Aircraft Carrier

I

Introduction

Aircraft Carrier, ship with a long, unobstructed flight deck that permits take-offs and landings by high-performance military aircraft. Carriers, equipped with or capable of carrying missiles, are the heart of modern striking forces, accompanied by a variety of support vessels, such as destroyers and cruisers for protection, and supply ships bearing fuel, ammunition, and food.

An aircraft carrier is in effect a mobile air base. Planes are stored below deck and brought up and down on lifts. They take off under their own power or may be launched by catapults. Mirror landing systems and arresting cables that catch a hook on the outside of incoming aircraft facilitate safe landings. Decks are angled so that pilots missing the arresting gear will be able to go around again without hitting other aircraft.

II

History

The earliest flight from a ship was made off an improvised platform on the United States cruiser Birmingham in 1910. The first true carrier designed to permit take-offs and landings was the British merchant ship HMS Argus, completed in 1918.

After World War I, major carrier fleets were built by Britain, the United States, and Japan. By World War II Japan’s carrier fleet was numerically and qualitatively superior to the American and British fleets in the Pacific. The use of six aircraft carriers by Japan to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, opened the war in the Pacific. No American carriers were present during the attack. The major carrier battle of Midway of June 3-6, 1942, cost the Japanese four carriers; America lost one, the Yorktown.

In the war Britain used carriers in support of operations in Norway and for convoy support in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. An attack by 21 Swordfish biplanes from the carrier Illustrious in November 1940 inflicted substantial damage on the Italian fleet anchored at Taranto. British carriers were a vital support in actions such as the sinking of the Bismarck. Carriers were also part of the British Pacific Fleet.

III

Post-War Developments

The US Navy is the world’s principal user of carriers, with a fleet of 13. Since World War II, carriers have been designated by size and mission and grouped by class—that is, by similarity of construction and capabilities. All the present US fleet is of the attack class, with capabilities for conversion to use as submarine warfare, utility, and assault helicopter aircraft carriers. They bear the classification symbols CV or CVN, the N denoting a carrier propelled by nuclear energy.

Five carriers were built in the 1950s and 1960s, one of which, the Enterprise, was nuclear powered; the seven others built since are all nuclear powered. One of these, the Nimitz, first deployed in 1975, is the world’s largest warship; it is 332 m (1,092 ft) in length, displaces 95,000 tons, and is equipped with four steam catapults; it is capable of handling 90 aircraft with their associated maintenance facilities, fuel, ammunition, and parts. The ship accommodates a crew of 3,300 plus an air wing of pilots and support crew, numbering about 3,000. The Nimitz is capable of indefinite sea operation when supported by periodic reprovisioning. The angled flight deck permits simultaneous launching and landing of aircraft.

The British fleet includes 3 Invincible-class carriers, designed for antisubmarine warfare and command control missions, each with 8 Sea Harrier vertical(/short) take-off and landing aircraft and 12 Sea King helicopters. France has one carrier, the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle, which entered service in 2000 and is equipped with antisubmarine warfare, helicopter, and command control functions; by 2015, France aims to add a second carrier. The Russian navy has one remaining carrier, the Kutznetsov, following extensive reductions and selling-off of ships. It is designed for antisubmarine warfare.

See also Air Warfare.