Aircraft carrier

A aircraft carrier is a Warship making it possible to transport and implement fighters. It is in fact a floating Air base and thus mobile, which makes it possible to move a true offensive and autonomous deterrent force at any place of the sphere without any diplomatic obstacle. Sailing in the International water, there remains indeed independent of all territorial Souveraineté.

The aircraft carriers are the giants of the military navy. They are true truffées floating cities of electronics, embarking several tens of planes and Hélicoptère S of combat of the naval Aéronautique. Their maintenance is increasingly complex and expensive.

Description

An aircraft carrier is consisted of the following elements:

• a Flight deck allowing the takeoff and the landing of the planes which it carries,
• a small island, placed on a side of the bridge and being useful inter alia Control tower,
• of the hoists making it possible to transfer the aircraft between bridge and the hangars,
• under the bridge, one finds the hangars of storage and of maintenance of the planes, the reserves of fuel and ammunition, the residences of the crews, and groups it propulsion,
• on the bridge are the catapults making it possible to give to the planes an initial acceleration to allow them to take off as well as the bits of stop for the braking with the Landing.

An aircraft carrier requires the support of many other buildings, not only to ensure its defense (in particular Patrouilleur S, Croiseur S, anti-aircraft frigates, anti-submarine frigates and nuclear submarine of attack (SNA)), but also to ensure its supply. Thus, each aircraft carrier is systematically accompanied by a whole escort of other buildings with which it composes a group of air and sea combat.

This requirement in protection does that the use of an aircraft carrier was more and more disputed at one time, this one practically consuming the totality of the means of a modern navy for its only protection, but multiple military operations which it makes it possible to achieve always make of this building an irreplaceable asset.

Because of their vocation, the aircraft carriers are in general the largest ships of the various marines. In order to increase to them autonomy and their independence with respect to a fuelling, the aircraft carriers can be equipped with a nuclear system of Propulsion. This type of propulsion conceals however various problems of which the cost, the danger of the Radiation S, possible escapes, vulnerability of the boiler rooms, and maintenance. Moreover, it does not remove the need to supply the ship while carburizing for the planes, with the result that a traditional propulsion can be to him preferred

Aircraft carriers in the world

In 2007, the the United States have a big number of aircraft carrier: not less than eleven units, of which ten are with nuclear Propulsion, this figure must go back to 12 in 2008. Three other countries maintain only one aircraft carrier: the France, the Brésil (with which it France sold the Foch), and the Russian Marine, which has the Admiral Kouznetsov, called in the Russian terminology Tyazhelyy Aviaseshchiy Kreyser (cruiser heavy aircraft carrier) but the Russian navy plans the construction of a second aircraft carrier after 2015.

Other countries, such as the India, the Spain, the Italy, the Thailand and the the United Kingdom, have Porte-aéronefs. One can consider large the American buildings of unloading as of the aircraft carriers because they embark planes with vertical takeoff and landing (v.t.o.l).

The India has just launched at the beginning of 2005, a program of national aircraft carrier, Vikrant must be delivered to the Indian navy in 2012. It will have been preceded by ex-carry-planes Soviet, the admiral Gorschkov, in 2007 to replace Viraat, an old British building. The Japan and the South Korea also have in project of the aircraft carriers.

One lends to the Popular republic of China the intention to implement also aircraft carriers, after with the purchase several aircraft carriers of the ex- Soviet Marine officially with the fine civil ones. According to an official statement of the popular Armed with release, the Chinese navy could acquire its first aircraft carrier about 2015.

Classification of the aircraft carriers (Code NATO)

• CV : Heavy aircraft carrier ( WORN John F. Kennedy )

• CVL: Light aircraft carrier ('' Clémenceau '')
• CVN: Nuclear aircraft carrier ( WORN Enterprise (CVN-65) , Charles de Gaulle )
• CVS: Aircraft carrier with anti-submarine priority vocation, Aircraft carrier ( Invincible HMS )
• CVSG: Aircraft carrier with anti-submarine priority vocation but having anti-ship missiles (applies only to the class Russian Gorshkov )

American aircraft carriers

See also: Aircraft carrier of US Navy

Since the years 1970, the American marine has a big number of giant aircraft carriers to replace the many aircraft carriers designed in years 1940/1950: not less than twelve units, of which ten are with nuclear Propulsion in 2006. This makes it possible the the United States to ensure their supremacy on the seas and oceans of the sphere by deploying two all over the world to three aircraft carriers permanently, always surrounded by their group of air and sea combat.

Historically, the aircraft carriers were of paramount importance in the American victory in the Campagnes of the Pacific during the Second world war. During these battles, the United States lost six aircraft carriers, which is little compared to the Japanese losses. The aircraft carriers were used at the time of all the operations which followed, in particular during the Guerre of Vietnam.

French aircraft carriers

Since 1997, the France does not have any more but one aircraft carrier against two since 1947: it is about the Charles de Gaulle , a building with propulsion Nucléaire of 40  000 tons gives the responsability some (to be compared with the 100  000 tons of the American aircraft carriers). It will be joined, in theory, in 2015 by a new aircraft carrier with traditional propulsion, partly designed in collaboration with the the United Kingdom, the current name of the program is Pa 2 called also CVF FR.

France is pionnière in the Naval Aviation: its first aircraft carriers were in fact of the door Hydravion S, like the building " Foudre" at the time of the First World War but it had genuine operational aircraft carrier only after the Second world war. In the history of the French navy, there were 8 aircraft carriers:

• Béarn, 1928-1939, old battleship transformed into 1914,25 000 tons and 30 planes;

• Dixmude, 1947-1949, old HMS Bitter of the Royal Navy, 13.000 tons, 16 planes and lent by the American Navy;
• Fayette, 1951-1962, old WORN Langley , 11.000 tons, 26 planes and lent by the American Navy;
• Wood-Belleau, 1953-1959, old WORN Belleau Wood , 11.000 tons, 26 planes and lent by the American Navy;
• Arromanches 1946-1978, old HMS Colossus of the Royal Navy, 14.000 tons, 26 planes and yielded to France;
• Clémenceau, 1961-1997, built with Brest starting from 1955,32 000 tons, 36 planes and first aircraft carrier (with the direction where it commonly is heard) built in France;
• Foch, 1963-2000, built with Saint-Nazaire starting from 1957,32 000 tons, 36 planes, sold with the Brazil in 2000 and renamed São Paulo;
• Charles-of-Gaulle, built with Brest as from 1987 and brought into service in 2001,40 000 tons, 40 (45?) planes.

British aircraft carriers

Wednesday, July 25, 2007, British the Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced his decision to make build two aircraft carriers, to replace the three aircraft carriers currently in activity within the Royal Navy. These buildings should be completed between 2014 and 2016 and will bear the name of HMS Queen Elisabeth and HMS Prince off Wales . Based with Portsmouth, these ships will be the largest buildings ever built by the British navy.

The characteristics of the ships in project are the following ones:

• Length: 280 Mr.
• Displacement: 65  000 tons with full load.
• Aircraft: 40 hunters multi-roles F-35 (JSF) and helicopters EH-101 Merlin.
• Speed: 25 nodes.
• Autonomy: 10  000 nautical miles with 15 nodes
• Propulsion: Gas turbine.
• Crew: 1600 people (by including the personnel of the air group).
• Lifespan operational: 50 years.

(source: Short Navy N ⁰ 65 of July 27th, 2007)

History

The first takeoff of a plane at sea took place on an experimental basis the November 14th 1910, on board the American Croiseur Birmingham equipped for the occasion with a platform with 24,60 X 7 meters. It is the American pilot Eugene Ely which carried out the exploit on board a Biplan Curtiss 1911 model D. on January 18th, 1911, he landed with the same plane on the back beach of the Cuirassé Pennsylvania . Charles Samson was the first to take off of a ship moving the May 2nd 1912.

The first ship specifically intended to carry aircraft was the carry-seaplanes French Foudre, a cruiser launched into 1895 which was modified for its new role between 1911 and 1912.

The first attack of an aircraft carrier against a terrestrial target took place the July 19th 1918 where seven Sopwith Camel sprang HMS Furious to attack a German factory of Zeppelin.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor and the destruction or the immobilization of a good part of the fleet of the Pacific forced the the United States to implement a new strategy of combat strongly based on the use of the aircraft carriers. The campaigns of the Pacific then showed very quickly that the aircraft carrier outclassed all the other forces of surface, which consequently made of it the spearhead of the US Navy which had to 95 ships of this type in 1945.

The Japanese imperial Marine had in the years 1930 and at the beginning of this conflict the most fleet and most powerful of these buildings allowing the Empire of Japan to carry out true a Blitzkrieg on sea of Pearl Harbor to Ceylon but could not compete with the industrial power of its adversary. The losses could not be filled and since its capitulation, Japan does not have any more the right to have aircraft carriers.

On its side, the the United Kingdom implemented several aircraft carriers as of the end of the year 1930. One will quote in particular HMS Ark Royal , HMS Eagle , HMS Illustrious and HMS Victorious . For budgetary reasons, it withdrew its last buildings of this type in 1978, to replace them by Porte-aéronefs.

After the second world war, the United States and the United Kingdom, within the framework of the reduction of their fleets, offered or sold aircraft carriers built during this conflict with several nations such as the Argentine, the Australia, the Brésil, the Canada, the Spain, the France, the India and the Netherlands.