"Joining the War at Sea 1939-1945"
The Second Edition of Joining the War at Sea 1939-1945 is pictured above. There are just four copies remaining. The new Third Edition of "Joining the War at Sea 1939-1945" is now available. Use the link above the picture for information on pricing.
"The Triumph of Instrument Flight: A Retrospective in the Century of U.S. Aviation"
In series, top to bottom, the Mediterranean regained in WW II. The first link is the index page for this series:
Aircraft of World War II-"friendlies"
Ships and Aircraft of World War II
USS Ranger CV-4, Ferried Planes to Iceland, Malta, then led air assault forTorch
The USS Ranger CV-4, was the U.S. Navy's first fleet carrier built as a carrier from the keel up. She could make 29 knots. This view shows her elevator on the stern slightly depressed below the flight deck. The three stacks on each side would fold down during flight operations. Ranger led a contingent of four Sangamon class escort carriers (ACVs) during the North African operation, Nov. 8-12, 1942. Chenango carried 76 P-40s to be flown off to the airfield at Port Lyautey once captured, to act as Casablanca's defensive fighter force once that city was secured. That left Ranger, and ACVs Sangamon, Suwannee, and Santee to suppport the landings; their fighters were F4-Fs; their torpedo planes were TBFs; their divebombers were SBDs. In periods when the wind was light the ACVs (their best speed was under 20 knots) could not launch their aircraft.
F4F, carrier fighter by Grumman, with RAF markings
TBF, carrier torpedo plane, by Grumman
SBD, divebomber, by Douglas
French defending aircraft were a factor in the opening hours. Anti-aircraft fire was a factor that persisted until the final units of the French Navy, including its shore defense forces, agreed to put down their arms on November 11. Task Force 34's heaviest losses occurred after the French resistance ended.
Ranger, built in the early 1930s, was scrapped after the war.