USS Wolverine and USS Sable

USS Wolverine IX64

  During World War Two the United States Navy had two side-paddle wheel aircraft carriers on Lake Michigan, homeported in Chicago.
  Both ships had started life as something else, passenger ships!   They were done over, quickly, to use as ships that new Naval Aviators would use to practice carrier landings and take offs.
  To my knowledge they were the only World War Two ships in the Navy that were propelled by paddle wheel.  They were never classified as aircraft carriers (CV), but designated as miscellaneous (IX), the only IX class ship now on active duty is the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) in Boston.
  One 20 year old Lieutenant, Junior Grade who learned to land on carriers was George H W Bush, the Country's Forty-first President.
  The ships were also used to test "Drones" from the Naval Aircraft Factory and other manufacturers, the drones never entered active warfare but were used for target practice.

USS Sable IX-81

A Naval Aircraft Factory TDN1 takes off from USS Wolverine, another drone is parked.