"Mr. President, the Navy's carrier-based aircraft have run into the same problem as the Army Air Corps' planes. The German navy's carrier-based fighters are mainly carrier-based BF-109 fighters. Although the carrier-based FW-190 fighter has not yet entered service, it can be foreseen that it will do so very soon. Our current F4F fighters are inferior in performance even to the carrier-based BF-109 fighters, let alone the carrier-based FW-190 fighters. Once the Navy clashes with the German Navy, this will place us at a disadvantage!" said Admiral Harold Stark, Chief of Naval Operations.
The American Navy's primary carrier-based fighter was the F4F fighter plane, a carrier-based aircraft that had only just entered service. Yet in terms of performance, it lagged severely behind the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft.
An aircraft carrier's offensive power was chiefly embodied in its carrier-based aircraft. If its carrier-based aircraft could not match the enemy's, then even if the carriers themselves were evenly matched in performance, they would still be at a disadvantage in naval warfare.
"Our SBD dive bombers and TBD torpedo bombers may have a certain performance gap compared with the German navy's Dive Bombers and Torpedo Bombers, but the gap is not large. If our carrier-based fighters can defeat the Germans' carrier-based fighters, they can cover the dive bombers and torpedo bombers as they attack German warships and sink them. But as things stand, our F4F fighters will clearly have a hard time accomplishing this mission!" Admiral Harold Stark said.
"Does the Navy have any follow-up plans?" President Roosevelt asked.
"The Navy is developing the F4U fighter plane. However, there are still many technical difficulties that have yet to be resolved. If we can further increase investment, we may be able to bring the F4U fighter plane into service as soon as possible," Admiral Harold