What is the normal big gun policy on arming aircraft carriers? I was interested in the USS Sangamon, since she can be built with a Cimarron class oiler hull. She carried two five inch guns.
Depends on the rule set. The number of guns is usually based on the size of the airgroup carried. A CVE probably would have only a couple of guns.
Some clubs go by number of aircraft, usually one 1/4" gun per ten aircraft carried. The WWCC found that an aircraft-based rule doesn't encourage the construction of carriers (they were far too weak), we switched to going by displacement. Over 20,000 tons, and all ships get four 1/4" guns in each quadrant, under 20,000 tons and all ships get three 1/4" guns in each quadrant. This new rule seems to work pretty well, as we have carriers under construction now.
A tonnage based system would tend to balance out the carriers. A Shinano with only 4 guns would be a bit pathetic.
I've been looking at carriers as possible unarmed convoy ships. Escort carriers definitely look superior to larger carriers in terms of maneuverability, and Sangamon is a good choice.
Assuming that you could fit that many cannons in a ship, wouldn't a WWCC style 12+ gun carrier be a mobile fortress! Especially since they are armed with 1/4 inchers. Even under the normal one cannon per 10 aircraft law, big carriers like the Enterprise could carry 9 cannons.
That's exactly why the WWCC changed to a tonnage-based system. Carriers were simply bb-magnets without sufficient firepower to defend themselves. Under our new system, carriers still don't have as much broadside offensive firepower as a battleship with rotating cannons, but they are much more capable of defending themselves. There's actually a lot more tactical reasons why the new rule makes carriers desireable ships to build, but that's highly classified information which I cannot reveal here. My personal favorite carrier for combat is the Bearn. I saw a normandie-class battleship tear up the WWCC fleets several years ago using mostly a quad 7/32" cannon fixed off the stern. The Bearn uses the same hull, but effectively upgrades that 7/32" quad to 1/4", and adds decent anti-torpedoboat armament to boot.
How would a light carrier of the Independence class compare to the Sangamon? Both are built of other ships hulls (Independence from the Cleveland class, Sangamon from the Cimmaron).
Being based on a cruiser hull, the Independence will have cruiser-like capabilities. The hull is long and narrow making it fast but not very maneuverable. Sangamon is based on a tanker hull, which is short and tubby. This penalizes speed but gives much better turning ability. I've evaluated both as convoy ships under MWC rules and would much prefer the Sangamon since maneuverability and smaller size are the most important factors to me. Under other rule sets and styles of battling, Independence may be more attractive.
