Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 (The Pacific War Trilogy Book 3)

by Ian W. Toll

The escort carriers, “CVEs,” were small auxiliaries sometimes known by their nicknames, “jeep carriers” or “baby flattops.” They were about one-half the length and one-third the weight of the Essex-class fleet carriers. They were 500 feet long, displaced about 10,000 tons, and carried just twenty-five to thirty aircraft. Their greatest virtue, from the navy’s point of view, was that they could be built and launched quickly and cheaply. They were deployed in limited roles: to provide air cover for merchant convoys and transport fleets, to support amphibious landings, and to ferry replacement aircraft across the Pacific. They were too slow to keep company with the big fighting carriers of Task Force 38: most could do no better than 18 knots. They were considered too frail to stand up to a concerted air or submarine attack, because their thin steel skin was too easily pierced by bombs or torpedoes. The crews joked that “CVE” stood for “combustible, vulnerable, and expendable,” and their mordant appraisal was accurate on all three counts.