Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!emory!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: jap2_ss@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (The Mad Mathematician) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Left-handed carriers Message-ID: <1990Nov16.051445.21240@cbnews.att.com> Date: 16 Nov 90 05:14:45 GMT References: <1990Nov15.013451.1767@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: University of Rochester, Rochester NY Lines: 36 Approved: military@att.att.com From: jap2_ss@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (The Mad Mathematician) In article <1990Nov15.013451.1767@cbnews.att.com> lynch@arcadien.rice.edu (Robert Preston Lynch) writes: >Did anybody, anywhere, ever build a left-handed aircraft carrier? >Robert Lynch lynch@rice.edu > >[mod.note: Yes, the Japanese Akagi had a port-side island. This was >added during a reconstruction, the original having no island, and >apparently the port side was the only place with room to spare. The >Hiryu also had a port-side island, though her sister-ship, Soryu, >was completed first, and with the island to starboard. > Of course, some carriers, especially from WWII and previously, >had no islands at all. - Bill ] If memory serves, the Akagi was to be a sister ship to the Kaga, and the Hiryu to the Soryu. They were to sail in pairs, Akagi and Hiryu on the starboard, so that the respective landing circles would not intersect. Also, I believe the carrier Ranger, CV-4 (?), had stacks on the port side, but left the island on the starboard side, causing even greater problems. Actually, I think the stacks were lowerable to a horizontal position, but I'm not certain. The training carrier Wolverine had a similar problem, this time a large crane opposite the island. The proposed carrier United States had no island, only a retractible tower for flight operations. This was during the '50's, I believe. Hope you all find this interesting. -- The Mad Mathematician jap2_ss@uhura.cc.rochester.edu Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house. -- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"