USS Sable (IX-81)
USS Sable (IX-81) was a training ship of the United States Navy during World War II. Originally built as the passenger ship Greater Buffalo, a sidewheel excursion steamer, she was purchased by the Navy in 1942 and converted to a training aircraft carrier to be used on the Great Lakes. Lacking a hangar deck, elevators or armament, she was not a true warship, but provided advanced training of naval aviators in carrier takeoffs and landings.
On her first day of service fifty-nine pilots became qualified within nine hours of operations, with each making eight takeoffs and landings. Pilot training was conducted seven days a week in all types of weather conditions. One aviator who trained upon the Sable was future president George H. W. Bush.
Following World War II, Sable was decommissioned on 7 November 1945. She was sold for scrapping on 7 July 1948 to the H.H. Buncher Company. Sable and her sister ship, USS Wolverine, hold the distinction of being the only freshwater, coal-fired, side paddle-wheel aircraft carriers used by the United States Navy.
