The reorganization of the Armada took only about two years for Spain.

And this is obviously a manifestation of Spain's national strength at that time. Because even the warships of the time did not require more technology and manpower to build than the metal warships. However, compared to the science and technology exhibition of the overall environment, the demand for the production of large wooden warships is undoubtedly more than that of later warships.

In one respect, neither the Ottoman Turkish Empire nor the Spanish Empire had their own brilliance in restoring large fleets, but there is no doubt that neither these two countries nor the United Kingdom, which for a long time dominated the world's largest maritime military power, could be as crazy as the shipbuilding industry of the United States during World War II.

Strictly speaking, the warships built by the United States during World War II are the real "invincible armada".

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Later generations made a relevant statistic, that is, from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 to the Pacific War to the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, the specific number of aircraft carriers built and launched by the United States is as follows:

There are 22 Essex-class fleet carriers, 2 Midway-class fleet carriers, 9 Independence-class light carriers, 1 Seban-class light carrier, 45 Borg-class escort carriers, 18 Commensment Beach class escort carriers, 5O Casablanca-class escort carriers, and a total of 24 heavy fleet carriers, 1o light aircraft carriers, and 113 escort carriers, totaling 147 ships.

If we count from the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, when the German invasion of Poland broke out, we should add the Yorktown-class large aircraft carrier Hornet, the escort aircraft carrier Long Beach, and the escort aircraft carrier Sangamon. then a total of 151 ships. This is data cited by many authoritative sources.

If we include the aircraft carriers that were basically built during World War II and launched shortly after Japan's surrender, we should add two large aircraft carriers of the Essex class, one light aircraft carrier of the Cypriot class, and one Conmensment Beach class escort aircraft carrier.

To sum up, broadly speaking, the United States built a total of 27 large fleet aircraft carriers, 11 light aircraft carriers, and 117 escort aircraft carriers throughout World War II, totaling 155 aircraft carriers.

While the number of warships built in other classes was as follows: 1o battleships, 48 cruisers, 349 destroyers, 498 frigates.

In fact, this number is not enough to explain anything, but in terms of data, it shows the strength of American industry.

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The Essex-class aircraft carrier can be said to be the most dominant aircraft carrier model of the United States in World War II.

Most American war historians agree that naval aviation played an important role in the Pacific War, and the Essex-class aircraft carriers played a significant role. It injected mobility, staying power, and attack power into the U.S. naval aviation, allowing the Allied navies to wrest sea supremacy in the Pacific Ocean from the Japanese navy, ensuring that the Allied forces approached the Japanese mainland and finally defeated Japan.

Before the outbreak of World War II, the United States already had five aircraft carriers, but at that time battleships were still regarded as the backbone of maritime power, and aircraft carriers were only a kind of floating airfield on the sea, from which reconnaissance planes took off and landed and attack planes that had not yet proved their power. The strategy, tactics, and role of carrier-based aviation are still in the midst of theoretical debate.

With the outbreak of war in Europe and the increasingly intensified contradictions between Japan's expansion and the United States, the United States deeply felt the need to strengthen the construction of aircraft carriers, and with the strong support of President Roosevelt, the US Congress passed the "Fleet Enlargement Act" and the "Two Oceans Navy Act" in June 194o, planning to build 11 aircraft carriers in FY 194o and 2 Essex-class aircraft carriers in FY 1941.

However, by the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War broke out, only five ships had been built. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to a radical change in the strategic thinking of the US Navy. The remaining U.S. naval forces in the Pacific Ocean are composed of aircraft carriers as the core of the resistance force.

It was only then that the Americans felt the inadequacy of the number of aircraft carriers. The aircraft carriers USS Lexington, USS Yorktown, USS Vespa and USS Hornet were sunk in 1942, and for a period of time, there were only a handful of aircraft carriers left in the Pacific theater of operations.

Under these circumstances, the U.S. Congress and the government made a decision to build additional aircraft carriers: priority was given to the construction of Essex-class aircraft carriers, with one more in fiscal year 1942, three in fiscal year 1943, and six Essex-class aircraft carriers in fiscal year 1944.

Back in 1937, when the Yorktown class entered service, the size, weight, and performance of the new carrier-based aircraft that were being designed required the Navy to build larger, more effective, and better-protected aircraft carriers. In the late 193o, when designing the Essex-class aircraft carrier, its standard displacement was determined to be 2oooo tons.

However, the U.S. Navy has put forward a series of requirements for this class of ships, the most important of which include: 1) a larger flight deck to carry an additional squadron of carrier-based aircraft, 2) more aviation gasoline reserves, 3) increase the thickness of the armor columns: 1o1.6 mm along the waterline, and the main bulkhead to 76.2 mm, 4) increase the power of the propulsion system to 150,000 shaft horsepower to meet the design requirements of 3o navigation, 5) increase the hangar deck area to reserve more aircraft parts and engines, etc., 6. Increased defensive weapons on the ship. Obviously, these requirements could not be fulfilled in the hull of a ship with a standard displacement of only 2oooo tons.

The design of the Essex was modeled after the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier, which had undergone six improvements by 194o. With a standard displacement of 275oo tons, the Essex-class aircraft carriers have absorbed the advantages of previous aircraft carriers of all classes, and the ship type is an enlarged and improved version of the Yorktown class.

The ratio of length to width of the hull is 8:1. There are lifts at the front and center and rear of the flight deck, and a vertically detachable lift on the port side of the deck to allow it to pass through the Panama Canal. The arrest system is equipped with a set of arresting cables at the stern and the ship, which can stop the landing of carrier-based aircraft weighing up to 5.4 tons.

The protection of the Essex-class aircraft carriers has been improved compared to the Yorktown-class.

Underwater, horizontal protection and anti-aircraft fire have been strengthened. The main components are: the hull is divided into more watertight compartments, a structure that allows some ships in this class to be repeatedly damaged during the war, but none of them have been sunk.

The ship has 12 127 mm anti-aircraft guns, but only two MK37 commanders, indicating that only some of the weapons can be controlled by radar, in addition to a large number of 4O mm and 2O mm anti-aircraft guns, the number of which varies from ship to ship. Considering that warships are to operate in Pacific waters, the endurance has been improved.

The Essex-class aircraft carrier ordered after the outbreak of the Pacific War has been slightly improved in design and shape, and is 3.63 meters longer than the original Essex-class.

The scale of construction of the Essex-class aircraft carriers fully reflects the enormous industrial potential of the United States. At the beginning of the Pacific War, the United States decided to concentrate its efforts on mass production according to the standard design scheme of the Essex-class aircraft carriers, which allowed shipyards to adopt assembly line operations.

In addition, a high degree of standardization has been implemented in areas such as steel molds and plates, ship equipment, machinery and weapons. The production of anti-aircraft weapons was almost entirely focused on the manufacture of 127-mm guns, "Bofors" 4o-mm guns and "Erlikon" 2o-mm guns. As a result, the construction period of this class of aircraft carriers has been greatly shortened, and several of them have been completed and put into service in only 14-16 months.

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And in addition to aircraft carriers, the construction of battleships can be considered a manifestation of American industrial capabilities.

And strictly speaking, the battleships built by the United States during World War II were roughly the BB formation after the battleship Indiana.

The South Dakota-class battleship is a first-class battleship built by the United States Navy in 1939 and the second-to-last battleship of the United States Navy to date.

It is improved on the basis of the North Carolina-class battleship, because the armor of the North Carolina-class can only resist the attack of 14-inch caliber shells, which is strong in attack and weak in defense, so the class of ships is required to strengthen the protection under the condition of tonnage and firepower in the design, so it is possible to reduce some unnecessary weight and focus on optimizing armor protection. The design scheme for the South Dakota class was designated as the "Type 1939 Battleship". The South Dakota class maintains the same maximum width as the North Carolina class, reducing the length of the hull waterline to save structural weight. The shape of the ship has been carefully designed, and the bulbous bow is used to reduce drag. Increase the power of the main engine to maintain a 27-knot flight. Increase the thickness of deck armor and increase the angle of inclination of the side armor belt to improve the resistance of the armored area. Raised the position of the secondary cannon to improve the firing range. Having a single chimney is the most obvious difference in appearance from the North Carolina-class battleships. The South Dakota-class battleships were recognized as excellent treaty-type battleships with a balanced offensive and defensive balance.

The construction plan for this class of ships was approved in May 1938, and a total of four ships were built, which were renewed in service in 1942. USS South Dakota (BB-57) was commissioned in March '42, USS Indiana (BB-58) was commissioned in April '42, USS Massachusetts (BB-59) was commissioned in May 12/42, and USS Alabama (BB-6o) was commissioned in August '42.

The South Dakota-class battleships played an important role in the Pacific War, and were mostly used as escort aircraft carrier formations and shore fire support in the war. On November 14, 1942, the South Dakota encountered the battleship Washington and the battleship Kirishima of the Japanese Navy, and although the South Dakota was seriously damaged, the hull was not greatly damaged, and it still left the battlefield with a 2o section voyage, overhauled for 62 days, replaced a main gun, and withstood the test of protection ability. In November 1942, the Massachusetts took part in Operation Deng 6 in North Africa, shelling the French battleship JeanBaRT anchored in Casablanca, rendering it hors combat.

After the war, in 1947, the class of ships began to be decommissioned for 6 consecutive periods and was transferred to the reserve. He was officially removed from the Navy in 1962. The USS South Dakota and USS Indiana were bought for shipyard demolition. The USS Massachusetts and USS Alabama were purchased by the state of Massachusetts and the state of Alabama, respectively, and preserved as memorials.

After the South Dakota-class battleships, it can be said that the last type of battleship produced in the history of the world, the Iowa-class battleships.

In May 1938, the U.S. Navy decided on the design scheme of the 45,000-ton new high-altitude battleship that would follow the South Dakota-class battleship, the design scheme of the Iowa class. The US Navy was not satisfied with the performance of the previously built South Dakota-class battleships, mainly due to the small displacement, which limited the increase in performance. On the basis of maintaining the protection level of the South Dakota-class battleships, the Iowa-class battleships focused on improving their navigation and greatly increased the power of the main engine, and the main engine power of the Iowa-class power plant was the ship's power plant with the largest output power at that time, with a design voyage of up to 33 knots, which was the battleship with the largest main engine power and the highest navigation in history.

In consideration of the rapid transfer between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the battleships of this class were limited by the Panama Canal locks, and the design measures of limiting the maximum width of the hull and elongating the hull to carry a higher power plant were adopted, but the seaworthiness performance was affected. Installation of a new 5o caliber 4o6 mm gun. The underwater defense capability of the hull has been strengthened, and the horizontal armor has been further enhanced.

In order to be able to pass through the Panama Canal locks and facilitate the rapid movement between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the maximum width of the Hull was limited and the hull was lengthened, and the Iowa-class was redesigned to limit the maximum width of the Hull and lengthen the Hull, while the length and draft of the Hull were increased, and the length-to-width ratio of the Hull reached 8.2.

Most of the other battleships at that time had an aspect ratio of less than 7. Its slender bow curve was similar to that of the Japanese Navy's Yamato-class battleships, which was conducive to improving sailing, but affecting seaworthiness.

The Iowa-class ships are 27o.4 meters long, with a hull aspect ratio of 8.18:1 and a waterline aspect ratio of 7.96:1. After the pool test, the Iowa class switched to two different propellers, the outboard shaft propeller with a diameter of 5.563 meters and a four-blade propeller, and the inboard five-blade propeller with a diameter of 5.182 meters, so as to eliminate the vibration. The disadvantage is that the hull is slender, and the hit rate of artillery fire will be greatly reduced.

The Iowa-class battleships focus on improving their navigation while maintaining the South Dakota-class level of protection, and are equipped with more powerful power plants. The ship's power plant consists of 8 heavy oil water-tube boilers and 4 sets of GE electric geared steam turbines [3], with a total power of 156,000 kilowatts using a four-shaft propulsion mode. The Iowa-class battleship had an M-type boiler that could provide 6oo pounds of pressure per square inch, a superheater that provided a maximum temperature of 875 degrees Fahrenheit, and the power efficiency and stability of the high-pressure boiler output were the best among World War II battleships, and only four boilers were needed in normal conditions to reach 27 knots, and the full power could reach up to 33 knots. It is the battleship with the largest main engine power and the highest sail in history. The cruising range is 166oo nautical miles, and the total range is 96oo nautical miles.

In order to counter the challenge of the Soviet Navy in the late 70s, between 1981 and 1989, US President Ronald Reagan proposed a "6oo ship navy" plan to massively expand the navy.

With his support, four Iowa-class ships returned to active service after extensive modernization. From the entry of the USS New Jersey into the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in January 1981 to the completion of the refit of the last USS Wisconsin in February 1989, it took a total of seven and a half years, and each ship was converted at a cost of about $300 million to $400 million. The focus of the refit is to strengthen the surface-to-ship attack capability, enhance the anti-submarine air defense capability, increase the level of modernization of communications and electronic equipment and improve the living conditions of the crew.

And for these modifications, the maximum displacement of the Iowa-class battleships was increased from 5571o tons to 57256 tons.

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