A Grim, Terrible Business

World War II marked the end of the big naval battleships and the introduction of the aircraft carrier. The U.S. Navy used its aircraft carriers across the Atlantic Ocean in the anti-submarine patrol and to ferry aircraft to Europe and Africa. The carriers were so successful in the anti-submarine role that they virtually eliminated the threat of the German U-boats.

The aircraft carriers, however, were used in more devastating ways in the Pacific Theater: Midway...Guadalcanal...Marshall / Gilb...