USN WWII wooden decks

[is it windy yet?]

Why did the USN choose to use wooden decks on their carriers? I don't think they switched to steel until Midway class, but it could have been late into the Essex class. The British used steel. What did the Japanese use? What was the wood for? Cushioning? Traction? Cost? Weight savings?

[Spongebob]

Wood was light (topside weight) and easy to repair quickly (essential during straight deck ops). US designs prior to Midway (and Lex/Sara?) did not use armored flight decks because the structure to support them would have drastically limited the hangar space and the decision was made to carry more aircraft (emphasis on the offense). Midway was big enough to have both. Contrast the airwing complements between an Essex class and anything the British made (which had armored decks). But the reality they had different philosophies on how carriers should be used (offense vs. defense/support of the gun ships) and the designs reflected that.

HTH

Spongebob

[Tracy White]

Actually, Wolverine and Sable were the first US carriers to operate with steel decks. Wood was important for a variety of reasons; traction, damage resistance and repair, and insulation. Wood was used on steel ships as much for insulation from tropical sun as it was for traction in wet climes. Early carriers had problems with heat build up in the hangars, so I imagine that the wood helped keep the heat down, although the Essexes also had all those roller doors for ventilation.

[Yuri]

On all US Carriers until the Midway class the flight deck wasn't armoured. The structural strength deck was the hangar deck, everything built on top of it was relatively light.

I think this was made for a number of reasons... easy way to vent out dangerous fuel vapour... the hangar sides were open... so the planes could be refuelled on the hangar deck without problems... while the british instead of a central fuel system had to use small jerrycans that made the refuelling a very long task, the possibility to have larger decks (so more planes) without too much top weight and so on. USN carriers could carry 80-100 aircraft, while British carriers (with armor deck) of more or less the same size could carry half that number of planes.