survivors in various states of delirium and hallucinations.[27][28] Only 316 of the nearly 900 men set adrift after the sinking survived.[4] Two of the rescued survivors, Robert Lee Shipman and Frederick Harrison, died in August 1945.

Hundreds of sharks were drawn to the wreck by the noise of the explosions and the scent of blood in the water. After picking off the dead and wounded, they began attacking survivors. The number of deaths attributed to sharks ranges from a few dozen to 150.[29]

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...like at least saved 316 of the hapless USS Indianapolis light (under 10, 000 tons) cruiser in 1945--WW2's end--after delivering atomic bombs on Tinian island for USAAF B-29 heavy bombers to drop them on Hiroshima/Nagasaki to lie-boast ever since that their strategic bombing somehow unilaterally ended WW2--when it was Soviet Russia's declaration of war that caused the Japanese to surrender.

EVERY Sailor Must be 24/7 Ready to be Thrown into the Sea if his TIN CAN Surface Ship is Exploded

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/08/tactismart-075-sea-kontrol-begins-with.html

www.combatreform.org/abandonshippreparedtodie.htm

Summary/Conclusion

Notice the far more efficient 500 foot flush deck with 1, 000 foot cluttered deck carriers

The shocking reality is what the USN needs today is a fleet of affordable, American shipyard mass-produced, 100x 300 foot-long, flush-deck, ski jump "Langleys" based on the Australian SLV/FLST operating air/sea killer bee platforms as mother ships to convey them across oceans--

...each with 6x Small Fast Boats (SFBs), a pair of 2x F-35B STOVL jump jet and 2x folding-wing SeaWolf Amphibious small seaplane fighters with anti-submarine weaponry, anti-ship and anti-air missiles to synergize a force of over 700x sensor-shooters--far exceeding 300x ship goals. Backed by Long Range Amphibious seaplanes (LRAs) and Attack Patrol Blimps (APBs).

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/06/futurewarthink-032-can-do-generations.html

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/06/tactismart-066-put-out-apb-attack.html

The USN's lack of imagination and knowledge of its own combat history is intolerable. A large blue water navy without at least some long-range seaplanes for rescue is criminal incompetence and must end. The Amerikan penchant for not thinking about anything is a systemic national illness.  

https://www.bitchute.com/video/T8I2Pl21OkY1/

NOTES

PICS: http://navsource.org/archives/02/01.htm 

Semper Airborne!

John 3:16

James Bond is REAL.

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