U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jay C. Pugh
world aircraft carriers
air group; the current numbers reflect budgetary choices and the view that a smaller air group on a large deck can be turned around more rapidly, hence can strike a maximum number of targets. Nothing in the figures below concerning foreign carriers gives a sense of relative crowding of flight decks. The Brazilian Sao Paolo is the former French Foch, the direct predecessor to de Gaulle. She operates aircraft developed in the 1960s for carriers of about this size (18 U.S.-built Skyhawks and 16 helicopters), but is aging. That the Brazilian navy thought it worthwhile to buy and maintain so expensive a ship suggests that it understands carriers as the core of modern naval power – and that it plans to build a larger carrier for itself in the future. The Royal Navy demonstrated that STOVLs would make smaller carriers viable. In 1966, the British government of the day canceled planned carriers with steam catapults, operating conventional aircraft, which would have replaced existing ships. It considered them too expensive. Existing carriers were kept in service but were not to be replaced. The explanation was that the Royal Navy would never operate far from the United Kingdom again; hence land-based aircraft would suffice to support it. The Royal Navy never considered this argument valid, and by the time the existing carriers were leaving service, it had convinced the government of the day to build STOVL or helicopter carriers. They emerged as the three Invincibles, two of which are still active. When war broke out in the Falklands in 1982, the new light carriers proved their value. Despite their small size and limited air groups, they also proved quite effective in crises such as that in Kosovo and during the enforcement of the No-fly Zone in Iraq. Each ship can operate 16 Harriers, four Sea King radar helicopters, and two other large helicopters. The Harriers are the land-attack type shared with the Royal Air Force; the specialized Sea Harrier, with its long-range radar and AMRAAM missiles, having been retired. That dramatically reduces the carrier’s ability to contribute to fleet air defense or, for that matter, to support strikes in the face of enemy aircraft. The British found that a carrier design could improve aircraft performance even without catapults. An airplane emerging from the flight deck at an upward angle could take off with a heavier load. The three British light carriers were the first in the world to incorporate such ski jumps, which became standard in most STOVL ships. The remaining two Invincibles should retire about 2012. This year, the British government ordered two 65,000-ton replacements – about three times the Invincibles’ size – which are to operate the new F-35B fighter. These ships are quite expensive, and cynics in the Royal Navy wonder whether they will suffer the same fate as the 1966 carriers, given British financial problems. The design is intentionally adaptable to steam catapults in the event the Royal Navy decides against STOVL. It may be adopted by the French if they go ahead with their planned second carrier. Current plans show 30 strike fighters, four radar aircraft, and six helicopters per ship. This relatively small claimed capacity may reflect the British practice of stowing all or most aircraft in the hangar when not in use. Using the same hull more the way the U.S. Navy does (the flight deck would then be the primary parking area) would greatly increase potential capacity. In the Invincibles, capacity was originally given as 10 aircraft, including four Harriers. The present figure reflects much greater use of the flight deck for parking. The advent of STOVL aircraft inspired other European countries to build small carriers. Spain bought a U.S. design (for the abortive U.S. Sea Control Ship), which emerged as Príncipe de Asturias. Spain later built a much smaller version for Thailand as the Chakri Naruebet (she operates ex-Spanish, first-generation AV-8A Harriers). The Spanish carrier can
Nimitz-class aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), top, and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), middle, steam under way behind the Royal Navy’s Invincible-class aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (R 06) during a multi-ship maneuvering exercise in the Atlantic Ocean June 29, 2007. While the Invincible-class carrier design proved itself in the Falklands, the shoestring nature of the Royal Navy’s victory helped the push for larger carriers.
CVN 77 H 213
world aircraft carrriers.indd 213
12/9/08 5:30:40 PM