US Navy

Naval rearmameent - "Yorktown" class carriers.

US Navy/National Archive.

"Yorktown" class USS Enterprise (left) and USS Yorktown (right) under construction in dry dock at Newport News Drydock Company, 1937. The US was not, in fact, particularly forward in adopting aircraft carriers. They may have felt somewhat inhibited by the Washington Naval Treaty, and ongoing efforts towards international naval disarmament. Not totally inhibited, however, since they commissioned three "Lexington" class and one "Ranger" class carriers between the late-1920s and early 1930s. The collapse of the international naval treaty system in 1935 (following the repudiation of its naval treaty obligations by Japan) gave urgency to the process of strengthening the US carrier force. The immediate response to this was the "Yorktown" class, purpose-built carriers that built on experience gained with the "Yorktown" class and the USS Ranger. Three "Yorktown" class carriers were produced; two (Yorktown and Hornet) were destroyed by enemy action in 1942. The USS Enterprise survived the war (with difficulties) and was eventually broken up in 1958. Of course, the USS Enterprise, in a sense, continues to Go Where No Man/Person Has Gone Before ... Live Long and Prosper, JR.