Fort Knox-class aircraft carrier

Fort Knox-class aircraft carrier

Type: Aircraft Carrier
Length: 246,43m overall/241,25m waterline
Beam: 28m
Range: 22,000 km at 28 km/h
Speed: 58,2-61,1 km/h
Armamant: 12 x 5inch (127mm)/38 cal. guns (4x2 and 4x1) + 32 to 72 x 40mm Bofors (8 to 18 x 4) + 55 to 76 x 20mm Oerlikon cannon
Aircraft carried: 80-90
Complement: 2,170 (ship), 850 (air wing), 160 (flag)
Vessels:
- Fort Knox (Guam)
- Fort Morgan (Hawaii)
- Fort Jackson (Phillipines)
- Fort Pulaski (Puerto Rico) - cancelled
- Fort Stanwix (Samoa) - cancelled

- After the battle of Midway, the US Navy realized that the Large Cruiser concept was a complete waste of resources, and (except for the solo ship, the Alaska), all the Alaska-class cruiser are cancelled and reordered was aircraft carriers, because since they are starting been built, is easier to convert than a near-finished hull.
- The project end up almost in a exact copy of the purpose built Essex-class aircraft carrier, althrought with big differences:
- shorter flight deck (capable to carry 90% of an Essex air wing);
- 3,4m lower on the water;
- less 15,000km range at 28km/h and;
-  don't include the underwater protection due to the armor weight devoted to counter shell fire.
- Besides this setbacks, it was decided to went ahead and build these vessels, been the USS Fort Knox the first one been completed and comissioned at July/44. Since this class was worse torpedo protection than an normal American aircraf carrier, it was decided to send then mostly to areas where it's rare having many conflict, while at the same time, in a despered need of a big aircraft carrier protection, and it could be closer to the shore than normal carrier since it got more hull armour an other US carriers at it time.  - The reason of the Fort naming, its because the USN decided that normal combat flagships that are converted into aircraft carriers that can also bee flagships should be named was famous forts spreaded across the continent (territories ones at the time of the naming does nor count).

USS Fort Knox (identification: white "FK" on vertical):
- After completing its shakedown cruise, in February/45, the ship instead of been sent right way to combat, was instead sent to the harbor where it could be equiped with newer aircraft. At the time of its leaving to its destination, it was the first aircraft carrier to be equiped with  33 F2G-2 Super Corsair, 14 Brewster TBY Sea Wolf (after the goverment fired all the company "leaders" and taken direct control of the company, it was decided to reordered the Sea Wolf contract from the Consolidated to Brewster, giving to the first breading space to spend more time on the Liberators, and cancelled the F3A-1 Corsair order and scrapped the ones already built), and the normal 33 SB2C-5 Helldiver.
- Its first combat was on April/45, for the preparations of Operation Schnee, the double shore landing of Peru, to surround Lima for the rest of the country. Been the first aircraft carrier than appeared in the South American theathre, it was a shock for the rest of the remain of the Peruvian Air Force, when seagull-winged aircraft show up for the shore for an angle and on a distance outside of the Galapagos islands, the closest islands in Allied control. They aircraft have the distincion of having sunk the last combat vessel of the SA campaign by aircraft, and also shot down the last aircraft before V-SA, on 1/July/45 (an poor A5M2-P that was on the way to Colombia airspace to surrender).
- When it was finally sent to fight against the Japanese Empire, is aircraft loadout was now 40 F2G-2B Super Corsair (Cannons armed variant) and 30 F6F-6 Hellcats (was part of the Big Blue Blanket), plus just 10 Sea Wolfs. Like all other carrier present in the campaign, it's main joob it was to protect/support the fleet and the troops on the ground. Days before the start of the main bombardemnt for Operation Coronet, an V2 rocket fired from Manchuria missed the carrier for about 30 meters, but actually, managed to hit an Kaiten that managed to sneak into the area and was preparing to hit the Fort Knox.
- After the Pacific War, the carrier was sent to Europe, where it supported the new invasion of Europe, in 1948, until its very end in May/49, where an Type XXI manage to slip into the escorts and hit him it 3 torpedos.

USS Fort Morgan (white "FM" vertically)
- Comissioned to late to see action in SA, it joined it sistership in Japan until May/46, when 2 Ohkas from an I-400-class (unknow which one) hit him in the hull (fortanbly for the carrier, it was the heaviest part, and the ship whent to Pearl Harbor where it was rebuilt and rejoined its sisters ships in July/46 until the end of the war. After the end of the war, the ship was actually sold to France where it became the Joffre.

USS Fort Jackson (white "FJ" vertically)
- Comissioned in the beginning of 46, was sent to Japan during the Operation Coronet along its sister ships until the end of the war, where it was later sold to Venezuela, to replace it's old carrier that they already owned, and named was Bolivar.

USS Fort Pulaski and USS Fort Stanwix
- The last two ships of the class where cancelled for the following reasons:
 - Stopping its contruction mean that resourses that could be used to built then where diverted to help built faster the others Essex and Midway-classes carriers still in construction.
 - They where worse in many respect in relation with the Essex-class carriers (mentioned above).