Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "USS Ranger - Guide 299" video.

  1. I don't know how the Swedish 'myth' got rolling -- but by 1943, France was the primary source of iron ore for the Nazi war machine. Search engine away. Sweden was huge in 1940 because France was not yet conquered. Adolf could just float French ore down the river in late 1940. IIRC, 'free' French iron ore was part of the armistice 'deal.' In financial terms, Adolf raped France ( and all other nations ) from 1940 onwards. This is rarely brought up in pop histories.
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  2. You managed to omit her weird role of ferrying USAAF and RAF aircraft -- as against USN machines. When things were in crisis, this was her persistent function. It became routine for her to have her flight deck totally obstructed with these 'alien' planes. IIRC, she even had an integral crane that permitted hoisting Army aircraft up on to the flight deck -- they weren't flow on -- didn't have arresting hooks. During Torch, Ranger flew off P-40s -- strangely configured with British (Merlin) engines. (IIRC, not Packard-Merlin) This was not a typical P-40. Her role as shuttle carrier led rather directly to the CVE style of oceanic portage... on a grand scale. The real reason she was dedicated to the Atlantic was because of her shuttling capability... for the USAAF -- and RAF, as it turned out. The fleet carriers could do the same thing -- but to do so would require taking them out of the Big Fight. (Bringing USAAF planes on board was quite a production for them, too.)
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  3.  @WALTERBROADDUS  Nope.
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  4.  @WALTERBROADDUS  The average Joe would surely figure that CV-4 is handling USN aircraft -- its original -- publicly known task... and that such machines are what it was ferrying. True history buffs would know of its legacy -- but that's not the general intended audience for this upload... which is the Younger Set. I make the argument that -- for this CV, alone -- that an expert has to point out the truly weird tasking for the Ranger... that it was a USN asset almost completely diverted to USAAF/ RAF priorities. It became the most dedicated Navy ship in the Army. It truly was an odd fish. Brits oft brag on how the USN just HAD to borrow a carrier from the RN -- because of horrific USN battle losses at one point in the war. I would rebut: The RN was merely repaying the USN for the duties that CV-4 had already performed... WAS performing... for the RN.
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