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USS Nevada, BB-36 USS Nevada, BB-36 USS Denebola, AD-12 USS Denebola, AD-12

Ships of the US Navy in World War II

Battleships, Aircraft Carriers, Cruisers

By , June, 2007. Updated January 27, 2012.

Using the pictures from the 1943-45 Naval Recognition Manual as a base, this sections covers the five major powers of the war: United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and Italy.  As the manual was designed specifically for recognition, it includes classes of warships, not individual ships. Thus, most of the ships presented here are lead ships of their class.

United States Navy

This is not an online version of Samuel Eliot Morison's History of United States Naval Operations in World War Two, merely a summary and some images of ships. Most of the information is from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Where possible, I have supplemented that with more personal stories.

Here is an excellent collection of aircrew war stories, mostly from men who served on aircraft carriers in WW2.

Contributions welcome, send to stephen@acepilots.com.




BATTLESHIPS


Nevada Class


USS Nevada


Other Types

Minor Combatants

Auxiliaries

Destroyer Tenders

USS Denebola

Sources: Public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

and scans from a US Navy 1943 Naval Recognition Manual