USS Sable (IX-81)
.jpg)
The USS Sable (IX-81) was an auxiliary ship of the United States Navy in World War II and was used for carrier pilot training with its flight deck and flight facilities. This training aircraft carrier was a conversion of the paddle steamer Greater Buffalo, born of necessity . The ship did not serve as an attack vehicle in the fleet, but was used exclusively on the North American Great Lakes to train the carrier pilots.
technical description
The Sable is a non-ocean-going paddle steamer with side-mounted paddle wheels. A flight deck measuring 163.2 × 17.7 meters with large overhangs and a bridge on the starboard side was built on the fuselage. A brake cable system was installed on the steel flight deck for the training landings. A hangar to accommodate aircraft was not available, the launch process was carried out without catapults. The Sable displaced 8000 ts , the width at the wheel arches was 28.1 meters, the draft was 4.7 meters. With an output of 10,500 hp , the Sable drove 18 knots . The drive consisted of four coal-fired boilers and corresponding steam engines , the chimneys were combined into two vents in the rear area of the island. The Sable was unarmed, there were no aircraft permanently stationed on the ship.
history
The US Navy needed a school carrier for the most practical training possible for its porter crews. From 1943 on, the number of aircraft carriers and thus the number of crews required increased. Since all old and new carriers were needed in combat operations and there was no capacity in the shipyards for the construction of a carrier specially designed for school operations, existing ships for the conversion were sought as an alternative. The Great Lakes was chosen as a safe training area and suitable ships from the region were used for the conversion:
The Sable was launched in 1923 as Greater Buffalo at American Shipbuilding in Lorain (Ohio) and, after completion, went on the Great Lakes as an excursion steamer . For the conversion to a training platform, the superstructures were removed, a flight deck with sweeping overhangs was installed and an island was built on the starboard side. After the conversion, it was put into service on May 8, 1943 as the IX-81 .
Hundreds of carrier pilots practiced the difficult deck landing and take-off from deck on the Sable . The training included several approaches to the ship and the subsequent landing. The planes only stayed on board for a short time. After the start, the pilots flew back to the bases on land. In this way, the pilots were able to gain important experience for later use under the primitive conditions of the school administration.
The Sable served together with the USS Wolverine (IX-64) , as was a converted excursion paddle steamer, which was also only used for pilot training.
Shortly after the war on November 7, 1945, the Sable was decommissioned and scrapped in 1948.
source
- Stefan Terzibaschitsch : US Navy aircraft carrier . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-7637-5803-8 , pp. 133-135.
