Okay. Here's a quick rundown on the main ship class from Proof Through The Night.
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From American Aircraft Carriers, 1945-Present, published by the Naval Institute Press
United States Class Attack Carrier (CVA)
As used in Operation Mongoose, 1945
Displacement: 46,500 tons standard
Length: 980 ft oa
Beam: 133 ft wl
Speed: Cruising 22 knots, max 34 knots
Armament: 16x 5"/38 guns in two-gun mounts, 22x quad 40mm Bofors, 30x 20mm Oerlikon, 4x 16-tube chaff/smoke rocket launchers
Air Group: 56: 10x AR-1 Revenant attack bomber, 20x F4U-4 Corsair fighter, 10x F4U-4N night fighter, 8x TBM-3 Avenger torpedo bomber, 6x TBF-1W Watchman early warning aircraft.
Design: The United States class had its origin in the abortive CVB-41 class, a prewar design study for a large carrier with an armored flight deck and a massive air group. Four ships of this design were ordered and allotted the numbers CV-41 to CV-44 when the completion of the Taos Project and the first use of atomic weapons in Europe forced the Navy to reconsider its strategic outlook. After an intense 90-day review process, the General Board decided that the Navy's next carrier design would have to be nuclear-capable for the planned final offensive against the Japanese Empire. The CV-41s were abandoned and a new design begun based on their hull, at the same time as the Bureau of Aeronautics issued a specification of legendary difficulty for what would become the Ryan AR-1 Revenant.
The United States class possesses an enviable combat record and a solid place in history, facts which have often overshadowed the type's many design flaws. The Ryan Revenant was everything it's designers promised it to be, but it was much larger and heavier than anything that had ever flown off a carrier before. Reworking the CVB-41 design to accommodate the massive new birds forced the designers to shrink the island to little more than a stub, place that on an outrigger similar to the ship's two large elevators, and then balance the weight with a tightly clustered and far from optimal 5" gun arrangement. Even so, the class was notoriously difficult to handle in combat or close quarters. Command and control facilities were primitive, forcing the design of a new class of cruiser to act as flagships for nuclear strike task groups.
The Revenant's massive size also made flight deck operations a nightmare- planes had to be brought up one at a time on the elevators, pushed forward, and then fueled while the next was lined up behind them, blocking the deck for an hour or more. The design cried for an angled deck, but there simply wasn't time for the redesign. The timeline for Operation Mongoose was set by the enemy, and the USN would have to make do with what it had. After the war there were proposals to convert the ships with angled decks, but the class simply had too many design compromises. They operated in the deterrent role until replaced by the Reprisal class, then faded away after relatively short service careers.
Of note is that these ships were associated with a heavy attack (nuclear strike) squadron throughout their careers, unlike normal squadrons which rotated between air wings. This was because of the close symbiosis between the carriers and the AR/A2R bombers, which operated almost exclusively from this class.
Service History: Four ships laid down, three completed.
United States, CVA-55. Served as carrier trials ship for Ryan AR-1 Dec. 1944 while still on sea trials. Core of TF 77 during Mongoose for strikes against African heartland, March 1945. Participated in operations against the Gayner Remnant, 1946-7. Transferred to Pacific Fleet 1948, operated in deterrent/strike role until 1955. Transferred to Southern Fleet 1955, operated in quarantine enforcement until 1964. Decommissioned 1965 and laid up. Struck 1974, currently a museum ship in Norfolk, VA.
Heavy Attack Squadron: VAH-2 "Harbingers"
Ship Callsign: Old Glory
Squadron Callsign: Scythe
Reprisal, CVA-56. Completed sea trials Feb. 1945. Core of TF 76 during Mongoose, launching strikes against Draka cities in the northern Police Zone and southern Europe. Suffered heavy damage from Draka air and submarine attack during Mongoose. Abandoned and scuttled by torpedoes from USS Leviathan, March 25 1945.
Heavy Attack Squadron: VAH-1 "Myrmidons"
Ship Callsign: Vendetta
Squadron Callsign: Warhammer
Franklin D. Roosevelt, CVA-57. Laid down as Kearsarge, renamed after President Roosevelt's death in March 1945. Participated in operations against the Gayner Remnant, 1946-7, then operated as the Quarantine Authority's nuclear strike platform from 1948 until 1956. Trials ship for A3R Skysword, 1952. Transferred to Pacific Fleet 1956 and operated in deterrent role until 1958. Kept in reserve and used as a training carrier for heavy attack squadrons 1958-61, then decommissioned as uneconomical to operate and scrapped.
Heavy Attack Squadron: VAH-3 "Furies"
Ship Callsign: New Deal
Squadron Callsign: Nemesis
Crown Point, CVA-58. Cancelled when 41% complete after Operation Mongoose. Scrapped on the ways to clear slip for construction of USS Renown.
