Training Carriers

World War II saw a massive increase in the demand for carrier-qualified pilots. However, it was not always possible to remove a combat carrier from the battlefield to use as a training ship, although some escort carriers occasionally served in this capacity. A unique solution was found to this problem.

Two Great Lakes tour boats, the SS Seeandbee and the SS Greater Buffalo, were acquired by the Navy and converted to the training carriers USS Wolverine and USS Sable, respectively. Their upperworks were removed and replaced by flight decks (wood on Wolverine, steel on Sable) and minimal island structures. Neither carrier included hangar decks - the trainee pilots landed and immediately took off again.

From "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Curtiss-Reynolds Field/Glenview NAS, Chicago, IL" by Paul Freeman:

"On August 1, 1942, the Carrier Qualification Training Unit (CQTU) officially began operations.

Brainchild of Commander Richard F. Whitehead of the Ninth Naval district, the CQTU fulfilled the need for carrier operations training in the safety of the Great Lakes, beyond the reach of German & Japanese submarines operating in coastal waters.

Under Commander Whitehead's direction, two coal-burning Great Lakes paddlewheeled excursion ships, the Seeandbee and the Greater Buffalo, were converted into flattops. Refitted with a wooden flight deck on a steel structure, they were renamed the USS Wolverine (IX-64) and the USS Sable (IX-81). They were to be the only inland aircraft carriers ever commissioned by the U.S. Navy and became part of a fleet familiarly known as the 'Corn Belt Fleet'.

The two carriers, based at Chicago, trained pilots & flight deck personnel seven days a week, year round, throughout the war. Together they logged over 135,000 landings and qualified over 15,000 Navy & Marine Corps pilots, among them a young aviator named George Bush who would later become President."

These training operations were conducted on Lake Erie, one of the North American Great Lakes. Since access to the Great Lakes was limited by the St. Lawrence River [see Historical Note, below], neither carrier mounted any weapons.

These hybrids had two unique features. First, they were the only U. S. Navy carriers to use coal for fuel. Second, their primary (and only!) propulsion was provided by side paddle wheels, making them the only paddlewheel carriers in history.

Neither ship survives. Wolverine was broken up in 1947, Sable in 1948.

Historical Note: St. Lawrence River/Seaway

During World War II, the only direct connection between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean was the Saint Lawrence River. However, the river included many sections too narrow or shallow for ocean-going ships, including submarines, to pass. There were a few canals and locks, dating from the late 1800s, but these were also small and, like the river itself, under the control of Canadian and American authorities. The current St. Lawrence Seaway, with it's system of canals and locks that make it possible to ships to travel freely between the Lakes and the Atlantic, was not built until the 1950s; it officially opened for business on 26 June 1959.

Thanks to Richard Watson for pointing out the historical inaccuracy of the previous version of this page.

Sources

Abandoned & Little Known Airfields

Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System

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