y was outmoded. Unlike in the 1920s, when the battleship was said to be obsolete, it was now the aircraft carrier because of its expense and vulnerability. Although carrier supporters retaliated by criticizing the new, expensive, and vulnerable B-36, the Secretary of Defense cancelled the already in construction, aircraft carrier (Grossnick, 159).In the early years after World War II, during this time of heated debate and the “revolt of the admirals,” many naval officers were convinced that Naval Aviation was important to the offensive and defensive effectiveness of the fleet (Barlow, 292). Naval Aviation began to project the power the Navy possessed to strike many targets, not only at sea, but also inland, thus leading to the function of the Navy, commanding the sea.During the outbreak of the Korean War, while the United States military was being reorganized and the decreases in the budget reduced its size, it was apparent that Naval Aviation suffered from incomplete integration of new weapons and equipment. Development of new operating techniques and tactics was still underway. With the introduction of jet aircraft, a wide range of performance characteristics, support and maintenance requirements, and tactical applications arose between jet and propeller-driven aircraft.In the Korean War, the mission of Naval Aviation was to confine the battle area to the peninsula. Because of carrier Aviation, naval aircraft flew deep support missions and could attack enemy targets well inland effectively. Although the Korean War was much smaller than World War II, Navy and Marine aircraft flew over 276,000 sorties, only 7,000 less than in World War II. Naval Aviation stepped up to the challenge and demonstrated its usefulness in war.The years from 1950 to 1953 brought research and development toward modernizing Naval Aviation. High-speed flight was researched through new designs of aircraft. Advances were also made in aircraft ...
