USS Ranger: Americas' First Purpose-Built Carrier

[Karle94]

Here's finally a big hole in the SB US carrier-fleet bein filled in, that being the USS Ranger CV-4, the first purpose-built carrier made in the US. Designed to save as much weight as possible, she ended up too small, too slow and too flawed to make her as successful as the earlier Lexington, and later Yorktown and Essex class carriers. She starting off without an island, then having one hastily designed on too late for her exhaust uptakes to be added into said island. She would serve her entire career with six funnels that would pivot outwards to clear the deck of smoke. As built she could carry upwards of 76 planes, compared to the 78 of the Lexington, but this proved impractical and she usually carried 65 aircraft, with an increasingly smaller group as the planes got bigger. Unlike the other carriers, and much like the later Wasp no provisions were made to store and arm torpedo bombers, another weight-saving measure. She spent her war-time career in the Atlantic-theater supporting various operations such as Torch, and bombing shipping off of the Norwegian coast. She would serve out her days as a training carrier in the Pacific.

USS Ranger before being redesigned:


USS Ranger as completed in 1934:


USS Ranger as she appeared in 1935:

[emperor_andreas]

Awesome to see her make her appearance in two forms today...first as a shipgirl in Kantai Collection and now here!

[darthpanda]

What a beauty!

[eswube]

Great work.

[shipsinker]

A nice top down drawing would be awesome

[The Hand Of Ray]

Brilliant work as Always, Karl.

Ranger was always the forgotten carrier.

Mostly because she was too slow for the Pacific, so they mainly used her in the Atlantic.

[Karle94]

Too slow, too small, and too many compromises to keep weight down. There were proposals to install more powerful engines on her, but Adm.King was convinced otherwise as the work and time needed to do that would delay an Essex classs.

It's almost fitting that I should be the one drawing her, I live in the city she bombed in 1943 during Op.Leader.

[Charybdis]

Always good to see more US carriers but I'm sorry to say that this is a poorly researched drawing. There are many errors in dimensions, paint and overall representation.

Main deck above the keel should be 51 feet, not 54. Designer's Draft is 20 feet and the bottom for your boot topping is 24ft.

The see-through space under the island and forward of the crane on the main deck should be filled.

The directors were not installed until she emerged from her post-shakedown overhaul in 1935.

The boat arrangements do not make sense. There are davits seemingly floating above the boats and the 50-foot motor launch is blocked in by the whaleboat on davits.

A narrow catwalk should be present outboard of the island as well as the stacks when in the vertical position.

The paint should be #5 Standard Navy Grey.

If you need any pictures of Ranger, let me know.

[Karle94]

Always good to see more US carriers but I'm sorry to say that this is a poorly researched drawing. There are many errors in dimensions, paint and overall representation.

Main deck above the keel should be 51 feet, not 54. Designer's Draft is 20 feet and the bottom for your boot topping is 24ft.

The see-through space under the island and forward of the crane on the main deck should be filled.

The directors were not installed until she emerged from her post-shakedown overhaul in 1935.

The boat arrangements do not make sense. There are davits seemingly floating above the boats and the 50-foot motor launch is blocked in by the whaleboat on davits.

A narrow catwalk should be present outboard of the island as well as the stacks when in the vertical position.

The paint should be #5 Standard Navy Grey.

If you need any pictures of Ranger, let me know.

#1 I based it off of official US Navy technical drawings, if it's wrong, you need to take it up with them. I did move the boot-topping.
Edit: Sources differ on the exact height, in either case, I lowered the hull by 5 pixels

#2 - fixed

#3 I added them in 34 because I have seen images dating to 34 with directors, but in either case, removed

#4 most sources I've seen show a boat hanging outside of the motor launch, in either case, I put it inside.

#5 pictures are hit and miss on this one. By 1939 at least, the almost non-existant catwalk was removed.

#6 this is #5 Navy Grey.