062 - Here Comes Shangri-La

The USS Hornet Crosses the Panama Canal

In the first days of March, the US Navy was looking to turn the tides of War in the Pacific. The USS Hornet, America’s Newest Aircraft Carrier, had left Norfolk, Virginia just over a week earlier and was now passing through the Panama Canal and charging west towards Pearl.

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Before she’d left Norfolk, she fitted out with two B-25 Mitchell Medium Bombers. While at sea, the two B-25s took off from her decks, a feat which had never before been accomplished on any of the American Carriers. After she entered the Pacific, she steamed toward San Francisco, where she would embark another 14 bombers and head west towards Japan. The mission was given the codename “Operation Shangri-La”.

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However, she wasn’t the strongest or even the largest Carrier in the fleet due to one considerable limitations imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. After World War I, the world’s Navies had begun to dramatically increase in size. To put a stop to the arms race, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Japan enacted into the treaty, which limited the size and number of ships of each class.

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As tensions between Japan and the surrounding countries became evident, the United States realized they needed more Carriers, but the Treaty did not allow them to build another chip as large as the Enterprise. Their solution was to build the same sized Carrier but to refit the ship with smaller but more powerful engines and severely limit the heavy armor placed upon the Hornet’s outer hull. The lighter Hornet ended up being much faster than any of the other American Carriers, able to reach speeds of 33 Knots, as fast as any escort in a Strike Force.

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Because of this increased speed, the Hornet was chosen for the mission to Japan. Even after the mission, the Hornet was not revealed as the escort ship. Even President Roosevelt referred to the Hornet as “The Shangri-La” for the next year, until the secrecy of the mission could finally be revealed.

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