Second World War Aircraft Carrier Challenge

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Post subject: Re: Second World War Aircraft Carrier Challenge

Posted: July 10th, 2020, 11:03 pm

Posts: 110
Joined: November 14th, 2014, 4:13 am

Decided to go with a RL Design as the base for my contest entry. Designing is fun, but I wanted to practice drawing from plans some more as I don't do it often enough. Thanks to the help of some other users in the discord I was able to find nice scans of the plans for the USS Wolverine. Plans don't entirely match up with the photos (Or even between views at points), but I think I did a far job. Design is modified slightly based on photos and some other line drawings I found which were oh so subtly different from the actual plans. Decided my version would be as-Built for an AU because I find the idea of a Great Lakes Carrier Task Force hilarious. Main differences from the real thing are the mast and walkways beneath the flight deck at the bow and stern. The plans show what appears to be an air search radar on the mast, but photos of the real ship show no radar fitted to this mast (She later got a second mast aft but I couldn't good references for it). Walkways aren't in the plans but I don't know if they were there from the start or added later (Possibly when she got her bridge enclosed?).

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Following the success of Operation Sea Lion and the fall of the British Empire many Commonwealth countries subsequently joined the Axis powers. Much to the dismay of the US, among the new Axis nations was neighboring Canada. As the US and Canada border turned to flames the US began a massive naval build up in the Upper Great Lakes. As numerous lake freighters were converted into adhoc Battleships, two side wheel paddle steamers were converted into carriers and become the core of the Great Lakes Fast Carrier Task Force, the bastion of American Naval power on the Great Lakes and a deciding factor in the Untied State's eventual conquest of Axis Canada.

In summer of 1942 the passenger ships Seeandbee and Greater Buffalo were transformed into the USS Wolverine and USS Sable. Too small to be fitted for internal hangars, the ships carried their entire air wing above deck. While their standard load of 8 SBD Dauntless dive bombers and 12 F4F Wildcats was nothing compared to an ocean going fleet carrier, they far outmatched Axis Canada's nonexistent lake carriers. In addition to the small air wing the ships lacked an internal magazine meaning that all bombs had to be carried on deck which limited the number of sorties which could be conducted before the ship needed to return to port for replenishment. In service it eventually became standard procedure for aircraft too deploy to the ships already loaded for combat. Defensive armament was nonexistent and the ships were wholly reliant on their escorts and air wing for protection.

Despite their small size, the two ships rapidly became the scourge of the Canadian forces in the Great Lakes Theater. While initially limited only to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, the successful defense of the Soo Locks combined with American advances on the Dertiot-Windsor Front allowed the paddle carriers to participate in both the Battle of Thunder Bay on Lake Superior and the Invasion of Toronto on Lake Ontario

Following the successful liberation and subsequent annexation of Canada both Wolverine and Sable were placed in reserve. While briefly considered being resurrected into service as training carriers during the US-Soviet War, its inability to operate any but the small prop trainers led to cancellations of those plans. Slated to be sold for scrap, successful campaigns led to both being preserved as museum ships.

TL;DR : She slow, She smol, But most importantly, She paddlin' Along.

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