Aircraft Carrier

I

Introduction

Aircraft Carrier, large naval vessel with a flight deck that supports the takeoff and landing of military aircraft. Aircraft carriers are the most important warships operated by the navies of the world. Their mission is the operation of aircraft in an ocean environment, which provides air cover to other warships and supports operations ashore where an air base is unavailable. Aircraft carriers are easily recognizable by their large size and distinctive shape, characterized by a continuous flat deck running the length of the ship.

Carriers are a powerful and extremely flexible part of a nation’s defense. A carrier is flexible in a way that armies and air forces are not because it can influence events merely by being seen. The power of an aircraft carrier can act as a visible deterrent to enemy aggression. A carrier is also flexible because it operates on the ocean. Unlike a land air base, no other country has to be consulted about where a carrier can go and what it can be used for because most of the ocean is considered international water and not part of any one country. This freedom allows carriers to move from one trouble spot to another quite easily. Carriers operate with a number of support and supply ships; this flotilla of ships is referred to as a carrier battle group.

Since World War II (1939-1945), carriers have primarily been used to influence world events and to support troops ashore. When the Korean War (1950-1953) broke out in June 1950, United States Navy carriers were the only military airpower immediately available to engage the enemy. U.S. Air Force units were unable to respond for several months. Aircraft carriers were also the first American units to arrive on the scene during the Vietnam War (1959-1975) and the Persian Gulf War (1991).

While carriers are important, they are also quite expensive, so there are only a few patrolling the world’s oceans today. Approximately 40 carriers of all types are currently in use or are being built. Of these, over half (24) are in service in the U.S. Navy. A typical American nuclear powered aircraft carrier can cost well over $4 billion and take five years to build.

---

---

II

Carrier Design and Aircraft

An aircraft carrier comprises several different sections, as do all warships. The lower decks of a carrier are similar to those on other ships. They house the engine rooms and compartments for either oil-fired boilers or nuclear reactors, depending on the type of propulsion being used. (Newer carriers are all nuclear powered. The United States has not built an oil-powered carrier since 1968.) A carrier is driven by four massive propellers, and the ship’s engines can generate over 280,000 horsepower to accelerate the carrier to a speed of just over 56 km/h (35 mph).

The upper areas of an aircraft carrier differ from those of conventional warships. An enormous hangar bay runs the length and width of the ship and is referred to as the first deck, or hangar deck. Planes can be serviced on the hangar deck, safe from the effects of wind and weather. Massive elevators, each the size of a typical home, move aircraft between the hangar deck and the flight deck on top, where the planes take off and land. In the area between the hangar deck and flight deck, called the gallery, the ship’s pilots live, work, and prepare for flights.

The flight deck may look quite large, but it is actually small for all the activities that take place on it. Because the runway is so short, planes must be flung into the air by steam catapults that are built into the flight deck. These catapults are 90 m (300 ft) long and draw their power directly from the ship’s engines; they can accelerate a plane from 0 to 240 km/h (150 mph) in three seconds. Each carrier has four catapults: two on the forward area, or bow, and two in the center area, referred to as amidships. The bow area is only used for launching planes because it is too short for landings. The amidships area and the deck behind it can be used for launching and landing planes. It is angled slightly from the centerline of the ship so that landing planes do not interfere with planes taking off from the bow. All four catapults can be used to launch airplanes in a hurry, but during continuous exercises, planes need to land in order to refuel and reload ammunition. When landings are taking place, planes are launched only off the bow catapults so that other jets can land on the angled area. The bow area can also serve as a parking area, out of the way of landings, when launches are not taking place.

Overlooking the flight deck area on the right, or starboard, side is the carrier’s command and control tower, referred to as the island. The island is small, so as not to encroach on valuable flight deck space. The seven-story structure is covered with antennas and radar scanners. The top level of the island is like the control tower at an airport. Here, the ship’s air boss, or controller, controls the movement of planes on the flight deck and those flying near the ship. The next level below the controller is the carrier’s pilothouse, also referred to as the bridge. On the bridge, the captain and other members of the crew control the ship’s speed and direction.

Unlike other warships such as cruisers and destroyers, a carrier has very few weapons built directly onto the ship itself. The aircraft on board the ship serve as its primary weapon. American carriers have the widest variety of aircraft. The typical 86-plane air wing of an American carrier is composed of several types of offensive aircraft. Fighter aircraft include F-14 Tomcat fighters (to shoot down enemy planes that may try to attack the carrier) and F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters (a type of plane that can both drop bombs and shoot down enemy planes). Support aircraft on board include the E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft (the only plane on the ship still flown by propellers). It carries a large radar and transmits information back to the carrier, so the ship knows what is going on up to 480 km (300 mi) away. The EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare airplane jams enemy radar, and the S-3B Viking antisubmarine airplane hunts for enemy subs and sinks them if they get too close to the carrier. A carrier also carries about a half dozen SH-60F Ocean Hawk helicopters, which can also hunt submarines, as well as rescue any pilots who suffer an accident. See also Military Aviation.

Landing a plane on a carrier is a complicated procedure that requires tremendous skill on the part of the pilot. When planes are cleared to land, pilots come in behind the ship, lower the landing gear and tailhook, and line up with a series of lights and lenses on the carrier commonly called the meatball. The meatball tells pilots if they are too high or too low as they are coming in to land. Their goal is to keep the light centered in the middle of the set of lenses. Navy pilots refer to this procedure as “calling the ball.” As the plane crosses over the carrier deck, the tailhook snags one of four heavy steel cables stretched across the deck, bringing the plane to a stop in about 90 m (300 ft) of deck space.

When carrier pilots land (or trap, as Navy pilots like to call it), they apply full power to their engines so that if the cables break (which happens rarely) they will have enough power to fly off and try to land again. Landings are made both day and night in clear and bad weather. Pilots prefer to land on large carriers, not because of the larger landing area, but because a large carrier is steadier since it weighs more, and therefore does not pitch as much in heavy seas.

III

Types of Aircraft Carriers

There are two main types of aircraft carriers: those that operate conventional aircraft, such as the large U.S. ships, and smaller, light carriers that operate helicopters and vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The main difference is in size and firepower. A conventional carrier is quite large, and bears the designation CV or CVN. The C stands for carrier; V is the military designation for aircraft (it originally stood for heaVier-than-air craft, as opposed to lighter-than-air craft such as blimps); and the N signifies a carrier with nuclear propulsion. The American Nimitz class nuclear powered carrier is 335 m (1100 ft) long, 77 m (252 ft) wide, weighs 83,000 metric tons, and has a crew of 6000 men and women. They can handle over 80 high-performance aircraft. While these ships are immensely valuable to a nation’s defense, not all nations can afford such a vessel to operate aircraft at sea. Instead, many countries use much smaller “light” carriers, which range from 150 to 210 m (500 to 700 ft) long, weigh 10,000 to 15,400 metric tons, and handle about 15 to 25 aircraft. Of the aircraft on light carriers, most are helicopters engaged in the hunting of submarines, while about six to ten planes are so-called jump jets such as the AV-8B Harrier, which can take off and land vertically.

The United States is the largest aircraft carrier operator. The American fleet includes 12 ships, each with an 86-plane air wing. Additionally, the United States operates 12 smaller carriers, referred to as amphibious assault ships. These ships are larger than light carriers, with a length of 257 m (844 ft), weight of 36,000 metric tons, and a crew of 900. Unlike the large conventional carriers, amphibious assault ships can also land troops (up to 1800 marines are usually embarked) and carry 25 helicopters and 15 Harrier jump jets. See also Amphibious Warfare.

The former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) operated four light carriers and one conventional ship. The light carriers are no longer in service, but the single Soviet conventional carrier, the Kuznetsov, is still operating as part of the Russian navy. The Kuznetsov is 300 m (1000 ft) long, weighs 59,000 metric tons, and carries about 50 aircraft. Unlike American ships, the Kuznetsov is armed with a dozen powerful cruise missiles to attack other ships. China has no aircraft carriers. Reports that it intends to build one by 2010 remain unsubstantiated. India operates two small carriers purchased from Britain in the 1980s. They are old, but still provide adequate air support to the small Indian navy.

In Europe, France operates a medium-sized nuclear-powered carrier, the Charles De Gaulle, Europe’s largest warship, which went into service in 2001. Britain operates three light carriers of the Invincible class and is planning on constructing several more in the early 21st century. Italy and Spain each operate one light carrier, the smallest in any nation’s fleet with a length of just over 150 m (500 ft) and weight of 10,000 metric tons.

IV

History

The first aircraft carriers were converted cruisers with simple wooden flight decks. The first landing of a plane on a ship was made by Eugene Ely in 1911, when he landed on a platform built on the cruiser Pennsylvania. The first aircraft carriers, such as the British ship Furious, were originally cruisers that were converted to carriers by building wooden platforms over the ship’s deck to accommodate airplanes. The British ship Argus had a flush flight deck similar to modern decks, but was completed in 1918 and was too late to enter the war. Britain has always been a leading innovator in aircraft carrier design, and had three true carriers in operation as early as 1921. British engineers invented the angled flight decks, steam catapults, and landing systems in use aboard American carriers today. The first American carrier was the Langley, at 150 m (500 ft) in length and weighing 20,000 metric tons.

In the beginning, carriers were seen as nothing more than useful scouting platforms for the armored battleships that were the leading warships of the day. Carriers surpassed battleships in importance as naval weapons during World War II (1939-1945). The primary reason for this was range: A battleship’s guns can only strike targets out to about 37 km (23 mi), but a carrier’s aircraft can strike enemy forces over 480 km (300 mi) away. The flexibility of the carrier and its aircraft rendered battleships obsolete and during World War II, battleships were used only as gunfire support ships.

During World War II, the United States built a fleet of 100 carriers to defeat the German and Japanese fleets. In the Atlantic Ocean, carriers were used to sink German submarines and provide air cover to merchant ship convoys carrying supplies to the war in Europe. In the Pacific Ocean, American carriers fought Japanese carriers in large battles such as the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, and the Battle of the Philippine Sea (see World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea). American carriers also provided air support for ground forces during many island invasions against the Japanese. The Japanese carrier fleet was destroyed during World War II, leaving the United States and Britain as the only major operators of aircraft carriers at that time.

Current aircraft carrier development is concentrated in the United States, but even the United States is finding conventional carriers to be an expensive ship type to operate. Governments are focusing on reducing the building and operating costs of carriers. Cost reductions include reducing the size of the crew, automating various operational functions, and reducing the high maintenance requirements of the ship. When the last Nimitz class carrier is completed in 2006, the United States is planning to build a new class of carriers that will reflect the current efforts to reduce costs.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain