In World War II, the United States built 155 aircraft carriers in one go? Why is it so hard to build one now?

Today’s supercarriers are far more complex than those in World War II.

Throughout World War II, the country with the largest number of aircraft carriers was the United States. At the end of World War II, the number of aircraft carriers owned by the United States exceeded the total number of aircraft carriers in other countries.

From the end of World War II to the present, the United States has consistently ranked first in the world in terms of number of aircraft carriers, single-ship performance, and comprehensive combat capabilities.

In fact, when Japan first attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War broke out, the United States had no advantage in the aircraft carrier field. In the initial naval battle between the United States and Japan, the US Navy was at a disadvantage, and the number of available aircraft carriers once dropped to only one. At the time when it was almost alive and dead, the strength of America's strong industrial base began to manifest.

According to statistics, during the entire World War II, the United States built a total of 155 aircraft carriers. In the five years from 1941 to 1945, the United States built more than 130 aircraft carriers. This includes 27 fleet-class large aircraft carriers, 11 light aircraft carriers, and 117 escort aircraft carriers.

Among the more than 150 aircraft carriers, there are about 120 escort aircraft carriers. The United States was still slowly constructing aircraft carriers such as the "Essex" class at that time. In order to cope with the very tense situation, it could only quickly build and serve a batch of aircraft carriers with very good performance but very obvious quantitative advantages.

The escort aircraft carrier is a special aircraft carrier born during World War II. Its displacement, speed, protection capability, carrier capability, carrier aircraft takeoff and landing capability and other indicators are significantly smaller than regular aircraft carriers, even smaller than light aircraft carriers. Many escort aircraft carriers are even improved on the basis of cruisers and large merchant ships. Their "aircraft carrier" combat capabilities are relatively reluctant, but they can be regarded as an aircraft carrier with a certain amount of carrier-based aircraft take-off and landing capabilities. They can escort and transport ships at sea. Airplanes, training aircraft carrier personnel, etc. have irreplaceable roles. When multiple escort aircraft carrier formations are fighting, they even have the ability to fight against regular aircraft carriers.

The most representative of these American escort aircraft carriers is the "Casablanca" class escort aircraft carrier, which has a full displacement of only 10,200 tons and a speed of only 20 knots. Generally, it will carry about 27 fighters, torpedo bombers, and dive bombers, with limited combat capabilities. However, it wins because of its very fast construction speed and obvious quantitative advantages.

You know, in 1943, the construction of the first ship of the "Casablanca" class escort aircraft carrier has just started. One year later, the US shipbuilding industry has completed an order for 50 aircraft carriers of the same type. On average, almost one "Casablanca" class aircraft carrier has been ordered every week. It was delivered to use, so this aircraft carrier is also known as the "Weekly Aircraft Carrier". The overall construction speed of the "Casablanca" class aircraft carrier is simply "outrageous", and it has also become a major spectacle in the history of human warfare. From the "Casablanca" class During the construction of the escort aircraft carrier, it was enough to see the main reason why the United States won the Pacific War.

However, the so-called heavy aircraft carriers during World War II refer to the Essex class and Midway Island class (not caught up with World War II). Among them, the Essex class was built with 17 ships, with an empty displacement of only 27,000 tons and a full load of only 33,000. Tons; while three midway island-class ships were built with a displacement of 45,000 tons, which reached 60,000 tons after modification. Today's Nimitz-class and Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers have a full-load displacement of more than 100,000 tons. Due to the continuous development of carrier-based aircraft, the requirements for aircraft carriers continue to increase, and it is already very difficult to build aircraft carriers. What is more difficult is the series of things that can be matched with aircraft carriers. Even the US Navy, which is technologically advanced and rich in wealth, can only maintain a fleet of about 10 nuclear aircraft carriers.