Aviation History - March 2016 USA

32 AH march 2016

PREVIOUS PAGES: SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM; LEFT & BOTTOM RIGHT: COURTESY OF ERIC SIMONSEN; TOP RIGHT: NASA

At a time of great social upheaval, he did much

to help keep good people in the U.S. Navy. He

also came up with some ideas that occasioned a

great deal of resistance within the service. Not least

among these was the notion of building smaller,

less-expensive aircraft carriers, which he dubbed

sea control ships, equipped exclusively with verti-

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By the 1970s many of the World War II–vintage

Essex-class carriers that had been modified for

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ized missions were nearing the end of their opera-

tional lives. Zumwalt believed they should be

replaced by smaller, less sophisticated vessels than

the huge nuclear-powered “super carriers” favored

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insisted that eight of his sea control ships could be

built for the price of one super carrier. He pointed

AS CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS FROM 1970 TO 1974,

ADMIRAL ELMO ZUMWALT WAS AMONG THE MOST

CONTROVERSIAL MILITARY OFFICERS OF HIS DAY.

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many components

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out that the smaller ships would be ideal for tasks

for which a giant carrier was not required, such as

ASW, escorting convoys or providing air support

to naval auxiliaries or amphibious support groups.

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pretty closely the role of escort carriers during

World War II. As reimagined 30 years later, how-

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faster, more high-tech and much more expensive.

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was to include light airborne multipurpose system

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