By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
With the final American victory on Guadalcanal in February 1943, US Admiral Halsey’s forces planned to advance further north up the Solomon Islands chain, but were barred for lack of aircraft carrier units to both project air power into the region and protect his invasion forces against Japanese aircraft carrier counter attacks. Until the new Essex Class fleet carriers and lighter Independence Class carriers started arriving later in the year, the prospects of further strategic advances in the Solomon Islands appeared bleak. Therefore, in December 1942 a request was made to the British Royal Navy asking for the temporary loan of one of its aircraft carriers to the US Navy.
The time of the battleship ends with a sad whimper