John W. wrote:
Dick -
Nope, you didn't make any comment on the number of hangar deck cats on the YORKTOWNs or ESSEXs, but used the term 'cat' which I took to mean a single unit. I kinda assumed that the cat worked in either direction, to port or to starboard, with a single double-acting ram. The tracks shown on the MD Silver plans for HORNET are parallel to each other, maybe six inches apart, but they are do not start and end at the same location on each side. Here's part of the plan:
Attachment:
HORNET Hangar Cat001.jpg
With the tail of the plane on the, say, port sponson, the end of the starboard-facing track would be just under the plane's nose so it wouldn't make sense to have a longer track. Vice versa for a launch to port. There could be two separate rams, just not sure, but I figured it was just one. I know none of the cat would be below the main deck since that was the armor deck and one wouldn't want any more penetrations than absolutely necessary.
I hadn't realized WASP had two separate cats and was wondering if it was the same or different when compared to the paired tracks of the HORNET (and presumably all YORKTOWNs and all ESSEXs, though I don't have plans other than for HORNET at the current time) shown in the plans above.
Thanks for the response. Any comments on the focs'l life raft rack to port - installed or not?
Hi John, One hangar catapult on Hornet and her sisters. The two slots are just for shuttle orientation as this cat worked either direction. It was set up for the direction of launch accordingly, and used the shuttle slot meant for the proper direction of launch. The two tracks are for port to starboard launch and for starboard to port launch direction. It is the same unit, though. As for Wasp CV-7 , she DID have two actual hangar cats, one forward like the Yorktowns and one aft. The aft one shows in early war photos, where the folded up sponson is visible. It was removed early on, and does not show in shots taken after the yard period when she returned from the UK.
On the port side fo'c's'le, I checked many photos and found the life raft nest was only mounted on the starboard side. The series of shots taken 2/28/42 at Norfolk show the starboard nest and none on the port side. I also have a nice crisp shot of the Northampton tow, and you can see the starboard side nest in place and none to port.