Aircraft carriers are warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

s that evolved from balloon-carrying wooden vessels into nuclear powered vessels carrying dozens of fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Since their introduction they have allowed naval

Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...

 forces to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations.

Balloon carrier

Balloon carrier

A balloon carrier or balloon tender was a ship equipped with a balloon, usually tied to the ship by a rope or cable, and usually used for observation. During the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, these ships were built to have the furthest possible view of the...

s were the first ships to deploy manned aircraft, used during the 19th and early 20th century, mainly for observation purposes. The advent of fixed wing aircraft in 1903 was followed in 1910 by the first flight from the deck of a US Navy cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

. Seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

s and seaplane tender

Seaplane tender

A seaplane tender is a ship that provides facilities for operating seaplanes. These ships were the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.-History:...

 support ships, such as , followed. The development of flat top vessels produced the first large fleet ships. This evolution was well underway by the mid 1920s, resulting in ships such as , , and the s.

Most early aircraft carriers were conversions of ships that were laid down (or had even served) as different ship types: cargo ships, cruisers, battlecruisers, or battleships.

The first U.S. craft to be identified as an aircraft carrier was the , a converted collier. During the 1920's, several navies started ordering and building aircraft carriers that were specifically designed as such. This allowed the design to be specialized to their future role, and resulted in superior ships. During the Second World War, these ships would become the backbone of the carrier forces of the US, British, and Japanese navies, known as fleet carriers.

World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 saw the first large-scale use of aircraft carriers and induced further refinement of their design, leading to several variants. Escort carriers, such as , were built as a stop-gap measure to provide air support for convoys and amphibious invasions. Subsequent Light aircraft carrier

Light aircraft carrier

A light aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier that is smaller than the standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft only ½ to ⅔ the size of a full-sized or "fleet" carrier.-History:In World War II, the...

s, such as , represented a larger, more "militarized" version of the escort carrier concept. Although the light carriers usually carried the same size air groups as escort carriers, they had the advantage of higher speed as they had been converted from cruisers under construction.

Early history - baloon and seaplane carriers

The earliest recorded instance of using a ship for airborne operations occurred in 1806, when Lord Cochrane

Lord Cochrane

Lord Cochrane can refer to:*William Cochrane, 1st Earl of Dundonald who prior to receiving the earldom was create Baron Cochrane of Dundonald*Earl of Dundonald has a subsidiary of Baron Cochrane of Paisley and Ochiltree...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 launched kites from the 32-gun frigate in order to drop propaganda leaflets. The proclamations against Napoleon Bonaparte, written in French, were attached to kites, and the kite strings were set alight; when the strings had burned through, the leaflets landed on French soil.

Just over 40 years later on 12 July 1849, the Austrian Navy ship Vulcano was used for launching early aircraft. A number of small Montgolfiere hot air ballons were launched with the intention of dropping bombs on Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

. Although the attempt largely failed due to contrary winds which drove the balloons back over the ship, one bomb did land on the city.

Later, during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, about the time of the Peninsula Campaign

Peninsula Campaign

The Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. The operation, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B...

, gas-filled balloons

Balloon (aircraft)

A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....

 were used to perform reconnaissance on Confederate positions. The battles soon turned inland into the heavily forested areas of the Peninsula, however, where balloons could not travel. A coal barge, the , was cleared of all deck rigging to accommodate the gas generators and apparatus of balloons. From the barge Professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe

Thaddeus S. C. Lowe

Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe , also known as Professor T. S. C. Lowe, was an American Civil War aeronaut, scientist and inventor, mostly self-educated in the fields of chemistry, meteorology, and aeronautics, and the father of military aerial reconnaissance in the United States...

, Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon Corps

Union Army Balloon Corps

The Union Army Balloon Corps was a branch of the Union Army during the American Civil War, established by presidential appointee Thaddeus S. C. Lowe...

, made his first ascents over the Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 and telegraphed claims of the success of the first aerial venture ever made from a water-borne vessel. Other barges were converted to assist with the other military balloons transported about the eastern waterways, but none of these Civil War crafts ever took to the high seas.

Balloons launched from ships led to the development of balloon carrier

Balloon carrier

A balloon carrier or balloon tender was a ship equipped with a balloon, usually tied to the ship by a rope or cable, and usually used for observation. During the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, these ships were built to have the furthest possible view of the...

s, or balloon tenders, during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, by the navies of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Sweden. About ten such "balloon tenders" were built, their main objective being aerial observation posts. These ships were either decommissioned or converted to seaplane tender

Seaplane tender

A seaplane tender is a ship that provides facilities for operating seaplanes. These ships were the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.-History:...

s after the war.

The invention of the seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

 in March 1910—with the French Le Canard

Le Canard

|-See also:-References:* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft , 1985, Orbis Publishing-External links:*...

—led to development of the earliest ship designed as an aircraft carrier, albeit limited to aircraft equipped with floats: in December 1911 appears the French Navy La Foudre

La Foudre

The Foudre was a French seaplane carrier, the first in history. Her development followed the invention of the seaplane in 1910 with the French Le Canard.-Torpedo boat tender:...

, the first seaplane carrier. Commissioned as a seaplane tender, and carrying seaplanes under hangars on the main deck, from where they were lowered on the sea with a crane, she participated in tactical exercises in the Mediterranean in 1912. La Foudre was further modified in November 1913 with a 10 meter flat deck to launch her seaplanes.

, temporarily converted as an experimental seaplane carrier in April–May 1913, was also one of the first seaplane carriers, and the first experimental seaplane carrier of the Royal Navy. She was originally laid down as a merchant ship, but was converted on the building stocks to be a seaplane carrier for a few trials in 1913, before being converted again to a cruiser, and back again to a seaplane carrier in 1914. She was sunk by a German submarine in October 1914. The first seaplane tender of the US Navy was the , converted to that role in December 1913.

In September 1914, during the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, in the Battle of Tsingtao

Battle of Tsingtao

The Siege of Tsingtao was the attack on the German-controlled port of Tsingtao in China during World War I by Imperial Japan and the United Kingdom....

, the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 seaplane carrier Wakamiya

Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya

Wakamiya was a seaplane carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the first Japanese aircraft carrier. She was converted from a transport ship into a seaplane carrier and commissioned in August 1914. She was equipped with four Japanese-built French Maurice Farman seaplanes...

 conducted the world's first successful naval-launched air raids. It lowered four Maurice Farman

Maurice Farman

Maurice Alain Farman was a French Grand Prix motor racing champion, an aviator, and an aircraft manufacturer and designer.-Biography:...

 seaplanes into the water using its crane, which were taking off to bombard German forces and could be retrieved back from surface afterwards.

In Europe, on Christmas Day of the same year 1914, "an attack on the Cuxhaven Zeppelin base near Wilhelmshaven by seven British seaplanes from three improvised 'carriers' in the Heligoland Bight took place".

Many cruisers and capital ship

Capital ship

The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...

s of the inter-war years often carried a catapult-launched seaplane for reconnaissance and spotting the fall of the guns. It was launched by a catapult and recovered by crane from the water after landing. These were successful even during World War II; there were many notable successes early in the war as shown by 's float equipped Swordfish

Fairey Swordfish

The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War...

 during the Second Battle of Narvik in 1940, where it spotted for the guns of the British warships, ensuring seven German destroyers were sunk, and sinking the German submarine U-64

German submarine U-64 (1939)

German submarine U-64 was a Type IXB U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. U-64 was ordered by the Kriegsmarine on 16 July 1937 in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and as part of the German naval rearmament program Plan Z. Her keel was laid down by AG Weser in Bremen on 15...

 with bombs. The Japanese Nakajima A6M2-N "Rufe" floatplane, derived from the Zero, was a formidable fighter with only a slight loss in flight performance; one of its pilots scored 26 kills.

Genesis of the flat-deck carrier

"An airplane-carrying vessel is indispensable. These vessels will be constructed on a plan very different from what is currently used. First of all the deck will be cleared of all obstacles. It will be flat, as wide as possible without jeopardizing the nautical lines of the hull, and it will look like a landing field."

Clément Ader Clément Ader Clément Ader was a French inventor and engineer born in Muret, Haute Garonne, and is remembered primarily for his pioneering work in aviation.- The inventor :... , L'Aviation Militaire L'Aviation Militaire "L'Aviation Militaire" was a book written by the French inventor Clément Ader and published in 1909 by the Paris publisher Berger-Levrault. The book was essentially based on ideas developed by Ader at the end of the 19th century, which were arranged in final form in 1907... , 1909

As heavier-than-air aircraft developed in the early 20th century, various navies began to take an interest in their potential use as scouts for their big gun warships. In 1909 the French inventor Clément Ader

Clément Ader

Clément Ader was a French inventor and engineer born in Muret, Haute Garonne, and is remembered primarily for his pioneering work in aviation.- The inventor :...

 published in his book L'Aviation Militaire

L'Aviation Militaire

"L'Aviation Militaire" was a book written by the French inventor Clément Ader and published in 1909 by the Paris publisher Berger-Levrault. The book was essentially based on ideas developed by Ader at the end of the 19th century, which were arranged in final form in 1907...

the description of a ship to operate airplanes at sea, with a flat flight deck, an island superstructure

Superstructure

A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...

, deck elevators and a hangar bay. That year the US Naval Attaché in Paris sent a report on his observations.

A number of experimental flights were made to test the concept. Eugene Ely was the first pilot

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

 to launch from a stationary ship in November 1910. He took off from a structure fixed over the forecastle of the US armored cruiser

Armored cruiser

The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like other types of cruiser, the armored cruiser was a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship, and fast enough to outrun any battleships it encountered.The first...

  at Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and landed nearby on Willoughby Spit

Willoughby Spit

Willoughby Spit is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States. It is bordered by water on three sides: the Chesapeake Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and Willoughby Bay to the south.- History :...

 after some five minutes in the air.

On 18 January 1911, he became the first pilot to land on a stationary ship. He took off from the Tanforan racetrack

The Shops at Tanforan

The Shops at Tanforan is a redeveloped, regional shopping mall in San Bruno, California. It is located in the Peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area, 10 miles south of San Francisco. It is served by the adjacent San Bruno Bay Area Rapid Transit station, as well as several local SamTrans bus...

 and landed on a similar temporary structure on the aft of anchored at the San Francisco waterfront—the improvised braking system of sandbags and ropes led directly to the arrestor hook and wires described below. His aircraft was then turned around and he was able to take off again. Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 Charles Rumney Samson

Charles Rumney Samson

Air Commodore Charles Rumney Samson CMG, DSO & Bar, AFC was a British naval aviation pioneer. He also operated the first British armoured vehicles in combat...

, Royal Navy, became the first airman to take off from a moving warship on 9 May 1912. He took off in Short S.38 from the battleship while she steamed at 15 kn (18.3 mph; 29.4 km/h) during the Royal Fleet Review at Weymouth, England.

Flat-deck carriers in the World War I

The first strike from a carrier against a land target as well as a sea target took place in September 1914 when the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 seaplane carrier conducted the world's first naval-launched air raids from Kiaochow Bay during the Battle of Tsingtao

Battle of Tsingtao

The Siege of Tsingtao was the attack on the German-controlled port of Tsingtao in China during World War I by Imperial Japan and the United Kingdom....

 in China. The four Maurice Farman

Maurice Farman

Maurice Alain Farman was a French Grand Prix motor racing champion, an aviator, and an aircraft manufacturer and designer.-Biography:...

 seaplanes bombarded German-held land targets (communication centers and command centers) and damaged a German minelayer in the Tsingtao

Qingdao

' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...

 peninsula from September-6 November 1914, when the Germans surrendered. On the Western front the first naval air raid occurred on 25 December 1914 when twelve seaplanes from , and (cross-channel steamers converted into seaplane carriers) attacked the Zeppelin base at Cuxhaven

Cuxhaven Raid

The Cuxhaven Raid was a British ship-based air-raid on the German naval forces at Cuxhaven mounted on Christmas Day, 1914.Aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service were carried to within striking distance by seaplane tenders of the Royal Navy, supported by both surface ships and submarines...

. The attack was not a complete success, although a German warship was damaged; nevertheless the raid demonstrated in the European theatre the feasibility of attack by ship-borne aircraft and showed the strategic importance of this new weapon.

was arguably the first modern aircraft carrier. She was originally laid down as a merchant ship, but was converted on the building stocks to be a hybrid airplane/seaplane carrier with a launch platform. Launched on 5 September 1914, she served in the Dardanelles

Dardanelles

The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...

 campaign and throughout World War I.

On 2 August 1917, Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning, Royal Navy, landed his Sopwith Pup

Sopwith Pup

The Sopwith Pup was a British single seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good maneuverability, the aircraft proved very...

 aircraft on in Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow

right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...

, Orkney, becoming the first man to land a plane on a moving ship. He was killed 5 days later during another landing on Furious.

Other carrier operations were mounted during the war, the most successful taking place on 19 July 1918 when seven Sopwith Camel

Sopwith Camel

The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...

s launched from HMS Furious attacked the German Zeppelin

Zeppelin

A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...

 base at Tondern, with two 50 lb (22.7 kg) bombs each. Several airships and balloons were destroyed, but as the carrier had no method of recovering the aircraft safely, two of the pilots ditched their aircraft in the sea alongside the carrier while the others headed for neutral Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

.

Inter-war years

The Washington Naval Treaty

Washington Naval Treaty

The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...

 of 1922 placed strict limits on the tonnages of battleships and battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

s for the major naval powers after World War I, as well as not only a limit on the total tonnage for carriers, but also an upper limit of 27000 t (26,573.5 LT) for each ship. Although exceptions were made regarding the maximum ship tonnage (fleet units counted, experimental units did not), the total tonnage could not be exceeded. However, while all of the major navies were over-tonnage on battleships, they were all considerably under-tonnage on aircraft carriers. Consequently, many battleships and battlecruisers under construction (or in service) were converted into aircraft carriers.
The first ship to have a full-length flat deck was , the conversion of which was completed in September 1918, with the United States Navy not following suit until 1920, when the conversion of (an experimental ship which did not count against America's carrier tonnage) was completed. The first American fleet carriers would not enter service until November, 1927 when the was commissioned. ( was commissioned in December of that year.)

The first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be laid down was in 1918. Japan began work on the following year. In December 1922, Hōshō became the first to be commissioned, while HMS Hermes began service in July 1923. Hermes design preceded and influenced that of Hōshō, and its construction actually began earlier, but numerous tests, experiments and budget considerations delayed its commission.

By the late 1930s, carriers around the world typically carried three types of aircraft: torpedo bomber

Torpedo bomber

A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...

s, also used for conventional bombings and reconnaissance

Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

; dive bomber

Dive bomber

A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...

s, also used for reconnaissance (in the U.S. Navy, aircraft of this type were known as "scout bombers"); and fighters

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

 for fleet defence and bomber escort duties. Because of the restricted space on aircraft carriers, all these aircraft were of small, single-engined types, usually with folding wing

Folding wing

A folding wing is a design feature of aircraft to save space in the airfield, and time, and is typical of naval aircraft that operate from the limited deck space of aircraft carriers. The folding allows the aircraft to occupy less space in a confined hangar because the folded wing normally rises...

s to facilitate storage. In the late 1930s, the RN also developed the concept of the armoured flight deck

Comparison of armoured to unarmoured flight deck designs

An armoured flight deck is an aircraft carrier flight deck that incorporates substantial armour in its design.Comparison is often made between some of designs of the Royal Navy and the United States Navy...

, enclosing the hangar in an armoured box. The lead ship of this new type, HMS Illustrious, commissioned in 1940.

Important innovations just before and during World War II

A "hurricane bow" is a bow

Bow (ship)

The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...

 sealed up to the flight deck

Flight deck

The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the...

, first seen on the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Hermes

HMS Hermes (95)

HMS Hermes was an aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy. The ship was begun during World War I and finished after the war ended. She was the world's first ship to be designed and built as an aircraft carrier, although the Imperial Japanese Navy's was the first to be commissioned...

, commissioned in 1924. The American Lexington class

Lexington class aircraft carrier

The Lexington class aircraft carriers were the first operational aircraft carriers in the United States Navy. There were two ships in the class: and ....

 also featured this when they entered service in 1927. Combat experience proved it to be by far the most useful configuration for the bow of the ship among others that were tried, including an additional flying-off deck and an anti-aircraft battery. The latter was the most common American configuration during World War II, seen in the Essex class (the "long-hull" variant), and it was not until after the war when majority of American carriers incorporated the hurricane bow. The first Japanese carrier with a hurricane bow was .

Light aircraft carriers

Prior to the beginning of the war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

 noticed that no new aircraft carriers were expected to enter the fleet before 1944, and proposed the conversion of several Cleveland-class cruiser

Cleveland class cruiser

The United States Navy designed the Cleveland class of light cruisers for World War II with the goal of increased range and AA armament as compared with earlier classes.A total of 52 ships of this class were projected and 3 canceled...

 hulls that had already been laid down. They were intended to serve as additional fast carriers, as escort carriers did not have the requisite speed to keep up with the fleet carriers and their escorts. The actual U.S. Navy classification was small aircraft carrier (CVL), not light. Prior to July 1943, they were just classified as aircraft carriers (CV).

The Royal Navy made a similar design which served both them and Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 countries after World War II. One of these carriers, , is still in use as India's INS Viraat

INS Viraat

INS Viraat is a Centaur class aircraft carrier currently in service with the Indian Navy. INS Viraat is the flagship of the Indian Navy, the oldest carrier in service and one of two aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean Region.The Viraat was completed and commissioned in 1959 as the Royal Navy's...

.

Escort carriers and merchant aircraft carriers

To protect Atlantic convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

s, the British developed what they called Merchant Aircraft Carrier

Merchant aircraft carrier

Merchant aircraft carriers were bulk cargo ships with minimal aircraft handling facilities, used during World War II by Britain and the Netherlands as an interim measure to supplement British and United States-built escort carriers in providing an anti-submarine function for convoys...

s, which were merchant ships equipped with a flat deck for six aircraft. These operated with civilian crews, under merchant colors, and carried their normal cargo besides providing air support for the convoy. As there was no lift or hangar, aircraft maintenance was limited and the aircraft spent the entire trip sitting on the deck.

These served as a stop-gap measure until dedicated escort carriers

Escort aircraft carrier

The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the USN or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft carrier used by the British Royal Navy , the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, and the...

 (CVE) could be built in the U.S. About a third of the size of a fleet carrier, they carried between 20 and 30 aircraft, mostly for anti-submarine duties. Over 100 were built or converted from merchantmen. Escort carriers were built in the US from two basic hull designs: one from a merchant ship, and the other from a slightly larger, slightly faster tanker. Besides defending convoys, these were used to transport aircraft across the ocean. Nevertheless, some participated in the battles to liberate the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, notably the Battle off Samar

Battle off Samar

The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar Island, in the Philippines on 25 October 1944...

 in which six escort carriers and their escorting destroyers briefly took on five Japanese battleships and bluffed them into retreating.

Catapult aircraft merchantmen

As an emergency stop-gap before sufficient merchant aircraft carriers became available, the British provided air cover for convoys using Catapult aircraft merchantman (CAM ships). CAM ships were merchant vessels equipped with an aircraft, usually a battle-weary Hawker Hurricane

Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...

, launched by a catapult. Once launched, the aircraft could not land back on the deck and had to ditch in the sea if it was not within range of land. In over two years, fewer than 10 launches were ever made, yet these flights did have some success: 6 bombers for the loss of a single pilot.

World War II

Aircraft carriers played a significant role in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. With seven aircraft carriers afloat, the Royal Navy had a considerable numerical advantage at the start of the war as neither the Germans nor the Italians had carriers of their own. However, the vulnerability of carriers compared to traditional battleships when forced into a gun-range encounter was quickly illustrated by the sinking of by German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 battlecruisers during the Norwegian campaign in 1940. The first British warship lost in the war was by German submarine U-29 (1936)

German submarine U-29 (1936)

German submarine U-29 was a Type VIIA U-boat of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II.She was laid down on 2 January 1936 and commissioned on 10 November 1936. During her career U-29 was involved in seven war patrols under the command of Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart...

 on 17 September 1939.

This apparent weakness to battleships was turned on its head in November 1940 when launched a long-range strike on the Italian fleet at Taranto

Battle of Taranto

The naval Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, flying a small number of obsolescent biplane torpedo bombers from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea...

 and signalled the beginning of the end of the battleship as the most important capital ship in a fleet. This operation incapacitated three of the six battleships in the harbour at a cost of two of the 21 attacking Fairey Swordfish

Fairey Swordfish

The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War...

 torpedo bombers. Carriers also played a major part in reinforcing Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, both by transporting planes and by defending convoys sent to supply the besieged island. The use of carriers prevented the Italian Navy

Italian Navy

Italian Navy may refer to:* Pre-unitarian navies of the Italian states* Regia Marina, the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Italy * Italian Navy , the navy of the Italian Republic...

 and land-based German aircraft from dominating the Mediterranean theatre.

In the Atlantic, aircraft from and were responsible for slowing the German battleship during May 1941. Later in the war, escort carriers proved their worth guarding convoys crossing the Atlantic and Arctic

Arctic convoys of World War II

The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...

 oceans.

Germany and Italy also started with the construction or conversion of several aircraft carriers, but with the exception of the nearly-finished , no ship was launched.

Many of the major battles in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 involved aircraft carriers. Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 started the war with ten aircraft carriers, the largest and most modern carrier fleet in the world at that time. There were seven American aircraft carriers at the beginning of the hostilities, although only three of them were operating in the Pacific.

Drawing on the 1939 Japanese development of shallow-water modifications for aerial torpedo

Aerial torpedo

The aerial torpedo, airborne torpedo or air-dropped torpedo is a naval weapon, the torpedo, designed to be dropped into water from an aircraft after which it propels itself to the target. First used in World War I, air-dropped torpedoes were used extensively in World War II, and remain in limited...

es and the 1940 British aerial attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto, the 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...

 was a clear illustration of the power projection

Power projection

Power projection is a term used in military and political science to refer to the capacity of a state to conduct expeditionary warfare, i.e. to intimidate other nations and implement policy by means of force, or the threat thereof, in an area distant from its own territory.This ability is a...

 capability afforded by a large force of modern carriers. Concentrating six carriers in a single striking unit marked a turning point in naval history, as no other nation had fielded anything comparable.

Meanwhile, the Japanese began their advance through Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

, and the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse

Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse

The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a Second World War naval engagement that took place north of Singapore, off the east coast of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang where the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and...

 by Japanese land-based aircraft drove home the need for this ship type for fleet defence from aerial attack. In April 1942, the Japanese fast carrier strike force ranged into the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean raid

The Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Fast Carrier Strike Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 31 March-10 April 1942 against Allied shipping and bases in the Indian Ocean. It was an early engagement of the Pacific campaign of World War II...

 and sank shipping, including the damaged and undefended carrier . Smaller Allied fleets with inadequate aerial protection were forced to retreat or be destroyed. The Doolittle Raid

Doolittle Raid

The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the...

 (bombers from a U.S. carrier attacking Tokyo) forced the recall of the Japanese strike force to home waters. In the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea

The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...

, US and Japanese fleets traded aircraft strikes in the first battle where neither side's ships sighted the other, and carriers fought each other for the first time. At the Battle of Midway

Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...

 all four Japanese carriers engaged were sunk by planes from three American carriers (one of which was lost); the battle is considered the turning point of the war in the Pacific. Notably, the battle was orchestrated by the Japanese to draw out American carriers that had proven very elusive and troublesome to the Japanese.

Subsequently the US was able to build up large numbers of aircraft aboard a mixture of fleet

Essex class aircraft carrier

The Essex class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, which constituted the 20th century's most numerous class of capital ships with 24 vessels built in both "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two were originally ordered; however as World War II wound down, six were...

, light

Independence class aircraft carrier

The Independence class aircraft carriers were a class of light carriers built for the United States Navy that served during World War II.This class were a result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's interest in Navy shipbuilding plans...

 and (newly commissioned) escort carriers, primarily with the introduction of the Essex class

Essex class aircraft carrier

The Essex class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, which constituted the 20th century's most numerous class of capital ships with 24 vessels built in both "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two were originally ordered; however as World War II wound down, six were...

 in 1943. These ships, around which were built the fast carrier task forces of the 3rd

United States 3rd Fleet

The Third Fleet is one of seven numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific ocean areas including the Bering Sea, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and a sector of the Arctic...

 and 5th Fleets

United States 5th Fleet

The Fifth Fleet of the United States Navy is responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and coast off East Africa as far south as Kenya. It shares a commander and headquarters with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command . The commander of the 5th Fleet is currently Vice...

, played a major part in winning the Pacific war

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

. The Battle of the Philippine Sea

Battle of the Philippine Sea

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...

 in 1944 was the largest aircraft carrier battle in history and the decisive naval battle of World War II.

The reign of the battleship as the primary component of a fleet finally came to an end when U.S. carrier-borne aircraft sank the largest battleships ever built, the Japanese super battleships in 1944 and in 1945. Japan built the largest aircraft carrier of the war: , which was a Yamato-class ship converted before being halfway completed in order to counter the disastrous loss of four fleet carriers at Midway. She was sunk by the patrolling US submarine while in transit shortly after commissioning, but before being fully outfitted or operational, in November 1944.

Post-war developments

Three major post-war developments came from the need to improve operations of jet-powered aircraft, which had higher weights and landing speeds than their propeller-powered forebears.

The first jet landing on a carrier was made by Lt Cdr Eric "Winkle" Brown who landed on in the specially modified de Havilland Vampire

De Havilland Vampire

The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...

 LZ551/G

United Kingdom military aircraft serials

In the United Kingdom to identify individual aircraft, all military aircraft are allocated and display a unique serial number. A unified serial number system, maintained by the Air Ministry , and its successor the Ministry of Defence , is used for aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force , Fleet...

 http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Navy/De-Havilland-Sea/1312997/L/&width=1200&height=812&sok=WHERE__(reg_%3D_%27LZ551%27)_&sort=_order_by_photo_id_DESC_&photo_nr=1&prev_id=&next_id=1188987 on 3 December 1945. Brown is also the all-time record holder for the number of carrier landings, at 2,407.

After these successful tests, there were still many misgivings about the suitability of operating jet aircraft routinely from carriers, and LZ551/G was taken to Farnborough

Farnborough Airfield

Farnborough Airport or TAG London Farnborough Airport is an airport situated in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England...

 to participate in trials of the experimental "rubber deck". Despite significant effort toward developing this idea, and some performance advantages due to the removal of the undercarriage, it was found to be unnecessary; and following the introduction of angled flight decks, jets were operating from carriers by the mid 1950s.

Angled decks

During World War II, aircraft would land on the flight deck parallel to the long axis of the ship's hull

Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

. Aircraft which had already landed would be parked on the deck at the bow end of the flight deck. A crash barrier was raised behind them to stop any landing aircraft which overshot the landing area because its landing hook missed the arrestor cables. If this happened, it would often cause serious damage or injury and even, if the crash barrier was not strong enough, destruction of parked aircraft.

An important development of the early 1950s was the British invention of the angled flight deck by Capt D.R.F. Campbell RN in conjunction with Lewis Boddington of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. The runway was canted at an angle of a few degrees from the longitudinal axis of the ship. If an aircraft missed the arrestor cables (referred to as a "bolter

Bolter (aviation)

In naval aviation, a bolter is when an aircraft attempting to land on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier touches down, but fails to catch an arrestor cable and come to a stop...

"), the pilot only needed to increase engine

Engine

An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...

 power to maximum to get airborne again, and would not hit the parked aircraft because the angled deck pointed out over the sea.

The angled flight deck was first tested on , by painting angled deck markings onto the centerline flight deck for touch and go landings. This was also tested on the same year. In both tests, the arresting gear and barriers remained oriented to the original axis deck. During September through December 1952 the USS Antietam

USS Antietam (CV-36)

USS Antietam was one of 24 s built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the American Civil War Battle of Antietam . Antietam was commissioned in January 1945, too late to actively serve in World...

 had a rudimentary sponson installed for true angled deck tests, allowing for full arrested landings, which proved during trials to be superior. In 1953 the USS Antietam

USS Antietam (CV-36)

USS Antietam was one of 24 s built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for the American Civil War Battle of Antietam . Antietam was commissioned in January 1945, too late to actively serve in World...

 trained with both US and British naval units, proving the worth of the angled deck concept. The HMS Centaur

HMS Centaur (R06)

HMS Centaur was the first of the four Centaur-class light fleet carriers of the Royal Navy. She was the only ship of her class to retain the original configuration with a straight axial flight deck rather than the angled flight decks of her three sister ships...

 was modified with overhanging angled flight deck in 1954. The U.S. Navy installed the decks as part of the SCB-125 upgrade for the Essex class

Essex class aircraft carrier

The Essex class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, which constituted the 20th century's most numerous class of capital ships with 24 vessels built in both "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two were originally ordered; however as World War II wound down, six were...

 and SCB-110/110A for the Midway class

Midway class aircraft carrier

The Midway class aircraft carrier was one of the longest lived carrier designs in history. First commissioned in late 1945, the lead ship of the class, was not decommissioned until 1992, shortly after service in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.-History:...

. In February 1955, HMS Ark Royal

HMS Ark Royal (R09)

HMS Ark Royal was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier...

 became the first carrier to be constructed and launched with the deck, followed in the same year by the lead ships of the British Majestic class (HMAS Melbourne) and the American Forrestal class

Forrestal class aircraft carrier

The Forrestal-class aircraft carriers were a four-ship class designed and built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. It was the first class of so-called supercarriers, combining high tonnage, deck-edge elevators and an angled deck...

 (USS Forrestal).

Steam catapults

The modern steam-powered catapult

Aircraft catapult

An aircraft catapult is a device used to launch aircraft from ships—in particular aircraft carriers—as a form of assisted take off. It consists of a track built into the flight deck, below which is a large piston or shuttle that is attached through the track to the nose gear of the aircraft, or in...

, powered by steam from the ship's boiler

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

s or reactors, was invented by Commander C.C. Mitchell of the Royal Naval Reserve

Royal Naval Reserve

The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...

. It was widely adopted following trials on between 1950 and 1952 which showed it to be more powerful and reliable than the hydraulic catapults which had been introduced in the 1940s.

Optical Landing Systems

The first of the Optical Landing System

Optical Landing System

An optical landing system is used to give glidepath information to pilots in the terminal phase of landing on an aircraft carrier...

s was another British innovation, the Mirror Landing Aid invented by Lieutenant Commander H. C. N. Goodhart RN. This was a gyroscopically

Gyroscope

A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. In essence, a mechanical gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation...

-controlled concave mirror (in later designs replaced by a Fresnel lens

Fresnel lens

A Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design...

 Optical Landing System) on the port side of the deck. On either side of the mirror was a line of green "datum" lights. A bright orange "source" light was directed into the mirror creating the "ball" (or "meatball" in later USN parlance), which could be seen by the aviator who was about to land. The position of the ball compared to the datum lights indicated the aircraft's position in relation to the desired glidepath: if the ball was above the datum, the plane was high; below the datum, the plane was low; between the datum, the plane was on glidepath. The gyro stabilisation compensated for much of the movement of the flight deck due to the sea, giving a constant glidepath. The first trials of a mirror landing sight were conducted on HMS Illustrious in 1952. Prior to OLSs, pilots relied on visual flag signals from Landing Signal Officer

Landing signal officer

Landing Signal Officers are naval aviators specially trained to facilitate the "safe and expeditious recovery" of naval aircraft aboard aircraft carriers. Originally LSOs were responsible for bringing aircraft aboard ship using hand signals...

s to help maintain proper glidepath.

Nuclear age

The U.S. Navy attempted to become a strategic nuclear force in parallel with the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 (USAF) long range bombers with the project to build , which was termed CVA, with the "A" signifying "atomic". This ship would have carried long range twin-engine bombers, each of which could carry an atomic bomb. The project was canceled under pressure from the newly-created USAF, and the letter "A" was recycled to mean "attack." This only delayed the growth of carriers. Nuclear weapon

Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...

s would be part of the carrier weapons load, despite Air Force objections, beginning in 1955 aboard . By the end of the 1950s the Navy had a series of nuclear-armed attack aircraft (see also USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42)).

The U.S. Navy also built the first aircraft carrier to be powered by nuclear reactor

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...

s. is powered by eight nuclear reactors and was the second surface warship (after ) to be powered in this way. Subsequent supercarriers starting with took advantage of this technology to increase their endurance utilizing only two reactors. Other nations operate nuclear powered submarines, but thus far only France has a nuclear-powered carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.

Helicopters

The post-war years also saw the development of the helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

, with a variety of useful roles and mission capability aboard aircraft carriers. Whereas fixed-wing aircraft are suited to air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack, helicopters are used to transport equipment and personnel and can be used in an anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....

 (ASW) role, with dipping sonar, air-launched torpedoes, and depth charges; as well as for anti-surface vessel warfare, with air-launched anti-ship missiles.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United Kingdom and the United States converted some older carriers into Commando Carriers or Landing Platform Helicopters (LPH); seagoing helicopter airfields like . To mitigate the expensive connotations of the term "aircraft carrier", the new Invincible-class carriers were originally designated as "through deck cruisers" and were initially to operate as helicopter-only craft escort carriers. The arrival of the Sea Harrier VTOL

VTOL

A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...

/STOVL

STOVL

STOVL is an acronym for short take off and vertical landing.This is the ability of some aircraft to take off from a short runway or take off vertically if it does not have a very heavy payload and land vertically...

 fast jet meant they could carry fixed-wing aircraft, despite their short flight deck.

The United States used some carriers initially as pure ASW carriers, embarking helicopters and fixed-wing ASW aircraft like the S-2 Tracker

S-2 Tracker

The Grumman S-2 Tracker was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare aircraft to enter service with the US Navy. The Tracker was of conventional design with twin engines, a high wing and tricycle undercarriage. The type was exported to a number of navies around the world...

. Later, specialized LPH helicopter carriers for the transport of Marine Corps troops and their helicopter transports were developed. These evolved into the Landing Helicopter Assault (LHA) and later into the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) classes of amphibious assault ships, which normally also embark a few Harrier

AV-8B Harrier II

The McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II is a second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing ground-attack aircraft. An Anglo-American development of the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the Harrier II is the final member of the Harrier family that started with the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 in...

 aircraft.

Ski-jump ramp

Another British innovation was the ski-jump ramp as an alternative to contemporary catapult systems. The ski-jump ramp at the end of a runway or flight deck allows an aircraft which makes a running start to transition a portion of its forward momentum into upward motion. The intent is that the additional altitude and upward angled flight path from the jump provides extra time until the forward airspeed generated by engine thrust is high enough to maintain level flight. V/STOL aircraft will often also use their ability to direct some of their thrust downwards to give them additional lift until required airspeed is attained.

As the Royal Navy retired or sold the last of its World War II-era carriers, they were replaced with smaller ships designed to operate helicopters and the V/STOVL Sea Harrier jet. The ski-jump gave the Harriers an enhanced STOVL

STOVL

STOVL is an acronym for short take off and vertical landing.This is the ability of some aircraft to take off from a short runway or take off vertically if it does not have a very heavy payload and land vertically...

 capability, allowing them to take off with heavier payloads. It was subsequently adopted by the navies of several nations such as India

Indian Navy

The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...

, Spain

Spanish Navy

The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...

, Italy

Marina Militare

The Italian Navy is the navy of the Italian Republic. It is one of the four branches of military forces of Italy; formed in 1946, from what remained of the Regia Marina . As of 2008, the Italian Navy had 35,200 active personnel with 180 commissioned ships, 19 Floating Docks, and 123 aircraft...

, Russia, and Thailand

Royal Thai Navy

The Royal Thai Navy is the navy of Thailand and part of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, it was established in the late 19th century. Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse is "The Father of Royal Thai Navy". Similar to the organizational structure of the United States, the Royal Thai Navy includes the...

.

UN carrier operations in the Korean War

The United Nations command began carrier operations against the North Korean Army on July 3, 1950 in response to the invasion of South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. Task Force 77

Task Force 77

Task Force 77 has been the aircraft carrier battle/strike force of the Seventh Fleet in the United States Navy since the Seventh Fleet was formed....

 consisted at that time of the carriers and . Before the armistice of July 27, 1953, twelve U.S. carriers served 27 tours in the Sea of Japan

Sea of Japan

The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...

 as part of Task Force 77. During periods of intensive air operations as many as four carriers were on the line at the same time (see Attack on the Sui-ho Dam

Attack on the Sui-ho Dam

The attack on the Sui-ho Dam was the collective name for a large series of air attacks by United Nations Command air forces on thirteen hydroelectric generating facilities that took place June 23 and June 24, 1952, during the Korean War...

), but the norm was two on the line with a third "ready" carrier at Yokosuka able to respond to the Sea of Japan at short notice.

A second carrier unit, Task Force 95, served as a blockade force in the Yellow Sea

Yellow Sea

The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...

 off the west coast of North Korea. The task force consisted of a Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 light carrier and usually a U.S. escort carrier .

Over 301,000 carrier sortie

Sortie

Sortie is a term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops from a strongpoint. The sortie, whether by one or more aircraft or vessels, usually has a specific mission....

s were flown during the Korean War: 255,545 by the aircraft of Task Force 77; 25,400 by the Commonwealth aircraft of Task Force 95, and 20,375 by the escort carriers of Task Force 95. United States Navy and Marine Corps carrier-based combat losses were 541 aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm

Fleet Air Arm

The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

 lost 86 aircraft in combat, and the Australian Fleet Air Arm

Fleet Air Arm (RAN)

The Fleet Air Arm , known formally as the Australian Navy Aviation Group, is the division of the Royal Australian Navy responsible for the operation of aircraft. The FAA was founded in 1947 following the purchase of two aircraft carriers from the Royal Navy...

 15.

Post-colonial conflicts

In the period following World War II through the 1960s, the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands employed their carriers during decolonization conflicts of former colonies.

France employed the carriers Dixmude

HMS Biter (D97)

HMS Biter was a Royal Navy escort carrier during the Second World War. She was laid down as a merchant ship at the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company yard at Chester, Pennsylvania. Launched on 28 December 1939, she was converted to an escort carrier and commissioned in the Royal Navy on 6 May...

, La Fayette

La Fayette (R96)

The La Fayette was an 11,000-ton that served French Navy as the from 1951 to 1963. She was the first French vessel named after the 18th century general Marquis de Lafayette...

, Bois Belleau

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24)

USS Belleau Wood was a United States Navy active during World War II in the Pacific Theater, from 1943 to 1945. The ship also served in the First Indochina War under French Navy temporary service as Bois Belleau....

, and Arromanches to conduct operations against the Viet Minh

Viet Minh

Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...

 during the 1946–1954 First Indochina War

First Indochina War

The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...

.

The United Kingdom used carrier-based aircraft from HMS Eagle

HMS Eagle (R05)

HMS Eagle was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, in service 1951-1972. With her sister ship , she is one of the two largest British aircraft carriers yet built....

, Albion

HMS Albion (R07)

HMS Albion was a 22,000 ton Centaur-class light fleet carrier of the Royal Navy.-Construction and modifications:She was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd. Her keel was laid down in March 1944 and she was launched in May 1947...

, and Bulwark

HMS Bulwark (R08)

The sixth HMS Bulwark of the Royal Navy was a 22,000 tonne Centaur-class light fleet aircraft carrier.-Construction:Bulwark was laid down by the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast on 10 May 1945...

, and France from Arromanches and La Fayette, to attack Egyptian positions during the 1956 Suez Crisis

Suez Crisis

The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...

. Royal Navy carriers HMS Ocean and Theseus acted as floating bases to ferry troops ashore by helicopter in the first ever large-scale helicopter-borne assault.

The Royal Netherlands Navy

Royal Netherlands Navy

The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

 deployed HNLMS Karel Doorman

HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81)

HNLMS Karel Doorman was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The ship was the British HMS Venerable before she was sold in 1948 to the Netherlands as a light attack carrier. In 1960 she was involved in the decolonization conflict in Western New Guinea with Indonesia...

 and an escorting battle group to Western New Guinea

Western New Guinea

West Papua informally refers to the Indonesian western half of the island of New Guinea and other smaller islands to its west. The region is officially administered as two provinces: Papua and West Papua. The eastern half of New Guinea is Papua New Guinea.The population of approximately 3 million...

 in 1962 to protect it from Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n invasion. This intervention nearly resulted in her being attacked by the Indonesian Air Force

Indonesian Air Force

The Indonesian Air Force is the air force branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces.The Indonesian Air Force has 34,930 personnel equipped with 110 combat aircraft including Su-27 and Su-30.-Before Indonesian independence :...

 using Soviet supplied Tupolev Tu-16

Tupolev Tu-16

The Tupolev Tu-16 was a twin-engine jet bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has flown for more than 50 years, and the Chinese license-built Xian H-6 remains in service with the Chinese air force.-Development:...

KS-1 Badger naval bombers carrying anti-ship missiles. The attack was called off by a last-minute cease fire.

Between 1964 and 1967, the Royal Navy deployed the Far East Fleet carriers HMS Ark Royal

HMS Ark Royal (R09)

HMS Ark Royal was an Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was the Royal Navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier...

, Centaur

HMS Centaur (R06)

HMS Centaur was the first of the four Centaur-class light fleet carriers of the Royal Navy. She was the only ship of her class to retain the original configuration with a straight axial flight deck rather than the angled flight decks of her three sister ships...

, and Victorious

HMS Victorious (R38)

HMS Victorious was the second Illustrious-class aircraft carrier ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme. She was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939...

 in support of operations in Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

 during the Konfrontasi conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia. HMS Albion and Bulwark were deployed as commando carriers, and the Australian carrier HMAS Sydney served as a troop transport.

Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

During the war, India deployed INS Vikrant

INS Vikrant

INS Vikrant was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy.Her keel was laid down on 12 November 1943 by Vickers-Armstrong on the Tyne and she was launched on 22 September 1945....

 against Pakistan from its station in Andaman islands for operation against Pakistani forces in the East (present Bangladesh). Hawker Sea Hawk

Hawker Sea Hawk

The Hawker Sea Hawk was a British single-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm , the air branch of the Royal Navy , built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its origins stemmed from earlier Hawker piston-engined fighters, the Sea Hawk became the...

 of the carrier successfully choked the Chittagong

Chittagong

Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...

 harbour and put it out of service.

U.S. carrier operations in Southeast Asia

The United States Navy fought "the most protracted, bitter, and costly war" (René Francillon) in the history of naval aviation from August 2, 1964 to August 15, 1973 in the waters of the South China Sea

South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...

. Operating from two deployment points (Yankee Station

Yankee Station

Yankee Station was a point in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam used by the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 to launch strikes in the Vietnam War. While its official designation was "Point Yankee," it was universally referred to as Yankee Station...

 and Dixie Station

Dixie Station

Dixie Station was a geographic position during the Vietnam War in the South China Sea off the Mekong Delta from which United States Navy aircraft carriers launched strikes providing close air support for US and ARVN ground troops in South Vietnam...

), carrier aircraft supported combat operations in South Vietnam

South Vietnam

South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...

 and conducted bombing operations in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force in North Vietnam

North Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...

 under Operations Flaming Dart

Operation Flaming Dart

Operation Flaming Dart was a U.S. and Vietnam Air Force military operation, conducted in two parts, during the Vietnam War. During the bombing raid Premier Alexei Kosygin headed a Soviet delegation to North Vietnam....

, Rolling Thunder

Operation Rolling Thunder

Operation Rolling Thunder was the title of a gradual and sustained US 2nd Air Division , US Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force aerial bombardment campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 2 March 1965 until 1 November 1968, during the Vietnam War.The four objectives...

, and Linebacker

Operation Linebacker

Operation Linebacker was the title of a U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War....

. The number of carriers on the line varied during differing points of the conflict, but as many as six operated at one time during Operation Linebacker.

Twenty-one aircraft carriers (all operational attack carriers during the era except ) deployed to Task Force 77

Task Force 77

Task Force 77 has been the aircraft carrier battle/strike force of the Seventh Fleet in the United States Navy since the Seventh Fleet was formed....

 of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, conducting 86 war cruises and operating 9,178 total days on the line in the Gulf of Tonkin

Gulf of Tonkin

The Gulf of Tonkin is an arm of the South China Sea, lying off the coast of northeastern Vietnam.-Etymology:The name Tonkin, written "東京" in Hán tự and Đông Kinh in romanised Vietnamese, means "Eastern Capital", and is the former toponym for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam...

. 530 aircraft were lost in combat and 329 more in operational accidents, causing the deaths of 377 naval aviators, with 64 others reported missing and 179 taken prisoner-of-war. 205 officers and men of the ship's complements of three carriers were killed in major shipboard fires. At times some the carrier groups operated in an excess of 12,000 miles from their home ports.

Falklands War

During the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

 the United Kingdom was able to win a conflict 8,000 miles (13,000 km) from home in large part due to the use of the light fleet carrier and the smaller "through deck cruiser" . The Falklands showed the value of a STOVL

STOVL

STOVL is an acronym for short take off and vertical landing.This is the ability of some aircraft to take off from a short runway or take off vertically if it does not have a very heavy payload and land vertically...

 aircraft—the Hawker Siddeley Harrier (the RN Sea Harrier and press-ganged RAF Harriers)—in defending the fleet and assault force from shore-based aircraft and in attacking the enemy. Sea Harriers shot down 21 fast-attack jets and suffered no aerial combat losses, although six were lost to accidents and ground fire. Helicopters from the carriers were used to deploy troops and for medevac

MEDEVAC

Medical evacuation, often termed Medevac or Medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to the wounded being evacuated from the battlefield or to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of an accident to receiving medical facilities using...

, Search and rescue

Search and rescue

Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...

 and anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....

.

An opposite lesson from the Falklands War was the withdrawal of Argentina's aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo

ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2)

The ARA Veinticinco de Mayo was an aircraft carrier in the Argentine Navy from 1969 to 1997. The English translation of the name is the Twenty-fifth of May, which is the date of Argentina's May Revolution in 1810....

 with her A-4Qs

A-4 Skyhawk

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable ground-attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated the A4D...

. The sinking of the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano

ARA General Belgrano

The ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Formerly the , she saw action in the Pacific theater of World War II before being sold to Argentina. After almost 31 years of service, she was sunk during the Falklands War by the Royal Navy submarine ...

 by the fast attack submarine HMS Conqueror

HMS Conqueror (S48)

HMS Conqueror was a nuclear-powered fleet submarine that served in the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1990. She was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead...

 caused the premature home deployment as it showed that capital ships were vulnerable in the nuclear submarines' hunting ground.

Operations in the Persian Gulf

The U.S. has also made use of carriers in the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

 and Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 and to protect its interests in the Pacific. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

 U.S. aircraft carriers served as the primary base of American air power. Even without the ability to place significant numbers of aircraft in Middle Eastern airbases, the United States was capable of carrying out significant air attacks from carrier-based squadrons. Recently, U.S. aircraft carriers such as the provided air support for counter-insurgency operations in Iraq.

See also

• Modern United States Navy carrier air operations
• Project Habakkuk
  Project Habakkuk
  Project Habakkuk or Habbakuk was a plan by the British in World War II to construct an aircraft carrier out of pykrete , for use against German U-boats in the mid-Atlantic, which were beyond the flight range of land-based planes at that time.The idea came from Geoffrey Pyke who worked for Combined...
  
  
• Seadrome
• Mobile offshore base
  Mobile offshore base
  In the defense industry of the United States, a mobile offshore base — or MOB — is a concept for supporting military operations where conventional land bases are not available...
  
   (concept)
• Airborne aircraft carrier
  Airborne aircraft carrier
  Airborne aircraft carriers are aircraft which can launch other aircraft. These typically are large aircraft that launch fighter-interceptor planes.-Dirigible aircraft carriers:...
  
  
• Floating airport
  Floating airport
  A floating airport is an airport built and situated on a very large floating structure located many miles out at sea utilizing a flotation type of device or devices such as Pneumatic Stabilized Platform technology....
  
   (concept)

Types of ships that carry aircraft

• ASW carrier
• Escort carrier
• Helicopter carrier
  Helicopter carrier
  Helicopter carrier is a term for an aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters. The term is sometimes used for both ASW carriers and amphibious assault ships....
  
  
• Light aircraft carrier
  Light aircraft carrier
  A light aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier that is smaller than the standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft only ½ to ⅔ the size of a full-sized or "fleet" carrier.-History:In World War II, the...
  
  
• Supercarrier
  Supercarrier
  Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons.Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons.Supercarrier is an unofficial...
  
  
• Amphibious assault ship
  Amphibious assault ship
  An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault...
  
  
• Seaplane tender
  Seaplane tender
  A seaplane tender is a ship that provides facilities for operating seaplanes. These ships were the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.-History:...
  
  
• Balloon carrier
  Balloon carrier
  A balloon carrier or balloon tender was a ship equipped with a balloon, usually tied to the ship by a rope or cable, and usually used for observation. During the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, these ships were built to have the furthest possible view of the...
  
  
• Submarine aircraft carrier
  Submarine aircraft carrier
  Submarine aircraft carriers are submarines equipped with fixed wing aircraft for observation or attack missions. These submarines saw their most extensive use during World War II, although their operational significance remained rather small...
  
  

Related lists

• List of aircraft carriers
  • List of aircraft carriers by country
  • List of aircraft carriers by type
  • List of aircraft carrier classes of the United States Navy
  • List of aircraft carriers in service
  • Timeline for aircraft carrier service
    Timeline for aircraft carrier service
    Aircraft carriers have their origins during the days of World War I. The earliest experiments constisted of fitting temporary "flying off" platforms to the gun turrets of the warships of several nations, notably the United States and the United Kingdom...
    
    
• List of amphibious warfare ships