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Home Front: WoT
24 Hours on the 'Big Stick'
2008-04-20
What you can learn about America on the deck of the USS 'Theodore Roosevelt.'

by P.J. O'Rourke
Nice piece from P.J. Excerpt:
Some say John McCain's character was formed in a North Vietnamese prison. I say those people should take a gander at what John chose to do--voluntarily. Being a carrier pilot requires aptitude, intelligence, skill, knowledge, discernment, and courage of a kind rarely found anywhere but in a poem of Homer's or a half gallon of Dewar's. I look from John McCain to what the opposition has to offer. There's Ms. Smarty-Pantsuit, the Bosnia-Under-Sniper-Fire poster gal, former prominent Washington hostess, and now the JV senator from the state that brought you Eliot Spitzer and Bear Stearns. And there's the happy-talk boy wonder, the plaster Balthazar in the Cook County political crèche, whose policy pronouncements sound like a walk through Greenwich Village in 1968: "Change, man? Got any spare change? Change?"

Some people say John McCain isn't conservative enough. But there's more to conservatism than low taxes, Jesus, and waterboarding at Gitmo. Conservatism is also a matter of honor, duty, valor, patriotism, self-discipline, responsibility, good order, respect for our national institutions, reverence for the traditions of civilization, and adherence to the political honesty upon which all principles of democracy are based. Given what screw-ups we humans are in these respects, conservatism is also a matter of sense of humor. Heard any good quips lately from Hillary or Barack?
Posted by:Steve White

#7  Herman Wouk's "War and Remembrance" deals with the Battle of Midway (and much of the rest of the Pacific war) exceptionally well. Another excellent account of the WWII escipades of the USS Enterprise is "The Big E", by Cdr Edward P. Stafford, USN. I've got both books (and a half-dozen others).
Posted by: Old Patriot   2008-04-20 23:13  

#6  We must bear in mind that even in the budding "Carrier/Air Navy", serious ideological and technological competition existed between the "Torpedo Admirals" versus the "Bomber/Dive Bomber Admirals", wid the latter also being further segmented into those whom favored the USN taking charge of any and all US land-based coastal patrol- and attack bombers from the US Army Air Corp [USAAF/USAF] - "Torpedo Attack" as a Carrier- and Naval Community-Ideo was generally held to be the elder and more, true "Navy", "Decisive", and "Knightly/
Chivalric" than the "Bomber/Dive Bomber" Carrier-Navy communities-ideos. THINK "LIGHT" versus "HEAVY".

By the time of Pearl Harbor, the issue was decided as the USN was already recognizing that dedicated Dive-Bombers and Multipurpose Attack Bombers were cheaper and more effective agz enemy shipping than Torpedo Attack per se. AT MIDWAY, US torpedo squadrons were unfortunate enough to not only come up agz Japanese fleet fighter air cover but also enemy aircraft including fighters returning from their Midway strike, and also not counting Japanese fighters taking off from their own carriers in opposition.

IIRC, E.G. FUCHIDA > WALDRON'S TORPEDO-8 [USS HORNET]ATTACK AND DESTRUCTION > Fuchida estimated that at least 50-100 Japanese fighters/planes engaged the 15 TBDS of Torpedo 8 during its attack run.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-04-20 22:38  

#5  It might be a bit Iain M Banks but could you yanks name a carrier "Comparative Advantage"? It's such an awesome name for a ship.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2008-04-20 17:05  

#4  There will always be an Enterprise in the USSN.
Posted by: George Smiley   2008-04-20 09:32  

#3  Home Base to Strike Force! Attack! I say again, ATTACK!

Wilco, Captain Brown, just as soon as I find the bastards.

Commander McClusky, sir! Surface ship at ten oÂ’clock! Appears to be a single destroyer, sir.

VB-6, weÂ’re turning to port to follow that shipÂ’s wake. Should point us right at the Japanese carriers.

1030
Bomber flight, I have multiple ships on the horizon, bearing 354. God! What a mess! TheyÂ’re in total disarray, going every which way.

Commander McClusky, sir! I see three carriers among all those ships.

Roger. OK, people, this is what weÂ’ll do. Lt. Best, take VB-6 down on the starboard carrier. Lt. Gallaher, IÂ’m leading VS-6 down on the other one. WeÂ’ll leave the third carrier for the next pass.

Aye, aye, sir. Wilco, sir.

Sir! Where are the enemy fighters?

I don’t see ‘em, either, Lieutenant. Get ready for our bombing run.

Commander, Lt. Henry. I have what looks like our planes making a low-level attack against the carrier to port. Enemy Zeroes are after our guys! Oh, God! Our guys are getting slaughtered!

R-roger, Lieutenant. ThereÂ’s nothing we can do for them. WeÂ’re near the push-over point for our dive.

Aye, aye, sir.

Lt. Best, there is aircraft debris scattered all on one side of our target! Our torpedo bombers must have been wiped out on their launch run!

Roger. Proceed with push-over. Here we go!

Yahoo! Did’ja see that ‘xplosion! Right on the ol’ meatball!

Yay! Put mine among all them parked bombers anÂ’ fuel lines! Wow! What a fire!

Easterman! You got a Zero on your tail! Break right! Tat-tat-tat! GotÂ’im!Â’

Enemy fighters cominÂ’ outta the sun at three oÂ’clock high!

Strike force leader to bombers! Scatter! Rendezvous at the Enterprise. Our jobÂ’s done here.

Aye, aye, Commander.

Yes, sir! Soon as I get away from these Japs!

I got a Zero on my tail! Somebody help meÂ…Ar-ar-gh!

1040
Base, this is Bomber Strike Leader. It is my pleasure to report that VS-6 and VB-6 have successfully hit the Kaga and Akagi. VB-3 has bombed Soryu. All three carriers are burning fiercely.
Posted by: George Smiley   2008-04-20 09:30  

#2  From CV6.org

Enterprise entered World War II on the morning of December 7, 1941, when her scout planes encountered the Japanese squadrons attacking Pearl Harbor. Not until May 14, 1945, when a Kamikaze attack off Kyushu, Japan, left a gaping hole in her flight deck, was she forced to leave the war.

Of the more than twenty major actions of the Pacific War, Enterprise engaged in all but two. Her planes and guns downed 911 enemy planes; her bombers sank 71 ships, and damaged or destroyed 192 more. Her presence inspired both pride and fear: pride in her still unmatched combat record, and fear in the knowledge that Enterprise and hard fighting were never far apart.

The most decorated ship of the Second World War, Enterprise changed the very course of a war she seemed to have been expressly created for.
Posted by: George Smiley   2008-04-20 09:11  

#1  History channel is running a great series on the "Big E" - the carrier Enterprise during WWII. The series uses interviews, file footage, and computer graphics to chronicle the history and heroism of the men who served on the Enterprise. At one point early in the war, the ship was the sole remaining carrier in the US fleet. The series is called "Battle 360".
Posted by: DMFD   2008-04-20 08:58  

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