Size: 8.5 x 11 inches

Title: “ISE Class”

This original World War II ship identification poster comes from the identification binder of a WWII Navy carrier pilot D. Fitzgerald. This poster was used by Fitzgerald and other U.S. carrier and Allied pilots to identify both Allied and Axis ships and aircraft. Combatants in war have consistently bombed and shot at their own ships and aircraft out of unfamiliarity of their shape and design. Thus, becoming familiar with the general layout of both Allied and enemy ships was a vital skill Allied intelligence sought to solve over the course of World War II. As a result of this, friendly fire intelligence resources such as ID posters, binders, and booklets were created to differentiate friend from foe. Whether you were a pilot flying combat missions or a sailor aboard any type of U.S. ship classes, the objective of all seagoing and air personnel was set to be able to recognize important aircraft, ships or ship types at a glance. Thus, familiarity with the details of naval and aircraft design illustrated in the following page proved of value to the student of ship identification.

ISE Class:

The Ise-class battleships (伊勢型戦艦, Ise-gata senkan) were a pair of dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War I. Both ships carried supplies for the survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. They were modernized in 1934–1937 with improvements to their armour and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Afterwards they played a minor role in the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Despite the expensive reconstructions, both vessels were considered obsolete by the eve of the Pacific War, and neither saw significant action in the early years of the war. Following the loss of most of the IJN's large aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in mid-1942, they were rebuilt with a flight deck replacing the rear pair of gun turrets to give them the ability to operate an air group of floatplanes. A lack of aircraft and qualified pilots, however, meant that they never actually operated their aircraft in combat. While awaiting their air group, the sister ships were occasionally used to ferry troops and material to Japanese bases. They participated in the Battle off Cape Engaño in late 1944, where they decoyed the American carrier fleet supporting the invasion of Leyte away from the landing beaches. Afterwards both ships were transferred to Southeast Asia; in early 1945 they participated in Operation Kita, where they transported petrol and other strategic materials to Japan. The sisters were then reduced to reserve until they were sunk during American airstrikes in July. After the war they were scrapped in 1946–1947.

Naval Aviation during WWII:

World War II saw the emergence of naval aviation as the decisive element in the war at sea. The principal users were Japan, United States (both with Pacific interests to protect) and Britain. Germany, the Soviet Union, France and Italy had a lesser involvement. Soviet Naval Aviation was mostly organised as land-based coastal defense force (apart from some scout floatplanes it consisted almost exclusively of land-based types also used by its air arms).

During the course of the war, seaborne aircraft were used in fleet actions at sea (Midway, Bismarck), strikes against naval units in port (Taranto, Pearl Harbor), support of ground forces (Okinawa, Allied invasion of Italy) and anti-submarine warfare (the Battle of the Atlantic). Carrier-based aircraft were specialised as dive bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighters. Surface-based aircraft such as the PBY Catalina helped finding submarines and surface fleets.

In World War II the aircraft carrier replaced the battleship as the most powerful naval offensive weapons system as battles between fleets were increasingly fought out of gun range by aircraft. The Japanese Yamato, the most powerful battleship ever built, was first turned back by light escort carrier aircraft and later sunk lacking its own air cover.

During the Doolittle Raid of 1942, 16 Army medium bombers were launched from the carrier Hornet on one-way missions to bomb Japan. All were lost to fuel exhaustion after bombing their targets and the experiment was not repeated. Smaller carriers were built in large numbers to escort slow cargo convoys or supplement fast carriers. Aircraft for observation or light raids were also carried by battleships and cruisers, while blimps were used to search for attack submarines.

Experience showed that there was a need for widespread use of aircraft which could not be met quickly enough by building new fleet aircraft carriers. This was particularly true in the North Atlantic, where convoys were highly vulnerable to U-boat attack. The British authorities used unorthodox, temporary, but effective means of giving air protection such as CAM ships and merchant aircraft carriers, merchant ships modified to carry a small number of aircraft. The solution to the problem were large numbers of mass-produced merchant hulls converted into escort aircraft carriers (also known as "jeep carriers"). These basic vessels, unsuited to fleet action by their capacity, speed and vulnerability, nevertheless provided air cover where it was needed.

The Royal Navy had observed the impact of naval aviation and, obliged to prioritize their use of resources, abandoned battleships as the mainstay of the fleet. HMS Vanguard was therefore the last British battleship and her sisters were cancelled. The United States had already instigated a large construction program (which was also cut short) but these large ships were mainly used as anti-aircraft batteries or for shore bombardment.

Other actions involving naval aviation included:

• Battle of the Atlantic, aircraft carried by low-cost escort carriers were used for antisubmarine patrol, defense, and attack.

• At the start of the Pacific War in 1941, Japanese carrier-based aircraft sank many US warships during the attack on Pearl Harbor and land-based aircraft sank two large British warships. Engagements between Japanese and American naval fleets were then conducted largely or entirely by aircraft - examples include the battles of Coral Sea, Midway, Bismarck Sea and Philippine Sea.

• Battle of Leyte Gulf, with the first appearance of kamikazes, perhaps the largest naval battle in history. Japan's last carriers and pilots are deliberately sacrificed, a battleship is sunk by aircraft.

• Operation Ten-Go demonstrated U.S. air supremacy in the Pacific theater by this stage in the war and the vulnerability of surface ships without air cover to aerial attack.