Feb 5th, 2018 : Great Lakes Carriers

[xoxoxoBruce]

Before the Big One, WW II, there were two steam powered, coal fired, side wheeled excursion ships on the Great Lakes,
the See&Bee and the Greater Buffalo.
When the war came to us, the Navy grabbed them both, to become the USS Wolverine and USS Sable.
Both were stripped of everything above the hull, and flight decks added to become aircraft carriers. Of course these were
not warships, they stayed on the Great Lakes training Naval aviators landings and takeoffs from a flight deck.
Every pilot had to complete eight landings and eight takeoffs... successfully, to qualify.

The first aircraft landing on the USS Wolverine occurred during September 1942. From 1943 until the end of the war in 1945 the USS Wolverine along with her sister ship the USS Sable were used for the training of 17,000 pilots, landing signal officers and other navy personnel with minimal losses Following the end of World War II the Navy decommissioned the Wolverine on 7 November 1945 and she was sold for scrap in December 1947.

On her first day of service fifty-nine pilots became qualified within nine hours of operations, with each making eight takeoffs and landings. Pilot training was conducted seven days a week in all types of weather conditions.[One aviator who trained upon the Sable was future president George H. W. Bush.
Following World War II, Sable was decommissioned on 7 November 1945. She was sold for scrapping on 7 July 1948 to the H.H. Buncher Company.
Sable and her sister ship, USS Wolverine, hold the distinction of being the only freshwater, coal-fired, side paddle-wheel aircraft carriers used by the United States Navy.

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