The Navy’s Lone Ranger

“‘Where are the carriers?’  This has been the likely first question asked by every President of the United States since World War II when faced with a developing international crisis that involves U.S. interests.”

So begins best-selling author Tom Clancy’s Carrier.  Clancy goes on to write that “Aircraft carriers stretch perceptions.  First of all, they’re big – bigger than most skyscrapers – skyscrapers that can move across the sea at a better than a fair clip.”  Modern carriers are well over 1,000′ feet long and weigh an astonishing 100,000 tons…or more.

They are also incredibly expensive, costing $4 billion or more to build, so they’re well-protected by supporting defense ships.  A carrier battle group may involve a $20 billion investment.  The modern carrier boasts a staggering array of electronics and sensors, sophisticated radar and down-to-the-meter GPS navigation.  These massive mini-cities carry thousands of men, each with a job that serves to keep the carrier, powered by a nuclear reactor, operating at top efficiency.  And we haven’t even begun talking about the aircraft.

But it’s the aircraft that gives the carrier its punch.  In fact, the aircraft are the offensive and defensive centerpiece of the modern fleet.  A modern airplane’s ability to attack targets from hundreds of miles away as well as defend the fleet from attack at distances of hundreds of miles are the reason that 100,000-ton carriers are feasible in the first place.

This is nothing new to us…we’re now 70+ years into the “carrier-era”, and we don’t need to be sold on the idea.  But of course, it wasn’t always like this.

In the 1920’s, there was an ideological battle being fought in the U.S. Navy, and in other navies as well.  For many, the battleship with its supporting cast was the ultimate form of naval warfare.  The navy with the most iron and the biggest guns was master of the sea.  But a new line of thinking was emerging…one that contended that the airplane (still in its infancy as a military weapon) could add a long-reaching punch to existing naval power.  If an airplane could be launched from a ship, fly out, and safely return, that would be a real surprise to an enemy.

By the early 1930’s the concept had already been proven feasible, with the collier-to-carrier USS Langley offering a primitive glance at the possibilities.  The Lexington and Saratoga, carriers of legend, were next.  These began life as battle-cruisers, but early on were converted and served with distinction when the U.S. entered the war in 1941.

But the USS Ranger, the fourth carrier built, was different.  It didn’t start life as a battle-cruiser, a battleship, or a battle-anything.  First launched on February 25, 1933 (and commissioned the following year), CV-4 (in Navy-speak) was built from the ground up as an aircraft carrier.

If the Navy was not fully sold on the potential of the carrier replacing the battleship as its “dreadnought”, it certainly recognized that the carrier offered long-range offensive capability and a much improved defense for its traditional big iron.

It would take 10 years for carrier and aircraft technology to mesh and, in the meantime, several more advanced classes of battleships would enter the water, but by the end of the Second World War, the carrier had ascended to preeminence.  It was no longer the concept of the “carriers protecting the battle-group”…rather it was “the battle-group that protected the carriers.”

But believe it or else, the USS Ranger lived long enough to see that day, surviving the War as the first purpose-built aircraft carrier.  Rapid advancements in carrier design, however, meant that she would be the only Ranger-class carrier built.

Recommended Reading: Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier

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The Golden Gate Bridge is Born

The cold continues…-15 again this morning and the white car still doesn’t start.  It’s like a really bad saga.

When I mention that Today’s History Lesson has something to do with San Francisco, each of you will have different images pop into your brain.  For some, it’s the houses packed so tightly together (each of which costs a bundle to own).  For others, it might be the fog over the Bay.  Some may immediately think of the earthquakes that have, over the years, caused catastrophic damage to the area.

For me personally, it’s that one street that winds back and forth (the name escapes for the moment).  It’s the scenes from the movie Bullitt with Steve McQueen and his Mustang, where pursued became pursuer as they flew down those descending streets in one of the more dramatic car chases ever to grace the movie screen.  But the thing that probably comes to my mind first is the same thing for many of you as well…

The Golden Gate Bridge.

Along with the Empire State Building, Mount Rushmore, and the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate is likely one of the most recognizable man-made structures in America, if not the world.  It’s not the tallest, it’s not the longest (though it was when it was built), and it’s not the most expensive bridge ever built.  And it’s never had a major collapse to color its history, as others have.

But it, as much as any structure ever built, has demonstrated man’s ability to harness the rigid laws of physics and use them in a way that actually helps people.  Before the Bridge (in the early 1930’s), getting from San Francisco to Sausalito required a ride on a ferry across the Bay, or a drive of many hours around the Bay, taking advantage of whatever other bridges would serve to shorten the trip.  And while the ferry worked, it wasn’t so nice in heavy weather, and ferries could only move so many cars at a time.

The idea of a bridge, however, was looked on with skepticism.  The distance (6,700′) was daunting.  The weather and the winds and the waves would wreak havoc on a bridge.  The water in the middle of the proposed span was 500′ deep…driving pilings and pouring concrete and building supports would be very difficult.  And the harbor still had to support a significant shipping business as well as the needs of the U.S. Navy.  Nobody wanted ships constantly plowing into a bridge.  And of course, there were those occasional earthquake concerns.

The solution was a suspension bridge.  Two massive supports would be “planted” on the far ends of the bridge, which would prevent the expensive process of laying supports in deep water, while simultaneously removing a bunch of solid targets for ships to hit in bad weather.  Then, a bunch of cable would be strung between the supports and the bridge itself, providing the lift.  Of course, there’s a whole lot more physics and stuff involved, but I averaged a D+ in my two semesters of college physics, so I’m not the guy to explain it.

And on January 5, 1933, that’s what the workers started building.  Completed in 1937 and opened to traffic in May of that year, the Golden Gate runs almost 9,000′ from abutment to abutment.  It weighs in at a rather heavy 894,500 tons.  The bridge is supported and stabilized by 80,000 miles of high-tensile cable, which means two things.  First, it can hold up two tons of stuff (cars, trucks, and buses) per foot.  Second, the bridge offers significant flex (up to 15′ of total deflection) without collapse.

While I’ve visited California, I’ve never been to San Francisco nor seen the Golden Gate.  But I’d love to visit.  Getting my wife to actually cross the Golden Gate, however, well…

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“Hitler, Party of One, Your Table…”

I think it’s kind of embarrassing, because back when I was single, it embarrassed me.  I’d go into a restaurant where there was a wait, and I put my name on the list.  And of course, I’d sit and wait.  I would look at the menu or at the aquarium.  Maybe I’d count ceiling tiles.  Before too long, I’d hear it.  “Joel, party of one, your table is ready.”  And sometimes, it was like the “naaaah nah n nah nah” we used to say as kids on the playground.  I could almost hear a snicker or two as I would get up from among the others to follow the waitress.

Party of one?  How is one a party?  Was I going to give myself a present?  Snap a photo of myself to remember the occasion?  Couldn’t they just leave the “party of one” part out?  I wasn’t trying to broadcast my singleness, so why should anyone else?  I would have felt less conspicuous dressed like Ronald McDonald.

…

Well, I’m glad we had this little chat to get that off my chest.

…

Oh yeah…history…

On July 14, 1933, Adolf Hitler decided that the idea of “just one at the table” constituted a party, so he outlawed all political parties in Germany excepting, of course, the National Socialist (Nazi) Party.  And I’ll bet he wasn’t the slightest bit embarrassed by it.

Shortly after Hitler’s assumption of power in March, the Reichstag had passed the Enabling Act, which gave all legislative power to the Nazi Party.  And very quickly, the other parties realized their days were numbered.  The Communist Party had already been banned, and the Social Democratic party was outlawed shortly after that.  Many other minority parties probably realized that being an opposition party to the Nazis wasn’t the best way to guarantee collection of their Social Security benefits.  So they began dissolving on their own.

Officially outlawing all political parties was the Nazi regime’s way removing any remaining ambiguity concerning who was in charge.  So, in just four months, Hitler had taken complete power.  His political threats outside his party were now eliminated, and the Night of the Long Knives (occurring just a couple weeks prior) had quashed the greater internal threats.  For once, “party of one” probably sounded pretty good.

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Reichstag Acts as Enabler to Adolf Hitler

The early months of 1933, while culminating in a long national nightmare for Germany, probably seemed like a fairy-tale ride to destiny for Adolf Hitler.  As January ended, a tired and ailing President Paul von Hindenburg had named Hitler Chancellor of Germany.

And then the wheels began to turn.  First, the new Chancellor dissolved the Reichstag (Germany’s governing body) and called for new elections (to be held the first week in March).  Then, in a complete and utter coincidence, the Reichstag building caught fire just a week after Hitler’s appointment.  Hitler conveniently blamed the fire on the Communists, suspended habeas corpus, and began arresting Communist Party officials, removing them from play in the upcoming elections.

When the March 5th election counts were tallied, Hitler was still unable to win a clear majority (though a coalition with the Nationalist Party gave him a slim “on-paper” majority).  But Hitler was smart enough to know that reliance on a second party for passing legislation gave that weaker party tremendous power…power he wanted.

So he had his cabinet draw up what became the Enabling Act, an incredibly powerful tool which allowed Hitler (and his cabinet) to create and pass legislation, including changing Germany’s constitution, without the Reichstag’s consent.  But how to get this little gem of a law past the Reichstag?  Out came those wheels again.

The Catholic-led Centre Party agreed to support the measure when Chancellor Hitler made promises to them…promises he, of course, never kept.  Which left two other groups.  Most Social Democrats (the SPD Party) and Communists were expected to vote against the deal.  As mentioned, many of the Communists were now out of the picture and the Social Democrats didn’t have the votes to carry the day.  But the SPD had another weapon.  If they refused to show up for the vote, the Reichstag wouldn’t have the quorum required to even vote in the first place.  So can we see those wheels a third time?

The Reichstag President, some guy named Hermann Goering, changed the rules, giving himself the power to declare any deputy “absent without excuse” as present.  You know, this is a lot like Calvinball…just make the rules up as you go.  Anyways, the SPD Party was now cornered, and with the SA (Hitler’s merry band of enforcers, commonly referred to as “thugs”) standing outside the chambers, and the outcome was inevitable.

On March 23, 1933, the votes were cast, and the Enabling Act squeaked through by a 441-to-94 margin.  The Reichstag had just voted itself out of relevance in Germany and, in 2 months, the German Republic had become a totalitarian state under the man destined to become one of history’s greatest tyrants.

Recommended Reading: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – A History of Nazi Germany

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Springtime for Hitler

Voter intimidation.  Voting irregularities.  Dirty politics.  Bumping off the opposition.  Whispered calls to the press, saying, “We just thought you’d want to know…”.  Deals done in the smoked-filled rooms.  Temporary alliances of convenience.  These are the less savory fuels that sometimes power the wheels of government.  And nowhere were these propellants in greater supply than they were in Germany in the days leading up to March 5, 1933, as the Weimar Republic was being catapulted at break-neck speed into the concrete wall of National Socialism.

But let’s step back to the elections in November of 1932.  Many bankers and heads of industry had become fearful of the gains the Communist party had made in the elections, and threw their support behind the Nazi party, which had actually lost seats.  December saw a maze of political games (far too complex to describe in brief), which led to a change in Germany’s Chancellor.  The pace of intrigue and negotiations increased, and leaders having no interest in giving Adolf Hitler power actually supported his cause.  Finally, on January 30th, President Hindenburg named Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany.  The President (along with many others) saw Hitler as a threat, but felt that, in the Chancellor’s role, the government could keep a leash on him.  Oh, how wrong they were!

One of Hitler’s first acts was to dissolve the newly formed Reichstag and call for elections to be held March 5, 1933.  He then lined up support from some of Germany’s industrial giants and starting clamping down on Communism.  The famous Reichstag fire of February 27th was likely started by National Socialists (with the help of a Communist patsy) and, combined with effective anti-Communist propaganda, propelled the Nazi party more.

And after all this, Germany still rejected Hitler, whose party only managed 44% of the total vote.  But because of a coalition with the Nationalist party, Hitler held a slim, sixteen-seat majority in the Reichstag.  It wasn’t enough to give him total control, but the edge had been crossed, the Weimar Republic was smashed, and the slide down slope to dictatorship would be rapid and violent.

Recommended Reading: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – A History of Nazi Germany – One of the best accounts of Hitler’s rise to power.  William Shirer’s ability to sift through the machinations of Hitler’s ascent is unrivaled.  Pure gold.

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