58 I HMS Queen Elizabeth The Italian navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour, (foreground), the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman and the French navy aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, conduct operations in the Gulf of Oman, Jan. 3, 2014.
Story by Charles Oldham
W
hen World War II (WWII) ended with the advent of nuclear weapons, many suggested the era of the aircraft carrier and amphibious warfare was over. Yet every single one of the nearly 50 aircraft-carrying ships described below was laid down after WWII. Today, at a time when criticism of the usefulness of aircraft carriers is particularly strident, seagoing nations across the globe are building or procuring air capable ships at a rate unseen for decades. Even the Chinese, who provoked much of the criticism of aircraft carriers when they announced their ‘carrier killer’ DF-21 ballistic missile, have commissioned one carrier and have announced they are building several others. They are doing so for the simple reason that no other naval vessel can perform the range of missions that the carrier can. From humanitarian operations to full-on conflict, none have the capacity to perform even a single mission with anything approaching an aircraft carrier’s effectiveness. The nations whose navies have aircraftcarrying ships as the centre pieces of their naval capabilities, whether they be multi-purpose amphibious warfare ships or conventional aircraft carriers, are described below.
Australia is building two Canberra-class LHDs to the same design as Spain’s Juan Carlos I, of almost 28,000 tonnes displacement and 231 metres overall length. The two ships are planned to embark up to 20 helicopters and have well decks that can hold four Landing Craft, Medium (LCM). Crew complement is expected to be 358 personnel, including aircrew, along with more than 1,000 troops. Up to 110 vehicles can be carried. Both ships are equipped to operate Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft, and might do so in the future.
BRAZIL Brazil’s sole aircraft carrier is the former French Clemenceau-class carrier Foch, now renamed São Paulo. São Paulo, 265 metres long and displacing 34,000 tonnes full load, was commissioned in 1963 by the French navy and was transferred in 2000 to Brazil. São Paulo was designed as a Catapult Launch But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR)
US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ethan M. Schumacher
WORLDWIDE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
AUSTRALIA