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USS Cowpens was one of nine light aircraft carriers in the United States Navy during World War II. Built on cruiser hulls, these ships were smaller than the fleet carriers the Navy preferred. Yet Cowpens and its sisters could be completed quickly, providing extra fast carriers quickly, before the larger Essex-class fleet carriers could enter service.
The Mighty Moo: The USS Cowpens and Her Epic World War II Journey from Jinx Ship to the Navy's First Carrier into Tokyo Bay, by Nathan Canestaro, tells the story of Cowpens during World War II. It shows how a ship, initially unwanted by the US Navy, made a major contribution towards victory in the Pacific.
It was built because of an emergency. In 1942 the US Navy was losing fast carriers faster than they could be replaced. A pre-war proposal existed to convert Cleveland-class light cruisers into light aircraft carriers. It had been rejected because the resulting carriers would, at 14,000 tons, be too small to field a full air group. The upcoming 35,000-ton Essex class would do the job better. But carriers were needed quickly, so the Navy ordered nine light carriers, including Cowpens. All were delivered within 22 months. The first was commissioned in January 1943.
Canestaro, whose grandfather served aboard Cowpens, follows what happened. He shows how the Cowpens was completed, and entered service with a green crew. The captain and a few of the senior officers and petty officers were regular navies, but most of the crew were reserve officers, reservists, and wartime recruits.
Canestaro shows how they came together to form a team. Initially there were rocks and shoals, including a grounding incident. Yet by the time it reached the Pacific, Cowpens had coalesced into an effective unit. The crew even gave it the whimsical nickname “The Mighty Moo,” playing off the cow part of Cowpens. It participated in virtually every major Pacific campaign from the Wake Island strikes in October 1943 through the final carrier strikes on Japan in July 1945.
The Mighty Moo tells a Cinderella story. It shows how the ship and its crew rose from an unpromising start to become an integral part of the US Navy’s Fast Carrier Force. It may have played a supporting role, but its role was crucial regardless. More, it is an intensely personal story, one that shows the stresses men face in both warfare and at sea.
“The Mighty Moo: The USS Cowpens and Her Epic World War II Journey from Jinx Ship to the Navy’s First Carrier into Tokyo Bay,” by Nathan Canestaro, Grand Central Publishing, 2024, 416 pages, $35.00 (Hardcover), $16.99 (Ebook), $24.50 (Audiobook)
This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.
Discussion (42)
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The story of the US industrial response to Pearl Harbor is almost unbelievable. Not just an exponential increase in carriers but tens of thousands of ships, planes, tanks and all the fuel and supplies needed.
My drill sergeant back when I was trained in the last century, opined in bull session on the last day of training that he liked the draft because it was more likely to produce soldiers who thought of war as a problem to be solved so as to return to normal life rather than a career in a bureaucracy. That men would quickly figure out how best to operate a small seaborne city like Cowpens and deliver ordnance effectively and carry the war into Tokyo Bay exemplified that ideal attitude.
I wonder if we could ever do that again if we needed to.
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US Aircraft Production
Year
Aircraft Produced
1935
2,141
1936
2,500
1937
2,800
1938
3,000
1939
3,251
1940
6,086
1941
26,277
1942
47,836
1943
85,898
1944
96,318
1945
49,761
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I have this book. It’s terrible. It is only barely about the named ship, it’s mostly just boring anecdotes about the navy back in the day, and blasé explanations of the navy and the 1940’s.
I only got part way through.
If you know almost nothing about history, if you know almost nothing about the US Navy, if you know almost nothing about the world in general, then maybe you’ll like this book. I found it tedious and boring.
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I think it’s more interesting to look at how they did aircraft maintenance.
When the war started, aircraft carriers kept spares lashed to the over head of the hangar bays and they fixed planes that broke and tried to get them flying again. Spare parts were kept on hand or delivered as needed.
In phase two, they had auxiliary ships that had spare aircraft. When a bird was beyond a quick fix, they would fly it or barge it (if not air worthy) over to a repair ship who would send a replacement plane.
In phase three, if a plane was broken too badly to quickly fix, they would throw it over board and get a new one flown aboard to replace it. The carrier air wing was always kept at full strength and they stopped bothering with spare parts, and just replaced the entire aircraft.
Planes were a lot cheaper back then than today, but that’s still pretty amazing.
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