That aircraft became the North American AJ Savage. In December 1945, the Navy laid out a three-phase carrier-based strategic bomber plan- Phase 1 called for modest capability bomber to speed its introduction and deployment to the fleet. Until this supercarrier was launched, the three biggest aircraft carriers of the US Navy would be responsible for deploying nuclear weapons- these three ships were the Midway-class carriers- the USS Midway, USS Franklin D.
Planning immediately began for a new, much larger aircraft carrier that would carry the Navy's planned nuclear strike force. In September 1945 right after the Japanese surrender, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) established the Navy's "Special Weapons Division" which was headed by a vice-admiral. Despite the primacy of the Navy's carrier battle groups in the Pacific War, the Navy was well aware of the potential power of nuclear weapons in the postwar period. Though delivered to their targets by USAAF Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, both atomic bombs were armed by naval officers in flight and in essence, naval officers acted as the mission commanders. On the second mission against Nagasaki, Commander Ashworth was the weaponeer aboard Bock's Car. Parson's director of operations in the Manhattan Project was another naval officer, Commander Frederick Ashworth, a former Grumman TBF pilot. On the Enola Gay's mission against Hiroshima, Captain Parsons was aboard as the weaponeer and armed "Little Boy" prior to its use. The weaponeer also acted as the mission's tactical commander as they had the final authority on the bomb's use. Once airborne, the "weaponeer" was responsible for inserting the core into the atomic bomb to arm it. The early bombs of those days had a core that was separate from the main core, this way the two parts were each of subcritical mass and unlikely to detonate as a safety measure. At Titian Island in the Marianas, it was Captain Parsons who was in charge of the bomb assembly and check out. While he also contributed to the design of the atomic bomb's proximity fuse, he ultimately became responsible for the planning and execution of the US Army Air Force's use of the bombs against Japan. In March 1943, Navy captain William Parsons was assigned to the Manhattan Project's Ordnance Division as he had had prior experience in the development of the proximity fuse for anti-aircraft shells. Not often realized in aviation history is the key role naval personnel played in the development and the deployment of the first atomic bombs that closed out the Second World War. The Atomic Neptunes: The Navy's Interim Nuclear Bombers
Neptunes could take off from Midways, but not land.