Some were destroyed in battle,
others weren’t completed.
Some are laid up, and can only dream about battles…
But now they’re getting a new lease of life!
We recreate ships accurately,
according to their historical blueprints,
and send them into battle!
World of Warships: Dry Dock Aircraft Carrier Saipan
By the midpoint of World War II, the U.S. Navy considered it necessary
to have one light aircraft carrier on the sea front in the Pacific Ocean
for every couple of Essex-class strike aircraft carriers.
Nine Independence-class ships were commissioned in 1943—
these ships were quickly remade from Cleveland-class light cruisers
that had previously been laid down.
However, nobody thought that the war was going to end anytime soon,
so the need to replenish unavoidable losses was also considered.
With that in mind, two additional light aircraft carriers
were laid down in 1944 using a new project.
By contrast with their predecessors, Saipan and her sistership Wright
were initially built as aircraft carriers, even though the basis of their design
used the hull and propulsion of the Baltimore-class heavy cruisers,
which were larger than the Cleveland-class ships.
Taking the previous experience into account,
the engineers were able to create much better ships
than the improvised Independence-class ones.
Saipan had better seafaring characteristics
and an improved hull structure; her solid armor was comparable
to that of the larger Essex-class aircraft carriers; and most importantly—
her protection and system to supply larger amounts of aviation ammunition
were upgraded.
The flight deck was enhanced to accommodate aircraft
with a weight of up to 9 tons,
and her air group comprised more than 40 vehicles.
The ship could reach speeds of up to 32 knots
and had decent short-range AA defenses
with more than four dozen 40-mm automatic guns.
In the end, Saipan was commissioned only in July 1946,
and when the war was over,
the light aircraft carrier type itself instantly became obsolete.
However, the new ships built utilizing the special project
had a different fate compared to the Independence-class ships,
which were quickly sent to the reserve at that time.
Saipan remained in service for 10 more years,
and she wasn't just a training ship for naval aviation cadets or reserve pilots.
In 1948, the first squadron of FH-1 Phantom naval jet planes
was commissioned into service in the U.S. Navy precisely on board Saipan.
The aircraft carrier served in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea,
and along the coastline of Korea and Indochina.
In the middle of the 1950s, plans were made to refit the ship
as a training aircraft carrier with an angled flight deck,
but these plans never materialized and the ship was sent to the reserve in 1957.
But that wasn't the end for our heroine—
several years later, renamed Arlington,
the ship was commissioned again in another capacity.
But that's a completely different story.
In World of Warships, U.S. aircraft carrier Saipan resides at Tier VIII.