Training Aircraft Carriers: USS Sable
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:35 pm
USS Sable pictured in Lake Erie ice, 1943. She was a training ship during World War II.Originally owned by the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company,built by the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio in 1924 as the passenger ship 'Greater Buffalo', a Sidewheel excursion steamer, she was purchased by the Navy in 1942 and converted to a Training Aircraft Carrier to be used on the Great Lakes. Lacking a hangar deck, elevators or armament, she was not a true warship, but provided advanced training of naval aviators in carrier takeoffs and landings.
On her first day of service fifty-nine pilots became qualified within nine hours of operations, with each making eight takeoffs and landings. Pilot training was conducted seven days a week in all types of weather conditions.One aviator who trained upon the Sable was future president George H. W. Bush.Following World War II, Sable was decommissioned on November 7th 1945. She was sold for scrapping on July 7th 1948 to the H.H. Buncher Company. Sable and her sister ship, USS Wolverine, hold the distinction of being the only freshwater, coal-fired, side paddle-wheel Aircraft Carriers used by the USN.
On her first day of service fifty-nine pilots became qualified within nine hours of operations, with each making eight takeoffs and landings. Pilot training was conducted seven days a week in all types of weather conditions.One aviator who trained upon the Sable was future president George H. W. Bush.Following World War II, Sable was decommissioned on November 7th 1945. She was sold for scrapping on July 7th 1948 to the H.H. Buncher Company. Sable and her sister ship, USS Wolverine, hold the distinction of being the only freshwater, coal-fired, side paddle-wheel Aircraft Carriers used by the USN.