Aircraft Carrier

The Story of the Aircraft Carrier

When Japan declared war on the United States in 1941, Japan's opening gambit - Admiral Nagumo's air strike on Pearl Harbor - established the aircraft carrier as the ultimate weapon of naval warfare. In a daring revenge mission, America's James Doolittle hit the heart of Tokyo with a handful of carrier-based bombers before Nagumo met his match in US commander Chester Nimitz at Midway. The carrier's development is traced from World War Two through Korea and Vietnam to the Falklands, where a combination of vertical take-off strike planes, helicopters and missile systems proved the modern carrier still reigned supreme.

Chapters:

1. Pearl Harbor
2. Mass production
3. Coral Sea
4. Midway
5. New role for carriers
6. Kamikaze
7. Korea