Aircraft carrier: Encyclopedia II - Aircraft carrier - History and milestones

Aircraft carrier - History and milestones

Aircraft carrier - Genesis

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. A number of experimental flights were made to test the concept. Eugene Ely was the first pilot to launch from a stationary ship in November 1910. He took off from a structure fixed over the forecastle of the US armoured cruiser USS Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia and landed nearby on Willoughby Spit after some five minutes in the air. On January 18, 1911 he became the first pilot to land on a stationary ship. He took off from the Tanforan racetrack and landed on a similar temporary structure on the aft of USS Pennsylvania anchored at the San Francisco waterfront—the improvised braking system of sandbags and ropes lead directly to the arrestor hook and wires described above. His aircraft was then turned around and he was able to take off again. Commander Charles Samson, RN, became the first airman to take off from a moving warship on May 2, 1912. He took off in a Short S27 from the battleship HMS Hibernia while she steamed at 10.5 knots (19 km/h) during the Royal Fleet Review at Weymouth.

HMS Ark Royal was the first aircraft carrier. She was originally laid down as a merchant ship, but was converted on the building stocks to be a seaplane carrier. Launched in 1914, she served in the Dardanelles campaign and throughout World War I.

The first strike from a carrier against a land target took place on July 19, 1918. Seven Sopwith Camels launched from HMS Furious attacked the German Zeppelin base at Tondern, with two 50 lb 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.

Aircraft carrier - The inter-war years

The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 placed strict limits on the tonnages of battleships and battlecruisers for the major naval powers after World War I, as well as limits not only on the total tonnage for carriers, but also an upper limit on 27,000 tonnes for each ship. Although exceptions were made regarding the max 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 HMS Argus the conversion of which was completed in September 1918, with the U.S. Navy not following suit until 1920, when the conversion of USS Langley had completed. The first American fleet carriers would not join the service until 1928 (USS Lexington and Saratoga).

The first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be developed was the HMS Hermes, although the first one to be commissionned was the Japanese Hosho (commissioned in December 1922, followed by HMS Hermes in July 1923). Hermes' design preceded and influenced that of the Hosho, and its construction actually began earlier, but numerous tests, experiments and budget considerations delayed its commission.

By the late 1930s, aircraft carriers around the world typically carried three types of aircraft: torpedo bombers, also used for conventional bombings and reconnaissance; dive bombers, also used for reconnaissance (in the U.S. Navy, this type of aircraft were known as "scout bombers"); and fighters 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 wings to facilitate storage.

Aircraft carrier - The Second World War

Aircraft carriers played a significant role in World War II. With seven aircraft carriers afloat, the Royal Navy had a considerable numerical advantage at the start of the war as neither the Germans or the Italians had carriers of their own. However, the vulnerability of carriers to traditional battleships was quickly illustrated by the sinking of HMS Glorious by German battlecruisers during the Norwegian campaign in 1940. By World War II, seaplane carriers were no longer considered to be equals to carriers which could operate conventional aircraft, as conventional planes could fly farther, faster, with heavier weapons loads and greater performance; by the end of the war, early helicopters were taking over many of the roles of seaplanes.

This apparent weakness to battleships was turned on its head in November 1940 when HMS Illustrious launched a long-range strike on the Italian fleet at Taranto. This operation incapacitated three of the six battleships in the harbour at a cost of two of the 21 attacking Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers. Carriers also played a major part in reinforcing Malta, both by transporting planes and by defending convoys sent to supply the besieged island. The use of carriers prevented the Italian Navy and land-based German aircraft from dominating the Mediterranean theatre.

In the Atlantic, aircraft from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious were responsible for slowing Bismarck during May 1941. Later in the war, escort carriers proved their worth guarding convoys crossing the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

Many of the major battles in the Pacific involved aircraft carriers. Japan started the war with ten aircraft carriers, the largest and most modern carrier fleet in the world at that time. There were six American aircraft carriers at the beginning of the hostilities, although only 3 of them were operating in the Pacific.

Drawing on the 1939 Japanese development of low-depth runs for aerial torpedoes, and the 1940 British aerial attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto the 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was a clear illustration of the power projection capability afforded by a large force of modern carriers. Simultaneously, the Japanese began their advance through South East Asia and the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse by Japanese land-based aircraft drove home the need for this ship class for fleet defence from aerial attack. In April 1942, the Japanese Fast Carrier Strike Force ranged into the Indian Ocean and sank shipping, including the under-repair and undefended carrier HMS Hermes. Smaller Allied fleets with inadequate aerial protection were forced to retreat or be destroyed. In the Coral Sea, US and Japanese fleets traded aircraft strikes in the first battle where neither side's ships sighted the other. At the Battle of Midway four Japanese carriers were sunk in a surprise attack by planes from three American carriers and this is considered to be the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

Subsequently the US was able to build up large numbers of aircraft aboard a mixture of fleet, light and (newly commissioned) escort carriers. These carriers played a major part in winning the Pacific war. The eclipse of the battleship as the primary component of a fleet was clearly illustrated by the sinking of the largest battleship ever built, Yamato, by carrier-borne aircraft in 1945. Japan also built the largest aircraft carrier of the war, Shinano, which, like Yamato, was named after a Japanese province.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History and milestones", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki