Essex-class vessels were decommissioned in the 1970s, the last still in service, the
USS Lexington, remained active as a training ship until 1991. Four of the World War II fleet carriers still serve as museum ships in New York, South Carolina, Texas and California.
Perhaps no vessel embodies the U.S. Navy’s embrace of the aircraft carrier as the centerpiece of its strategy as the
Essex-class carrier. Between 1943 and 1950, twenty-four of the thirty-thousand-ton carriers were built at shipyards in Newport News, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Norfolk and Braintree some completed in as few as fourteen months. This makes the
Essex the most extensively produced capital ship class in the twentieth century.
Why The U.S. Air Force Will Never Build Another F-35
The integration of modular components into a usable airframe, especially one that would require stealth, seems extraordinarily difficult.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The idea of having a variety of different aircraft rather than putting all of the eggs into one fighter-shaped basket has an intuitive appeal. But before we pine for the days of Super Sabres, Delta Daggers and Starfighters, we should take a clear-eyed look at the problems and shortfalls generated during that period.
Could a rethink of U.S. acquisition policies bring back the heady days of the “Century Series,” a time in which the Air Force could pick and choose between a variety of different fighters specialized in certain tasks? Could such an approach free the Pentagon from the specter of another gigantic, F-35-sized procurement project? An increasing number of people seem to think so, but before we take steps down that road we should make note of the pi
From a rifle to an aircraft carrier, these weapons changed the war.
Here s What You Need To Remember: What really mattered at the end of the day though was a strong industrial base. Nonetheless, this strong industrial base produced good weapons.
The secret of American victory in World War II was quantity and quality. Copious amounts of weapons and equipment not only overwhelmed and outmatched the Axis arsenal, but helped enable Lend-Lease allies like Britain and Russia to do the same.
Not that every U.S. weapon was great. The ubiquitous M-4 Sherman tank was plentiful but mediocre. Early U.S. fighters like the P-40 and P-39 were nothing to brag about (except in the hands of the Flying Tigers), while U.S. submarine torpedoes had a bad habit of not exploding until late 1943.
The FGM-148 Javelin System: America s Secret Weapon?
The Javelin missile remains one of the United States’ most potent systems on the ground, and one that seems set to increase in capability and be deployed on a greater number of platforms.
Here s What You Need To Remember: the Javelin is such an effective weapons system that who gets one is can be a major political issue.
The U.S.-made FGM-148 Javelin is one of the premier portable anti-tank missile systems in the world. It’s also an expensive piece of kit, with each missile typically costing more than the targets it eliminates.