Hanger Deck Catapults
Saw a reference in another military forum about hangar deck catapults. I never knew these even existed; were they designed for use in case the flight deck was too...
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The idea was to speed up sortie-generation. In practice they were useless, and later removed.
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The Yorktown class, Wasp, and early Essex class had them - the later Essex class did not, and they were removed by ~1944 from those that did.
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The hanger deck catapult looked like a good idea on paper. A third cat would allow for more aircraft to be launched, and you could still launch an observation plane or fighter even if the flight deck...
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Bob Henneman wrote:The hanger deck catapult looked like a good idea on paper. A third cat would allow for more aircraft to be launched, and you could still launch an observation plane or fighter even...
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Apparently the "ideal" location for the hangar deck cat was on the scrap pile dockside LOL! Mounting it pointing out over the bow would have solved the problem of no additional lift from the wind, but...
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Theres also the small matter of the aircraft work shops were located between the forward elevator and the open bow. Pretty sure those guys wouldn't appreciate a plane being cat'ed right threw their...
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The only benefit I can really see is IF you have battle damage on your flight deck that prohibits a launch AND you have in incoming raid, you MAY be able to launch fighters from the hanger to go on a...
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Hangar deck catapults may have had some utility if they were swivel mounted at the side of the ship, but anything that uses the deck space across or along the hangar deck is only going to get in the...
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Early carriers were designed to take off and land both ends, note arrester wires forwards on some ships. Certainly the Lexingtons theoretically could go just as fast backwards as well as forwards and...
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USS Yorktown II CV-10 (Essex class) steaming backwards at 20 knots, with TBF Avenger landing on bow:
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Remember also that through out the 20s and 30s the carriers were meant to act as tenders for the battleships floatplanes. I'm pretty sure this was the main reason for them originally having catapults...
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Somebody would think USN could use the hangar catapult when the flight deck have been damaged. Actually it's not gona happen. The only way to damage the flight deck in order to destroy the carrier's...
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DrAdam H wrote:Remember also that through out the 20s and 30s the carriers were meant to act as tenders for the battleships floatplanes. I'm pretty sure this was the main reason for them originally...
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RN battleships certainly had hangers for their seaplanes (North Atlantic would smash them otherwise), and those BB-based seaplanes certainly were tended to in time by the aircraft carriers.
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By observation the RN built/modified ships to operate sea planes. Most of them did not have hangars.So, if I understand your logic, only some Counties and the Towns, and the KGVs were capable of...
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DrAdam H wrote:Remember also that through out the 20s and 30s the carriers were meant to act as tenders for the battleships floatplanes. I'm pretty sure this was the main reason for them originally...
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