Naval Aviation

Planes and pilots in service to the U.S. Navy. Naval aviators operate from aircraft carriers—warships designed for the launching and landing of aircraft at sea. These carriers facilitate the mobility of U.S. air power and reduce reliance on permanent air bases overseas in foreign territory.

The Navy's interest in aviation began as early as 1898, when naval officers were appointed to an inter-service board that considered the military potential of the airplane. Naval observers subsequently attended air meets in the United States and overseas, as well as public demonstrations by Oliver and Wilbur Wright. In 1910, the Navy designated an officer to be in charge of aviation matters. The following year the first naval officer reported for flight training and the Navy purchased its first plane.

An American pilot, Eugene Ely, was the first person to take off successfully from a stationary ship. In 1910, Ely took off from a temporary platform built on the deck of the cruiser USS Birmingham. The following year, he became the first person to land on a stationary ship—the battleship USS Pennsylvania. In these early days of naval aviation, existing ships were modified to accommodate aircraft. However, in 1922, Japan built the first ship specifically designed to launch and retrieve aircraft. At the same time, the United States tested small air detachments in exercises with ocean fleets. The United States also began building aircraft carriers in the 1920s, and three carriers were in service with the Navy by the end of the decade.

The Great Depression of the 1930s had a stifling impact on the development of U.S. naval aviation. America's economic problems and isolationist attitude toward international affairs meant less funding for the military. However, the growing threat of an aggressive and expansionist Japan, with its powerful carrier-based navy, led to increased training of U.S. Navy pilots in the late 1930s.

On December 7, 1941, Japan demonstrated the power of naval aviation with a surprise attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Four Japanese carriers, lying some 250 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor, launched more than 400 dive-bombers, torpedo bombers, and escorting fighters against the unsuspecting Americans. Tactically, the raid was a complete success: The Japanese sank or seriously damaged 12 large U.S. warships, destroyed or damaged more than 300 aircraft, and killed 2,403 U.S. troops and civilians on the base. However, the primary targets of the attack, the U.S. carriers, were not in port that day and so escaped damage. The following summer at the Battle of Midway, those U.S. carriers would inflict a crippling defeat against Japan, sinking four Japanese carriers and their experienced and irreplaceable aircrews.

Naval aviation played a key role in land warfare during World War II in the Pacific. To overcome Japan, the United States first had to defeat dozens of fortified island outposts located hundreds of miles from the nearest U.S. airbases. Naval aircraft were invaluable to amphibious invasions of these islands, softening up Japanese defenses before U.S. troops landed, and providing support for the actual attacks. By the end of the war, it was clear that the day of the battleship as king of the ocean was over. The aircraft carrier had proven itself the most powerful weapon in the U.S. Navy's arsenal.

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