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Where
were the Pacific Fleet Carriers on December 7, 1941?
USS LANGLEY (CV-1) - off Cavite, Philippines.
USS LEXINGTON (CV-2) - at sea having departed Pearl Harbor
on December 5th to ferry Marine Corps aircraft to Midway.
USS SARATOGA (CV-3) - San Diego, California.
USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) - 200 miles south of Oahu enroute to
Pearl Harbor after delivering Marine Corps aircraft to Wake
Island. Originally, ENTERPRISE had intended to arrive in Pearl
on December 6th, but weather delayed her.
Who
cares where the carriers were on December 7, 1941?
The Japanese Navy cared. After two strikes on Oahu, and having
not located the U.S. carriers, the Japanese withdrew to avoid
being ambushed. The Japanese were capable of additional strikes
on Pearl Harbor that could have caused severe damage.
The Japanese success was overwhelming, but it was not complete.
They failed to damage any American aircraft carriers, which
by a stroke of luck, had been absent from the harbor. They
neglected to damage the shoreside facilities at the Pearl
Harbor Naval Base, which played an important role in the
Allied victory in World War II. American technological skill
raised and repaired all but three of the ships sunk or damaged
at Pearl Harbor (the USS Arizona (BB-39) considered too
badly damaged to be salvaged, the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) raised
and considered too old to be worth repairing, and the obsolete
USS Utah (AG-16) considered not worth the effort). Most
importantly, the shock and anger caused by the surprise
attack on Pearl Harbor united a divided nation and was translated
into a wholehearted commitment to victory in World War II.
Naval
Historical Center FAQ - Attack on Pearl Harbor
What
happened to the Japanese Fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor?
They escaped for the moment. Every Japanese vessel that participated
was destroyed during the war with the exception of the Destroyer
USHIO.
Were
any U.S. Ships at Pearl Harbor also at the signing of the
Surrender in Tokyo Bay?
Yes. The battleship WEST VIRGINIA (BB-48) was sunk, raised,
and repaired. She survived the entire war and was in Tokyo
Bay to witness the Japanese capitulation.
Naming
Naval Vessels
When the Continental Navy was founded in 1775, ship names
were selected rather haphazardly. In 1819 Congress passed
a law mandating that warships be named as follows:
"those of the first class shall be called after
the States of this Union; those of the second class after
the rivers; and those of the third class after the principal
cities and towns; taking care that no two vessels of the
navy shall bear the same name." With minor modifications,
this law still exists as 10
U.S.C. 7292.
In these days of sail, warships were classed by the numbers
of guns carried. Those of 40 or more guns were of the first
class. Those of 21 to 39 guns were second class, and those
with 20 or fewer guns of the third class. The rule was that
capital ships, the most powerful vessels in the fleet, would
be named after the States.
As sail was replaced by steam the naming system became:
Battleships - Named
after States, with one exception: the Kearsage. The Kearsage
was the Union vessel that defeated the Confederate raider
Alabama in the Civil War. The Kearsage was held in such
high regard that when she sank in 1894 the Navy obtained
permission from Congress to name a new Battleship after
her. The USS KEARSAGE (BB-5) was the only battleship not
named after a State. The aircraft carrier KEARSAGE (CV-33),
the third to bear that name, was launched in 1946 and decommissioned
in 1970.
Cruisers - Named after
Cities. The exception to this rule were the Battle Cruisers
or Large Cruisers of the Alaska Class which were named after
territories - Alaska, Guam and Hawaii. This makes some sense.
A battle cruiser is somewhere between a battleship and a
cruiser in strength. A territory is not a state, but it
is more than just a city.
Destroyers - Named after
famous naval leaders and heroes.
Submarines - Named after
"fish and denizens of the deep."
Minesweepers - Named
after birds (Turkey, Tern) or attributes (Adept, Agile,
Bold).
This neat little system broke down with Aircraft Carriers.
Aircraft
Carrier Names
Long before the Second World War, many were arguing aircraft
carriers had replaced battleships as the new capital ship.
These prophets were proved correct - during the war battleships
primarily did shore bombardment and served as escorts for
the carriers. The aircraft carrier was the main weapon used
against the enemy fleet. In theory, State names should have
been used for aircraft carriers since they had become the
modern capitol ship.
The first aircraft carrier, the LANGLEY
(CV-1), was named after an aviation pioneer.
The next two carriers, the LEXINGTON
(CV-2) and the SARATOGA
(CV-3), were built on unfinished battlecruiser hulls and
kept the names selected for the cruisers. The carrier LEXINGTON
was the fourth vessel to bear that name, and the SARATOGA
the fifth. Note that these names fit the rule used for cruisers
since Lexington and Saratoga are cities. However, I suspect
they were primarily selected for their significance as Revolutionary
War battles, and to carry forward two famous vessel names.
The fourth carrier, RANGER
(CV-4), was the first designed and built from the keel
up as a carrier and not converted from another type of hull
or vessel. This was the sixth RANGER in the U.S. Navy, and
carries forward this famous ship name.
The aircraft carriers of the Yorktown class continued and
perhaps combined the trend that appears to be evolving in
naming carriers. The YORKTOWN
(CV-5) was named after a famous battle, and was the third
vessel of that name in the U.S. fleet. The ENTERPRISE
(CV-6) and HORNET
(CV-8) are named after famous naval vessels from the Revolution,
and were both the seventh vessels to bear their names.
The WASP
(CV-7) was the eighth Navy ship to bear that name, the
first being a famous a Revolutionary war vessel.
It appears the Navy tradition as of 1941 was to name carriers
after American battles and famous Naval vessels.
The aircraft carriers in existence on December 7, 1941, were
the LANGLEY, LEXINGTON, SARATOGA, RANGER, YORKTOWN, ENTERPRISE,
HORNET and the WASP. Half were in the Pacific and half in
the Atlantic.
Return
to: Pearl Harbor | History
of Hawaii
About the Author:
Brian N. Durham is currently editor of My
Hawaii News, a publication of The 'Ohana Network.
A retired Coast Guard officer with 22 years of service, Brian
is a member of the Hawaii Bar and has worked for the Hawaii
State Legislature and the Linda Lingle Campaign Committee.
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