Aircraft Carriers are the ultimate tool of modern power projection. They are symbols of both naval strength and air superiority. This episode covers their history and their future:

• 1840s: Balloon Carriers are invented
• 1900s: Seaplane Carriers are invented
• 1910s: Modern aircraft carriers are invented
• 1930s-1940s: WWII (five major carrier battles)
• Pearl Harbor: Japan's six carriers surprise the United States Navy
• Coral Sea: Japan's three carriers engage America's two carriers (both lose one carrier)
• Midway: America's three carriers engage Japan's four carriers and sink all four, with the help of codebreakers and reconnaissance. Considered a turning point in the Pacific War
• Philippine Sea: America's sixteen carriers destroy or disable all but 35 of the 500 Japanese carrier-based aircraft

• Leyte Gulf: America's seventeen carriers decisively defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy in the largest naval battle in history

• WWII-present: US Carrier Strike Groups control the seas

For more information, read:

http://www.sandcastlevi.com/sea/carriers/cvchap1a.htm

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ships/carriers/cv-list.asp

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/carriers.htm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/aircraft-carrier.htm

http://www.combatreform2.com/submarineaircraftcarriers.htm

The Pacific War Companion by Daniel Marston

Jane’s Warship Recognition Guide

Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers (1921-1945) by Mark Stille

US Navy Bluejacket’s Manual

Military History Podcast is sponsored by Armchair General Magazine