Nassau and her captain, Commander Austin K. Doyle. Doyle played a great role in the development and innovation of the escort carrier, leading eventually to its great role in the Navy. Doyle was the first captain of the U.S.S. Nassau, which is a prime reason he had such an important role in the improvement of escort carriers. He was there from the beginning. During his early days at sea, Doyle observed the operations of his ship and “[admitted] deficiencies in speed and defensive firepower, as well as a dependence on catapult launches that detracted from their ability to operate a mixed group of aircraft efficiently” (233). Doyle was continuously critical about the operations of the U.S.S. Nassau which is why Godspeed emphasizes his contributions to the escort carrier’s evolution. Doyle unceasingly pushed the case for the use of escort carriers and “believed in the potential of the ships to do good work” and concluded that “’the Commanding Officer is convinced that these are splendid ships and urges a service test of a division” (233). The fact that the U.S.S. Nassau played such a significant role in the evolution of carrier-based close air support is due to the fact that Commander Doyle was her captain. Therefore, Godspeed incorporates his role and contributions into his overall …show more content…
Nearly every page of the article has a quote of a military professional speaking his or her opinion or simply stating facts. However, Godspeed does use many secondary sources which are of course not as evident as the quotes. He effectively synthesizes these two types of sources to support his argument. His primary sources consist of a numerous quotes from Commander Austin Doyle, with good reason since Doyle was a clear proponent of Godspeeds argument. The first quote from Doyle concerning the U.S.S. Nassau begins with “’these ships are the finest that I have ever seen, handle beautifully, with minor exceptions, and are invaluable as our only expendable (sic) carriers’” (225). The author very effectively sets the scene for the remainder of the article regarding Commander Doyle and his views with this single quote. Godspeed mainly uses secondary sources such as articles, journals, and biographies when recounting different events such as those from battles and combat. However, these articles and journals likely incorporated primary sources, but they themselves are