AOTS - USS Intrepid Inside Out!

USS Intrepid – Anatomy of The Ship (AOTS)
By John Roberts
Review by Ned Barnett
Review Copy courtesy USNI Press


The Essex Class of aircraft carriers is arguably the most significant class of ships to be produced for the U.S. Navy – it was from the decks of these magnificent “next-generation” upgrades of the Yorktown Class (Yorktown, Enterprise, Hornet) that thousands of US Navy fliers destroyed beyond all recall the Empire of Japan. Though they didn’t make their appearance in combat until 1943 – the Yorktown Class (with able assistance from the Saratoga-Class) had to hold the line till they arrived – they appeared in such numbers and with such per-deck power as to virtually ensure the aerial defeat of Japan. When “crunch time” came, the Essex Class could take an amazing 100 combat planes to the enemy’s front door – a force beyond reckoning just a decade before.

Perhaps even more amazing, the Essex Class was so flexible that – with mid-life rebuilds that included powerful steam catapults, angled decks and mirror-light landing systems – they remained combat-capable (and in combat) for another 30 years, serving actively right up to the very end of the Vietnam war and putting into combat aircraft whose performance was as far beyond World War II Hellcats as the Hellcats had been beyond Wilbur and Orville’s fabled Wright Flyer of 1903.

Many combat ships survive for 30 years in active service, but few survive to see such a dramatic change in their nature and weaponry. The equivalent of the Essex Class carrying A-6 Intruders and F-8 Crusaders into combat over North Vietnam would have been for Gato-class subs to be modified to carry Polaris missiles and to be fully mission-capable to stand 90-day deterrent patrols off the Kola peninsula. In short, the Essex Class was a war-winner in 1943-45 and was still capable of being a vital part of a war-winning team of active-duty combat vessels in the very different world of 1973-75 – that is remarkable, and well worth honoring. America has done that by making several Essex-Class ships into museum ships, and the USNI Press has done that by issuing the Anatomy Of The Ship series book on the USS Intrepid, one of the earliest (and most significant) of the Essex Class carriers.

I recently received from the USNI Press a review copy of noted naval historian John Roberts’ Anatomy Of The Ship series on the USS Intrepid, the Essex-class carrier now serving as a museum in NYC Harbor – and having spent a fascinating afternoon climbing from bilges to bridge on the Intrepid last summer, this book took on a special significance for me. The book, originally published about 25 years ago, holds up remarkably well. It has tight but useful text, great photos, and – of course – the kinds of drawing-after-drawing-after-drawing of the ship, its details and fittings, etc., that readers have come to expect from the AOTS series.

This AOTS book includes a complete description of this early (CV-11) Essex-class fleet carrier, an up-scale/modernized version of the earlier Yorktown class carriers (which also included Hornet and Enterprise). The photo section focuses on Intrepid, but includes shots of other Essex carriers. Several photos show the Intrepid’s deck overloaded with aircraft being transported to the Pacific Theater, which would make a great basis for a display model (if you don’t mind scratch-building P-61 Black Widows, PV-2 Harpoons and other land-based aircraft seldom seen on aircraft carriers). Camouflage is important for these mid/late war carriers, and the Intrepid’s dazzle scheme is well-presented (along with camouflage of the F6F Hellcat.

Of course, the heart and soul of the AOTS books are the drawings – these in 1/350th scale, ideal for use with the new 1/350th Essex class kits now out on the market. These drawings are nothing short of superb.

The cover says “complete with 1/350th Scale fold-out plan” and I looked several times trying to find this fold-out in the reprint ... then it hit me. The inner side of the dust jacket IS the “fold-out plan” – a brilliant printing solution, and something that makes this plan even easier to use than if it had been bound into the book.

I’ve been fortunate to have visited several of the Essex-class museum ships (Intrepid, Yorktown, Hornet) as well as having a VIP tour of the USS Midway museum ship in San Diego (I was on a scouting trip for the History Channel and they really rolled out the red carpet. However, I’ve especially spent a lot of time on the USS Hornet (CV-12), now a museum ship in San Francisco Bay (at Alameda), during a time when I worked out of an Oakland-area business and was also researching a novel there. At that time, a ship-modeling club met at the Hornet monthly – as if I needed an excuse. Though modernized, as is the Intrepid museum ship (now being restored to “health” after sitting too long on the muddy bottom of the Manhattan shore), the Hornet is still very much an Essex, and my familiarity with the class convinces me even more than might otherwise be the case that this book is a “must” for ship modelers or WW-II Naval historians.

The book is available from Amazon for $27.95 (new) and about three dollars less (used). It’s also available from the USNI Press – and members of the Naval Institute get a substantial discount on books bought through their website (along with the substantial benefits of membership).