During World War II, the United States Navy (USN) began to explore the concept of operating jet-powered aircraft from its aircraft carriers. Success encouraged further development of the concept; early in the post-war years, officials within the USN began to investigate the use of jet power as a potential means of operating larger carrier-based aircraft that would be capable of performing the strategic bombing mission. The USN had a growing awareness that it could operate in a broader role that had been previously possible, and that the strategic bomber fleet operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) was unable to reach large parts of the world, a limitation that was not present upon its aircraft carrier fleet and their air wings.