The Revolt of the Admirals - Air Force Magazine

Talking about getting rid of the big deck aircraft carriers reminds me of a time long ago. The article was in the Air Force Magazine. After WW2, America was convinced there would be no wars except some occasion use of long range bombers to deliver atomic weapons. The Army's land forces, along with the Navy and Marines sea services were going to be cut drastically. The war in Korea and the expansion of communism made a lot of those assumptions invalid. The Navy went on to build big-deck carriers to fight tactical war, and the Army was kept ready for war. Most notably, the Aircraft Carrier Forrestal in 1955 is regarded as the first supercarrier, but a “flush-deck” plan to lower the bridge with an elevator was scrapped. Instead, Forrestal had an angled flight deck with the “island” off to the side. We still have a need for twelve carriers.