USS Ranger (CV-4) was an interwar United States Navy aircraft carrier, the only ship of its class. A Treaty ship, Ranger was the first U.S. vessel to be designed and built from the keel up as a carrier. She was relatively small, just long and under 15,000 tons, closer in size and displacement to the first US carrier——than later ships. An island superstructure was not included in the original design, but was added after completion.
Deemed too slow for use with the Pacific Fleet's carrier task forces against Japan,Ford, Roger (2001) The Encyclopedia of Ships, pg. 343. Amber Books, London. she spent most of World War II in the Atlantic Ocean, where the German fleet, the Kriegsmarine, was a weaker opponent. Ranger saw combat in that theater and provided air support for Operation Torch. In October 1943, she fought in Operation Leader, air attacks on German shipping off Norway. She was sold for scrap in 1947.
Design and development Work began in 1925 on the design of a fourth aircraft carrier for the US Navy, as a follow-on to the small , converted from a collier, and the large and , which were in the process of being converted from incomplete battlecruisers. Carrier number four was the Navy's first opportunity to design a ship built as an aircraft carrier. Preliminary design work occurred before extensive operation of the preceding three. Having limited experience to draw on, key characteristics of the design were derived from wargaming experience at the U.S. Naval War College. During design and construction many alterations would occur as a result of increasing experience with Langley, Lexington, and Saratoga.
The major limitation constraining any design was the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. After Lexington and Saratoga, there were remaining for construction of aircraft carriers. This resulted in modeling for three 23,000-long-ton carriers, four 17,250-ton carriers, or five 13,800-ton carriers. Of the three sizes, the smaller 13,800-ton was selected because the five hulls would have the largest aggregate aircraft capacity. Wargames had indicated that severe attrition to airframes and hulls would occur in any war. The college's solution was to maximize the number of aircraft and hulls allowable under the treaty.
Initially, Ranger was designed as a flush-decker, like Langley, with nothing extending above the flight deck. Keeping the flight deck clear of obstacles complicated the arrangement of machinery. The smoke from her six boilers was vented up six small stacks, with three on each side of the aft hangar. The stacks were hinged and were rotated to a position parallel with the hangar deck during flight operations. The unusual stack arrangement was a carry-over from her flush-deck design. When an island was added midway through construction, rebuilding the uptakes into the island was rejected as too costly. The further aft the boilers were placed, the further aft the stacks could be too, dispersing smoke over less of the deck. Concerns about smoke dispersion impacted propulsion design. Size of the plant influenced both the placement of the boilers and the amount of smoke generated. A moderate power plant could be placed further aft than a plant without affecting trim. The smaller plant also produced fewer gasses than a 100,000 shp plant. Due to space limits, the carrier was equipped with geared turbines.
Nearly her entire upper deck was devoted to the hangar. The large height and open girders of the flight deck structure allowed for stowage of spare fuselages. The hangar deck was semi-open and had large roll-up metal curtain doors which could be closed in bad weather. The open hangar was adopted to allow the installation of two catapults on the hangar deck for the launching of observation aircraft. The catapults were dropped to save cost.
The flight deck was a light superstructure sheathed in wood. Designed as a weight-saving measure, the light wood deck was found to be easily repairable. Three elevators were provided to move aircraft between the flight deck and hangar deck. Outriggers at the edge of the flight deck provided extra stowage for aircraft on deck. The carrier operated 76 aircraft as constructed; equal to Lexington with half the displacement.
The carrier was one of the first U.S. Navy ships mounted with light automatic weapons to defend against dive-bombing attacks, and was initially armed with forty .50 cal machine guns. Complementing the machine guns were eight dual-purpose 5-inch (127 mm)/25 caliber guns controlled by two Mark 33 directors. The machine guns were arrayed along the gallery and the 5-inch guns arrayed with one at each corner of the gallery, two at the bow, and two on the fantail.
Construction, refit, and modernization
Authorized by Congress on 13 February 1929, the U.S. Navy opened bids for the construction of the aircraft carrier on 3 September 1930. Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company outbid Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and New York Shipbuilding Company for the contract. In November, Newport News Shipbuilding received the contract to build her. The contract price was 15.2 million dollars. On 10 December, the name Ranger was assigned to the planned aircraft carrier.Cressman, p. 5
Ranger was laid down on 26 September 1931 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia, and launched on 25 February 1933, sponsored by Lou Henry Hoover, First Lady of the United States.Cressman, pp. 3–6 Late in construction the design was modified to include an island, increasing her displacement to 14,500 tons. Commencing trials on 1 May 1934, Ranger made and generated . She was commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 4 June 1934, with Captain Arthur L. Bristol in command.Cressman, pp. 8–9
To save money, Ranger was initially designed and commissioned without torpedo stowage or a torpedo bomber squadron. Wasp was designed and commissioned to match. On 17 October 1941 approval was given to install torpedo stowage during the next overhaul in conjunction with the activation of a torpedo squadron. On 10 January 1942 Torpedo Squadron 4 (VT-4) was activated on Ranger.Cressman, pp. 158, 178, 411
Across the years many alterations were made to her armament. The first change was to consolidate the 5-inch gun battery by pairing the four main deck guns with the four gallery deck guns. The anti-aircraft armament received a major upgrade when six 1.1-inch quadruple mounts were installed; the 1.1-inch battery replaced a battery of 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber guns installed months before as placeholders.Cressman, p. 157 In March 1942, the .50 cal machine guns were exchanged for much more capable Oerlikon 20 mm cannons.Cressman, p. 182 Similarly, the 1.1-inch battery was swapped with quadruple Bofors 40 mm guns in December 1942.Cressman, p. 296 Ranger's ultimate armament was six 40 mm quadruple mounts and forty-six 20 mm mounts.
On 13 December 1943, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest King had approved an extensive modernization. Since Ranger'''s commissioning, the size of carrier aircraft had grown enormously. Her flight deck supports were no longer capable of supporting the weight of a complete, modern air group. Other aircraft operating improvements were contemplated. The aft elevator was to be enlarged, the amidship elevator was to be replaced with a deck-edge elevator, and two flight deck catapults were to be installed. Weight and protection issues were to be solved by blistering the hull. Armament was to be increased with six additional 40 mm quadruple mounts. Admiral King favored having the conversions done, but the Bureau of Ships insisted that allocating the manpower and resources required to accomplish this would considerably delay the completion of new aircraft carriers under construction. The full project was indefinitely postponed on 5 April 1944 after the third, increasing estimate.Cressman, pp. 352–354, 358–360, 370 After arriving at New York Harbor on 16 May, Ranger entered the Norfolk Navy Yard to have her flight deck strengthened, new aircraft catapults installed, and radar equipment updated.Cressman, p. 364 This provided her with the capability of night fighter-interceptor training.
Service history
Inter-war periodRanger conducted her initial flight operations off the Virginia Capes on 21 June 1934Cressman, p. 16 and departed Norfolk on 17 AugustCressman, p. 18 for a shakedown training cruise that took her to Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo. She returned to Norfolk on 4 OctoberCressman, p. 23 for operations off the Virginia Capes and two stints in dry dock for post trial repairsCressman, pp. 23–25 until 1 April 1935,Cressman, p. 28 when she sailed for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on 7 April, she arrived in San Diego on 15 April. For nearly four years, she participated in fleet problems reaching to Hawaii,Cressman, pp. 30–35, 52–56, 75–82, 106–111, 119–125 the first-ever carrier cold weather test trials in Alaska,Cressman, pp. 44–50 and in western seaboard operations that took her as far south as Callao, Peru,Cressman, pp. 99–104 and as far north as Seattle, Washington. On 4 January 1939, she departed San Diego for winter fleet operations in the Caribbean based at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.Cressman, pp. 117–119 She then steamed north to Norfolk, arriving on 20 April.Cressman, p. 125Ranger cruised along the eastern seaboard out of Norfolk and into the Caribbean Sea. In the fall of 1939, she commenced Neutrality Patrol operations,Cressman, pp. 130–173 operating out of Bermuda along the trade routes of the middle Atlantic and up the eastern seaboard up to NS Argentia, Newfoundland.
In December 1940, Ranger's VF-4 became one of the first units to receive the newer Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats.
World War II 1942 In December 1941, she was returning to Norfolk from an ocean patrol extending to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.Cressman, p. 173 Arriving in Norfolk on 8 December,Cressman, p. 177 she sailed on 21 December for patrol in the South Atlantic. She then entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for repairs on 21 March 1942.Cressman, p. 181 Ranger was one of 14 ships to receive the early RCA CXAM-1 radar.Ranger served as flagship of Rear Admiral Arthur B. Cook, Commander, Carriers, Atlantic Fleet until 6 April 1942, when he was relieved by Rear Admiral Ernest D. McWhorter, who also broke his flag in Ranger.
On 15 April 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill cabled President Franklin Delano Roosevelt requesting North Carolina and Ranger reinforce the British Eastern Fleet in the wake of the Indian Ocean Raid. The day before in response to advance notice of the reinforcement request routed through General George Marshall, who was then visiting London, Admiral Ernest King had already definitely stated that Ranger and any other major fleet unit could not be made available for the Indian Ocean. He stated the only manner at all in which the Navy could assist was by using Ranger to ferry the pursuit planes necessary to bring the 10th Air Force up to full operational strength. King's draft response to Churchill's insistence displayed a lack of tact. Roosevelt supported King, but toned down King's draft by playing up Ranger's faults to steer the British towards accepting the ferry mission.