Quick Carrier Question

CalBear

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Active? Fleet/Attack or overall including CVS? Available or just in commission?

There really isn't an easy answer, especially once the SLEP concept came into being. But...

Probably the biggest number of fleet carriers would be Vietnam era. Ten Essex class saw combat service off Vietnam (not including a couple that were fully converted with Helicopter/ASW only operations that were used in support roles), all three of the Midway class were in active service, all eight of the Forrestal/Kitty Hawk class, and the Enterprise. That would be 22 strike carriers, which is actually more full sized decks than the U.S. had at any one time during WW II, (although the range in "full size" was considerable :D).

The peak in WW II was 18, consisting of the Saratoga, Enterprise, and 16 Essex class, the remaining Essex class not being completed before the end of the war (of course the Fast carrier force also had as many as 9 Independence class ships available, although not at the same time as the last couple Essex long hulls, since the Princeton was lost before four of the later Essex class ships were commissioned).
 
However if the question was rephrased to when was it most effective then you would have a completely different response. Eg how about 24 F14, 14 A6 (ok so 4 are tankers), 24 f18, 4 EA6b, 4 E2, 10 Vikings and so on... That's pretty effective, prefer it to F18/35
Now even better would have been a continued Cold War air group of the noughties with say 24 F22N, 24 F18/35, 12 A12, 12 plus common airframe doing The E2, C2 and S2 jobs plus SH60s or SH92 anyone?
Add to that a UK carrier with the BAE 1216 STOVL aircraft or F35 if you must at its core and NATO is rather ahead at sea
(Bear in mind that USN would have had rather more Seawolf SSNs and UK would have had W class SSNs too that's in case anyone brings up Sov subs or Kirovs)
 
I didn't think the USN had more than 15 CVAs in comission at any time during the Cold War. They did have CVS in the Vietnam era, but I don't know to what extent they conducted attack operations.
 

CalBear

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I didn't think the USN had more than 15 CVAs in comission at any time during the Cold War. They did have CVS in the Vietnam era, but I don't know to what extent they conducted attack operations.


Several of the CVS spent time launching strikes from Yankee Station including the Intrepid CV(S)-11 Ticonderoga CV(S)-14 (which, as a special bonus, on 12/5/1965, lost an A-4 off the deck which had a B43 nuclear weapon attached at the time :eek:) Kearsarge CV(S)-33 Shangri-La CV(S)-38. They were somewhat limited by not having steam cats, but they all operated A-4 and AD-1 in the attack role.
 
From what I can make out only 5 Essex class were still attack carriers during the Vietnam era; Tico, Hancock, BHR, Oriskany, Shangri-la and Tico and Shangri-la were converted to CVS in 1969. Another 9 Essex were CVS during Vietnam.

So adding 3 Midways, 4 Forrestals, 3 Kittyhawks and Enterprise which were ready before the war you'd get 16 carriers. JFK came online in 1967 but I think it would have been balanced by Tico and Shangri-la being decomissioned for conversion to CVS, so you get 15 carriers.

Does that look right?
 
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