USS Langley naval art prints by Stan Stokes, Ivan Berryman and Mark Churms. 

USS Langley. the first United States Navy Aircraft Carrier. Converted from a naval Fleet Collier USS Jupiter. (USS Jupiter had in her history in the 1914 Mexico crisis, transporting 300 Marines). Nearly all the features on USS Langley were experimental including the arrester gear.  Unfortunately she was very slow. She was converted at mare Island Navy Yard and completed in March 1922. She was converted to a aircraft tender in 1937. and during world war two during February 1942 she was hit  off Java 5 times by 9  Japanese low level bombers. whilst carrying 32 p40 fighters.  badly damaged she was eventually sunk by her own escorting destroyer Whipple. during the action a total of 16 of her crew were killed.  Although the US Navy had been an early leader in supporting naval aviation, during WW I the Navy had emphasized float planes, and with the end of the War, America found itself well behind the British who had several aircraft carriers in service. In April of 1919 the Navy decided to convert a new collier, the USS Jupiter, into a flush deck aircraft carrier, the navys first. Redesignated as the USS Langley (CV-1), the ship was commissioned in March of 1922. The Langley was the Navys only carrier until 1928, and would serve in this role until 1936.  With the introduction of faster and larger naval aircraft, the Langleys small size and slow speed would result in a decision to change her mission to seaplane tender. The Langley displaced only 13,000 tons, had an open hangar deck, and no island. The ships two stacks were swiveled outwards during air operations, giving pilots a small but unobstructed flight deck. Two catapults were incorporated in the initial design, but were later removed. CV-1 had a turbo electric drive system which allowed the ship a top speed of 14 knots in either direction. This was deemed important so aircraft could be launched in either direction in the event the deck became damaged. The designers initially planned for the Langley to have an air group of only eight aircraft, but this was later increased to as many as forty-two. Most of the Langleys aircraft were stowed on the flight deck, with the practice of stowing aircraft on the hangar deck not becoming common until later.  In 1942 CV-1 was utilized to ferry P-40s to Java. She was lost during this mission. The Boeing FB-5 of VB-3 shown in the background in Stan Stokes wonderful painting was one of  the naval variants of Boeings PW-9 series. Boeing built a total of nearly 600 aircraft in this family, making it one of the most widely produced aircraft in the between Wars era. The FB-1 was the first aircraft in this series ordered by the Navy in 1924. The FB-2/3/4 variants included modifications for carrier use and a more powerful 510-HP Packard-IA engine. With the additional power, a taller rudder assembly was deemed necessary to provide adequate flight stability. The Navy ordered twenty-seven FB-5s and began taking deliveries in 1927. The upper wing of the FB-5 variant was moved forward while the lower wing was moved backwards. In addition a slightly more powerful Packard engine was utilized. As the FB-5 takes off from the Langley, a Curtis F6C-2 Hawk passes over the ship. The F6C-2 was a variant of the F6C-1 Hawk which was modified to withstand arrested landings. While only four of these models would be produced, the Navy would go on to purchase sixty of the F6C-3 and F6C-4 variants.