Show U. U S. S Begins Building After Navy-Air Navy Force Controversy After a week of uncertainty the administration administration administration ad ad- ministration finally decided to begin construction construction construction con con- of the worlds world's largest aircraft carrier The keel of this gigantic vessel which will be large enough to handle planes of the size of the wartime B 29 was laid Monday at Newport News Va and completion is expected by 1952 Construction of the carrier which will willbe willbe willbe be named the United States has been urged vigorously by the navy and opposed opposed opposed op op- op- op posed with equal vigor by the air force The air force regards the ne new v carrier as asan asan asan an invasion of the field of range long-range strategic bombing a field which it claims exclusively as its own The navy denies this In fact the navy reportedly hay ha has agreed that if the super carrier is employed in strategic bombing she will willbe willbe willbe be under air force direction The hot navy-air navy force controversy was responsible for the uncertainty over construction and for the secrecy which was invoked after President Truman and Defense Secretary Louis Johnson reached a decision Not until the keel laying began without began without the customary ceremony ceremony ceremony cere cere- mony it might be added was added was the silence broken Such are the conditions that prevail in our unified armed services Some of the statistics relating to the United States are interesting The cost will be of which will be for armament armament aircraft aircraft detection detection detection detec detec- tion system defensive guns and aiming equipment The latter figure it is assumed assumed assumed as as- does not include fighter or bomber bomb bomb- er aircraft The vessel will be 1090 feet long she will have a beam at the water waterline waterline waterline line of feet and a maximum fixed width v above the water line of feet The flight deck through elimination of will ll be the usual island superstructure 1030 feet long and could handle planes up to a gross weight of tons For this reason some writers have called her an atomic bomber carrier A layman has considerable difficulty following arguments between the armed services which in these days of mechanized mechanized mechanized warfare are carried out in the most technical of terms Basically the dispute dispute dispute dis dis- dis- dis over building the United States seems to amount to this The airs air force maintains that strategic bombing can best be done from land bases The navy navy believes that the super carrier offers a better method This simplification of course disregards the possibility of inter inter- service jealousy and rivalry for power prestige and appropriations During the last war the use of carrier carrier car car- cpr cpr- rier fleets proved d very effective In 1942 the statement that American carriers would be operating off the coast of Japan would have been met with ith skepticism to put it mildly Yet in 1945 that very thing was being done However the lessons of the last war while important are not the ruling factor factor factor fac fac- tor in preparations for a possible future one The next war if it comes probably will be as different from the last as the blitzkrieg was from trench warfare What we must do is build our armed services for the future insofar as we are able to predict it basing some of our decisions on term short-term needs and others on the longer long long- er view The United States is the first ship of the navys navy's postwar building program President Truman and Secretary Johnson Johnson Johnson John John- son have given their approval after long consideration One decision has hass been n reached |