Pacific campaign

Yes indeed they are excellent. Anderson though gets into the nitty gritty of what exactly happened in terms of the bureaucratic mechanism, which is a curious story to say the least, but unsurprising considering it was U.S. Federal bureaucracy at work.

 

Ooops! Sorry. Yes, JSTOR is a pain if you don't have an account. I had one so long through the government I forgot.

 

So we only had those original seven or 8 pre-war carriers that up until each one was lost until the end of 1942/early 1943?

 

says ''can't find page'' ?

 

It's JSTOR, which as OP says, is problematic, or as I say a POS.

 

Sorry Rich, but it's you.

This is included as part of the web address...

There is only one blank space between the web address and the text I quoted...Try leaving at least 3 blank spaces between address and text, or better, start a new line.


The JSTOR addy as it should be: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3638003?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

 

Ooops!

 

Excerpts from a history of SOCONY by a Wilson Center fellow is an opinion piece?

 

Okay, but a data source is just that data - it isn't actually "history". Classically, ἱστορία, historia is an inquiry, it is knowledge acquired by research into data sources, which is then related in a narrative.

My taxonomy would place Anderson's analysis as a primary data source driven narrative. The next would be what typically constitutes commercial "history", which is regurgitated secondary sources...analysis based upon works like Anderson's, which usually don't bother even attempting to evaluate whether or not the data actually supports the analysis. Then there are the opinion pieces masquerading as history, which are frequently based on flights of fancy or faulty memories.

 

They were not all lost.

Lexington - lost at Coral Sea 8 May 42
Saratoga - certainly damaged a couple-three times, but never lost
Ranger - no damage, not lost
Yorktown - lost at Midway, submarine attack 6 Jun 42
Enterprise - same-same Saratoga
Wasp - Lost, submarine attack 15 Sep 42
Hornet - Lost at Santa Cruz 26 Oct 42
Long Island - same-same Ranger

So, of 8 carriers available at the start of the war, only 4 were actually "lost."

In the meantime, before Essex is commissioned on 31 Dec 1942 the following escort carriers were commissioned. Except for Charger. all eventually saw action, some in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters.

Charger (CVE-30) 3 Mar 42
Copahee (CVE-12) 15 Jun 42
Nassau (CVE-16) 20 Aug 42
Santee (CVE-29) 24 Aug 42
Sangamon (CVE-26) 25 Aug 42
Altamaha (CVE-18) 15 Sep 42
Chenago (CVE-28) 19 Sep 42
Suwanee (CVE-27) 25 Sep 42
Bogue (CVE-9) 26 Sep 42
Card (CVE-11) 8 Nov 42
Core (CVE-13) 10 Dec 42

And looking out to, say, the end of June 1943, a year after Midway . . .

Essex (CV-9) 32 Dec 42
Independence (CVL-22) 14 Jan 43
Lexington (CV-16) 17 Feb 43
Barnes (CVE-20) 20 Feb 43
Princeton (CVL-23) 25 Feb 43 (lost 24 Oct 44)
Block Island (CVE-21) 8 Mar 43 (lost 29 May 44)
BelleauWood (CVL-24) 31 Mar 43
Prince William (CVE-31) 9 Apr 43
Breton (CVE-23) 12 Apr 43
Yorktown (CV-10) 15 Apr 43
Croatan (CVE-25) 28 Apr 43
Bunker Hill (CV-17) 25 May 43
Cowpens (CVL-25) 28 May 43
Monterey (CVL-26) 17 Jun 43

From that point, up to the surrender of the Japanese, there was a carrier (CV, CVL or CVE) commissioned, on average, every 9.8 days.

 

Wasp - Lost, submarine attack 15 Sep 42 plus USS Lansdowne

 

I think you mean USS O'Brien(DD-415)...USS Lansdowne survived the war, and was later transferred to Turkey.

 

I meant that a Japanese sub caused the loss of Wasp but that Lansdowne administered the coup de grace. Per usual, my attempt at being a wise guy fell flat though.