While evacuating British aircraft from Norway in June, the ship was sunk by the German battleships
A battleship or even a large cruiser could very easily sink an aircraft carrier if she could close the range sufficiently to bring the carrier under fire. How such a ship can close the range from 200 to 20 miles in the face of a hostile air group and against a ship which is as fast or faster is something of a mystery.
Twelve aircraft carriers were sunk by the enemy during World War II -- five fleet carriers, a seaplane tender and six escort carriers. The loss of the Bismarck Sea was the last time that a U.S. carrier went down due to enemy action.
The last aircraft carrier sunk in wartime was the Japanese aircraft carrier Amagi, in Kure Harbour in July 1945. The greatest loss of life was the 2,046 killed on Akitsu Maru—a converted passenger liner with a small flight deck, carrying the Imperial Japanese Army's 64th Infantry Regiment.
On May 29, 1944, German U-boat, U-549, torpedoed and sank USS Block Island (CVE-21) west-northwest of the Canary Islands. USS Barr (DE-576) was also damaged in this attack. Block Island was the only U.S. carrier lost in the Atlantic during World War II.
USS Archerfish (SS/AGSS-311) was a Balao-class submarine. She was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the archerfish. Archerfish is best known for sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano in November 1944, the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine.
Since the appearance of this type of ship in 1916, with the launching of HMS Furious, a total of 51 aircraft carriers have ended up at the bottom of the sea, of which 44 were sunk during World War II ( 2 Italian aircraft carriers, 22 Japanese aircraft carriers, 8 British aircraft carriers and 12 American aircraft ...
The aircraft carrier was hit by a Japanese dive bomber on March 19, 1945. The USS Franklin was the most heavily damaged carrier in World War II to survive an attack. Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval Observatory.
The Imperial Japanese Navy never truly recovered from Midway, and would possess a total of 18 aircraft carriers throughout the war, but 14 of these were ultimately lost - the majority of which fell around the Philippines, with three sunk during the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
Philippine Sea, 19–20 June 1944. This was the largest aircraft carrier battle in history, involving fifteen American fleet and light carriers, nine Japanese carriers, 170 other warships, and some 1,700 aircraft.
Weighing 72,800 tons and outfitted with nine 18.1-inch guns, the battleship Yamato was Japan's only hope of destroying the Allied fleet off the coast of Okinawa. But insufficient air cover and fuel cursed the endeavor as a suicide mission. Struck by 19 American aerial torpedoes, it was sunk, drowning 2,498 of its crew.
The U.S.S. Samuel B Roberts, also known as the “Sammy B,” was discovered in the Philippine Sea at a depth of 22,916 feet last week by a team of explorers. The wreck is the deepest ever found, per the Associated Press.
During the war, Tang was credited with sinking 31 ships in her five patrols, totaling 227,800 tons, and damaging two for 4,100 tons.
Torpedoes were also very capable of sinking battleships. On 21 November 1944, USS Sealion sank Kongō with over 1200 casualties. HMS Barham was struck by three torpedoes fired from German submarine U-331.
The age of the aircraft carrier. Early in World War II the primary instrument for delivering naval combat power became the aircraft carrier. The reason was range: aircraft could deliver a concerted attack at 200 miles or more, whereas battleships could do so only at 20 miles or less.
1939 - 1945
At the beginning of World War II, the Royal Navy was the strongest navy in the world, with the largest number of warships built and with naval bases across the globe. It had over 15 battleships and battlecruisers, 7 aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 164 destroyers and 66 submarines.
The next important statistic is the Kriegsmarine's losses during the war. Throughout World War II, the Kriegsmarine lost 7 capital ships, 6 cruisers, 7 raiders, and 27 destroyers, totaling 47 major surface ships. Under the surface, the Kriegsmarine lost 780 U-boats throughout the war.
Hitler didn't need the vast fleet of carriers the United States sent to the Pacific in 1945. Every carrier built would have meant fewer tanks and aircraft to stop the Soviet avalanche that eventually trampled Germany in 1945. As for Italy, it didn't have the resources to build many carriers.
Enterprise earned 20 battle stars, the most for any U.S. warship in World War II, and was the most decorated U.S. ship of World War II. She was also the first American ship to sink a full-sized enemy warship after the Pacific War had been declared when her aircraft sank the Japanese submarine I-70 on 10 December 1941.
On July 8, an F/A-18E Super Hornet aboard USS Harry S. Truman was blown off the ship after an unexpected storm caused heavy, rolling seas.
Japanese Mistakes
Though devastating as it was the US Navy only permanently lost 2 ships in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona, and the USS Oklahoma. All the other damaged ships were refloated and repaired, many within 6 months.
The three aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were out to sea on maneuvers. The Japanese were unable to locate them and were forced to return home with the U.S. carrier fleet intact. The battleship USS Arizona remains sunken in Pearl Harbor with its crew onboard.
According to Cdr Rippon in 'Evolution of Engineering in the Royal Navy', Volume 2, some 35 CAM-ships made about 175 voyages in two years - twelve were lost, eight catapult launchings were made, six enemy aircraft shot down and one RAF pilot lost.