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The ''Yorktown'' class was a class of three aircraft carriers built by the U.S. and completed shortly before World War II. They immediately followed the , the first U.S. aircraft carrier built as such, and benefited in design from experience with the and the earlier ''Lexington'' class. These ships bore the brunt of early action in the Pacific War, and two of the three were lost: , sunk at the Battle of Midway, and ''Hornet'', sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. ''Enterprise'', the sole survivor of the class, became the most decorated ship in the history of the U.S. Navy. After efforts to save her as a museum ship failed, she was scrapped in 1960. ==Development== A forerunner to modern weapons development, the Yorktown class was a result of standardized war gaming exercises using the USS Langley and the Newport Naval War College. The Naval War College became the sole repository of American Naval expertise. 〔U.S. Aircraft Carriers, Normand Friedman pg. 57 ISBN 0-87021-739-9〕 The results were that islands on the carriers was highlighted and speed itself was considered very important. The 27,000 ton plan for the Yorktown class was a fall back plan from a 23,000 ton carrier that could not achieve that desired speed. The realization that larger carriers would be more survivable was a happy coincidence. Nevertheless, the war games and the Naval War College highlighted the greater flexibility presented by large air groups and fast speed. These became along with torpedo protection, the guiding principles in the Yorktown class designs.〔U.S. Aircraft Carriers, Normand Friedman pg. 58-59 ISBN 0-87021-739-9〕 In particular, the 23,000 ton design had to sacrifice protection features and that along with the 60 aircraft limit led to the choice of the 20,000 ton design. All studies showed that the 27,000 ton designs were to be preferred however all treaty limitations made this impossible. Later it would be noted that the large carriers provided close to an all weather ability to launch aircraft.〔U.S. Aircraft Carriers, Normand Friedman pg. 62 ISBN 0-87021-739-9〕 The British Navy had constructed several carriers during this time and the problems of flush deck carriers were revealed. Admiral Marc Mitcher had in particular pushed for such a carrier. The American Naval Attache J.C. Hunsacker reported that HMS Furious had problems deposing of the fumes without proper smoke stacks. The aviation community continued to demand flush decked carriers. Given additional problems with controlling air groups all American carriers would be constructed with islands. In any case BuAer retracted all demands for flush decked carriers. The 1931 design show an island and the design for USS Ranger the contractor stated that gun control was impossible without a raised island. 〔U.S. Aircraft Carriers, Normand Friedman pg. 72 ISBN 0-87021-739-9〕 Both USS Ranger and USS Wasp further showed the limitations of sub-20,000 ton designs. USS Ranger proved to be unable to sustain rougher weather in the Pacific while lack of virtually any protective features soon relegated her to a training ship. USS Wasp's lack of torpedo protection contributed to her loss in the Pacific theater. The lessons learned from operations with the large converted battlecruiser ''Lexington'' class in comparison with the smaller purpose-built had taught the Navy that large carriers were more flexible in operational terms and were more survivable than smaller ones. As the result of this experience, the U.S. Navy built and , commissioned in 1937 and 1938 respectively. These were fast and versatile carriers able to carry and operate over 80 warplanes which was almost as many as the much larger ''Lexington'' class. With the addition of the 14,700 ton , a scaled down version of the class, the U.S. Navy used up its full 135,000 ton Washington Naval Treaty limit of aircraft carrier tonnage. The abandonment of the arms limitation treaties system in 1937 allowed the US to begin building more carriers, and the first of this new carrier program was , another of the class, commissioned in 1941. Improvements to the ''Yorktown'' design and freedom from the Washington Treaty limitations brought about the ''Essex''-class carriers. Like the earlier ships of the ''Lexington''-class, the ''Yorktown''s carried a seldom used catapult on the hangar deck level. This catapult was subsequently eliminated from U.S. carriers as it was relatively useless in operation. The hangar deck catapult was removed from and in late June 1942. All three ships of the ''Yorktown'' class were built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News, Virginia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yorktown-class aircraft carrier」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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