A Wanderer

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The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) firing her 55 caliber eight-inch guns, in 1928. (Source)

Yes, indeed both carriers of the Lexington-class were armed with 8″ guns. Eight of them in four turrets. They were from a time when nobody was sure what aircraft carriers were supposed to do, and a time when aircraft carrier tactics were still being developed. Carriers being a new ship type that uses aircraft as weapons, the US Navy was uncertain on the idea of having a capital ship with no guns, so the two carriers were built with some 8″ guns to maybe fight some surface warships. Maybe.

As it turned out, an aircraft carrier is never supposed to be within firing range of the enemy at all. Plans were made to replace the turrets with twin 5″/38 turrets.  Being dual-purpose guns, the 5″/38 guns would be a lot more useful as they could be used against aircraft, a much greater threat to aircraft carriers than surface warships. 

Lexington’s turrets were replaced by seven 1.1″ quadruple gun mounts as a temporary measure, but the ship was sunk before the new 5″ turrets could be installed.

Saratoga had 5″/38 turrets installed in February 1942, which you may see in this image below.

Happy Pride Month, here’s a goth lesbian wedding

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‘American Samurai’

Two color guards and color bearers of the Japanese-American 100th Battalion, 442d Combat Team, stand at attention, while their citations are read. They are standing on ground in the Bruyères area, France, where many of their comrades fell. November 12 1944 (Bruyères is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France)

Through a series of costly battles—first in Italy, then in France—the 442nd Regimental Combat Team would become the most highly decorated unit of its size and length of service in the history of the U.S. Army, receiving an unprecedented 8 Presidential Unit Citations, 21 Medals of Honor, and 9,486 Purple Hearts.

The 4,000 men of the team who first went into action in 1943 had to be replaced three and a half times to make up for those who were killed, wounded, and missing in action. They helped win Japanese Americans’ personal battle as well, proving that their loyalty to the United States was beyond question. On July 15, 1946, the survivors of the 442nd marched down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., becoming the first military unit returning from the war to be reviewed by President Harry S. Truman. “You fought not only the enemy,” President Truman told them that day, “you fought prejudice, and you have won.”

(Photo source - US Signal Corps SC196716)