AC, Thanks for help. Richard Langworth came up with this: The term seems to originate not with Churchill but rather with his Chief of Staff Gen. Sir Hastings Ismay, who wrote in his memoirs just before D-Day: Ismay, Memoirs, p. 350 "The whole of the south of England became an armed camp, the south-east being allotted to British forces, and the south-west to the Americans. The steps which Eisenhower and the British authorities concerned had taken to ensure good relations between the American troops and the civil population were now to bear fruit. In those stirring anxious times, many friendships were formed which persist to this day; and as a general rule, the American forces identified themselves whole-heartedly with local interest. In one village they subscribed most generously to funds for rebuilding a church which had been heavily bombed. The work was completed some years after the end of the war, and the Re-dedication Service was broadcast and relayed to America. The general who had commanded the troops in that area was an interested listener, but he blew up in fury when he heard the bishop observe, in the course of his address, how fortunate they had been in having the 'succour from America'. He switched off abruptly, vowing that never again would he do anything for such so-and-sos. The British Isles had already proved a gigantic - and unsinkable - aircraft-carrier. They now had to fulfil the additional role of a gigantic ordnance depot. War stores of every kind continued to pour in from America and our own factories, and their storage was an acute problem. Every suitable pit, quarry, and cave were filled to overflowing; but even so, there was an enormous surplus to be accommodated. Recourse was therefore had to a novel expedient, which went by the name of Roadside Storage. Miles and miles of country roads were studded on either side with small hutments every fifty yards or so; and each of these dumps contained ammunition or some other form of ordnance stores. Permanent guards would have been too costly in man-power, and the only protection was provided by an occasional patrol. But so far as I know there was not a single case of sabotage."
David --- On Thu, 8/26/10, Antoine Capet <[email protected]> wrote: From: Antoine Capet <[email protected]> Subject: [ChurchillChat] "Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier" To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, August 26, 2010, 3:39 AM Dear David, You might like to have a look at Duncan Campbell's " _The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier: The Implications of American Military Power in Britain_ (1985) in your local library. I suppose the author gives the origin of the phrase in his introduction. Best, A.C. ============== > Visit Amazon's Duncan Campbell Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central (Author) From: David Freeman Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 5:38 AM To: Churchill Chat Subject: [ChurchillChat] Assistance with quotation attribution: "Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier" Colleagues, Another history professor has asked me if there is any truth to the claim that Churchill described Britain's contribution to the Second World War effort included the provision of an "unsinkable aircraft carrier". Does this sound familliar to anyone? Thank you for any assistance you can provide. David Freeman -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
