"Our navy still does not seem strong enough. We need to build more powerful warships!" Secretary of State Hull said.
President Roosevelt wholeheartedly agreed. If the American Navy had not been led into a trap by the Germans in the previous battle and wiped out to the last man, its strength would certainly have been far greater than it was now. At the very least, it would have had more than a dozen additional battleships.
"Mr. Secretary of the Navy, what does the navy's next-phase construction plan look like?" President Roosevelt asked.
"Mr. President, the navy's next phase of warship construction will mainly focus on aircraft carriers. A total of eight aircraft carriers are currently under construction in major shipyards along the Atlantic coast. Even the slowest one will be completed by the middle of the year after next. Moreover, as we become increasingly proficient in the construction techniques for Essex-class aircraft carriers, construction is getting faster and faster. At present, it takes us two years to build an Essex-class aircraft carrier. But we are confident that we can reduce that to a year and a half for the next batch—perhaps even further, to one year!" Secretary Swanson said.
President Roosevelt nodded. The American Navy had always been strengthening its aircraft carrier forces. In this war, aircraft carriers had already become the main force in naval warfare; that was beyond doubt. Germany had stopped building Capital Ships as early as the end of the previous World War and had focused wholeheartedly on mastering aircraft carriers. This had given Germany a tremendous lead over the United States in aircraft carriers.
Although the United States had caught up after paying an enormous price, it was still at a disadvantage in many respects. For example, the performance of its carriers and Carrier-based aircraft