Production Time and Navy Refusal
Sources have reported that prior to December, 1941 the time to complete a Fleet Carrier was over 2 years, and based on navy projections from 1941, no new fleet carriers could be expected until 1944. (Note that the construction time for the Essex carriers was dramatically reduced after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.)
Kaiser had reduced the construction time of cargo ships (Liberty Ships) from 1+ years to less than 90 days, and he went to the USN and proposed building a fleet of 50 small carriers in less than 2 years. The US Naval authorities refused to approve construction of the Kaiser built ships. However, Kaiser went directly to the President's advisors, and the escort carriers were ordered. Note that at this point in WWII the US was in desperate need of carriers, and at one point early in the war had a single operational carrier in the Pacific. Kaiser produced the small carriers as rapidly as planned and any resistance to their value quickly disappeared as they proved their usefulness, not only in defending convoys and consolidating into groups for island landings, but by allowing the US to have a very diverse and widespread air presence across the Pacific, and also in freeing up the Fleet Carriers for use in major strategic actions.
Read more about this topic: Casablanca Class Escort Carrier
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