Which was a better carrier?

Which was a better carrier? Vote now below me

 

Of course, you can't count anything done by Enterprise and its air groups after Midway.

So, up through Midway, which was the better performing from an operational standpoint? That would be Yorktown.

 

Big "E"

 

With Richard on this one...Yorktown.

 

Which is the question -"better" or "more significant"? Enterprise was certainly more significant, though it might have been different if Yorktown's career had not been cut short.

On the other hand, if the question is:

We'd have to agree with @R Leonard.

 

First, why are we not allowed to count anything after Midway? Enterprise was the ship that stood in the gap during the Guadalcanal campaign which was arguably the most desperate campaign the Navy fought in WWII. She was at one time the only US carrier in the Pacific. By the end of the war, she had participated in more naval actions than any other US ship.
Second, if we do only consider up to Midway. She was the first (her air group) to sink a full sized Japanese ship (I-70, 10 Dec 41). She delivered the fighters of VMF-211 to Wake. VMF-211 became an important part of that epic defense. In February 1942, when Enterprise and Yorktown raided the Marshall's, Enterprise inflicted more damage, sinking or damaging a number of ships and destroying twice as many enemy aircraft. Enterprise then raided Wake and Marcus Islands. Then Enterprise's task force joined Hornet for the Doolittle Raid. The raid provided a major boost to US morale and the shock of the Home Islands being attacked (though the physical damage was negligible) led to a change in Japanese operational planning. Then at Midway Enterprise accounted for two carriers in the first attack to Yorktown's one and launched the second US strike (including aircraft from the damaged Yorktown). It was two Enterprise pilots, Richard Halsey Best (sank Akagi, hit Hiryu) and Norman Jack "Dusty" Kleiss (hit Kaga, Hiryu and the CA Mikuma, the only pilot to hit three ships) that had an outsized effect on the battle. So, she may not have been as refined and polished in plane handling as Yorktown, but her air group had better results. I'd say her war accomplishments were every bit the equal to Yorktown's up through Midway.

 

based on one battle, I’d give Yorktown the nod over Enterprise as being the more significant carrier, Not necessarily the better. My reasoning:

In the buildup to the Battle of Midway, the US was facing a shortfall of carriers, be it 5v 2 or 4 v 2 .
A 4 v 3 matchup gave the US reasonable chance of success. If there were no 3rd US CV able to participate, the BoM may have never been fought. Which begs a hypothetical- if Yorktown was not available, would Nimitz have taken on the IJN with a 2 or 3 carrier (and the resultant carrier-borne aircraft) deficiency?
With Yorktown available and a knowledge of the IJN playbook, Nimitz had the confidence that the odds of a repeat of a result similar to or worse than the Coral Sea fight were reduced.

 

Really not a fair comparison. They were essentially the same design but with slight modification. Both served under slightly different circumstances or conditions. More importantly, they both served on Team Nimitz/USA.

A better comparison would be the armoured deck Illustrious Class v. Midway (also with an armored flight deck); but those two are years apart in design and the British accepted a lower aircraft capacity for that armoured flight deck.

Even better would be a Shokaku/Zuikaku v. Yorktown class.

 

If we're talking classes and not individual ships, the Yorktown's (Yorktown, Enterprise and Hornet) were the premier early war class. They took on the might of the Japanese fleet when it was at its peak from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Santa Cruz. Enterprise has to be #1 because she was there for the entire war. They were also tough ships, Yorktown despite taking a beating at Coral Sea and Midway, it took 4 days (4 June to 7 June) and two additional torpedoes from I-168 to sink her. Hornet at Santa Cruz took 3 bombs, two enemy aircraft that crashed her and two torpedoes during the Japanese first strike. She was under tow when a second strike resulted in another torpedo hit, which resulted in her being abandoned out of fear that Japanese surface forces would overtake the task force. In an attempt to scuttle her US destroyers pumped nine torpedoes and 400 rounds of 5" into her (some of the torpedoes failed to explode). Then the Japanese arrived and put four "Long Lance" torpedoes in her before she sank. That is one tough ship!
The Essex's were also a remarkable class. Their tough construction and very large air groups allowed them to take the war to Japan and obtain air superiority outside of range of land-based air. It was the largest carrier class ever built; none were lost to enemy action despite two taking horrendous damage, and they served long after the war in Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War.



Now that's power!

 

The size and power of the fleet at Ulithi is almost incomprehensible. Awe inspiring. I always liked the way they named the photo "Murderer's Row" iconic Americana. Murderer's row was the heavy hitting batting lineup of the 1927 and 1928 New York Yankees (one of the greatest teams of all time those two years), America's favorite past time and America's team. I'm glad there are pictures illustrating it.
Another one I like;




The ships are (from front): Langley (CVL-27); Ticonderoga (CV-14); Washington (BB-56); North Carolina (BB-55); South Dakota (BB-57); Santa Fe (CL-60); Biloxi (CL-80); Mobile (CL-63) and Oakland (CL-95)

 

Didn't the Enterprise sink 1 enemy carrier more than the Yorktown (plus one or two enemy cruisers)? But The Yorktown presented herself as a target twice in two separate attacks and that must have spelled victory at Midway.

 

I smell someone under the bridge again. Single post? Check. "Vote" on something silly? Check. Beware of embedded links.

 

Of course Enterprise's planes hit Akagi and Kaga in the morning attack and Yorktown's Soryu. Credit for Hiryu is mixed. She was located in the afternoon by search planes from Yorktown, launched before the Japanese attacks on that ship. The strike group from Enterprise comprised eleven of her own SBDs and fifteen from Yorktown's VB-3. AFAIK it is not certain who exactly scored the four hits on Hiryu, but two are commonly credited to Enterprise pilots Dick Best and Murray Kleiss. So if we are keeping score it's about 2.5:1.5.

The attacks from Enterprise on Mogami and Mikuma on June 6 were also a mix of VB-6, VS-6, and VB-3 planes. Added: Also VS-5

 

I voted Enterprise as it was on Star Trek.
Cannot vote Yorktown as it's where we surrendered to you lot.

I know nothing about US carriers so that is my criteria for voting the way I did.