A guide to aircraft carriers, from zeppelin and seaplane carriers to V/STOL and nuclear-powered carriers. It examines the evolution of the aircraft carrier, from the first flights from ships in World War I, developments during the inter-war years and World War II battles such as Pearl Harbor, through to modern carriers used in the Falklands.
This pictorial history of US aircraft carriers illustrates the many classes and types of carriers used by the navy from before WWII to the present day. In 1922 the US Navy commissioned its first small experimental aircraft carrier. This was followed into service by two much larger carriers in 1927 with five more being built— including three large Yorktown class—prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Then, to take the offensive against the Japanese Navy, the American Congress funded by far the largest carrier-building program in history. Since 1975, when the first of a fleet of ten nuclear-powered Nimitz class carriers was commissioned, The United States Navy’s fleet of carriers has optimized its superpower status and worldwide power projection. Yet these are due to be replaced in the decades to come with the even more sophisticated nuclear-powered Gerald R. Ford class. Compiled and written by Michael Green, Aircraft Carriers of the United States Navy contains superb images of all the different types of classes of carriers employed by the US Navy since 1922. These and its highly informative text and captions give the reader a broad overview of this fascinating subject.
Launched in 1938, and measuring over a quarter of a kilometre in length, the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was the largest ship ever built by Nazi Germany. She was to operate the most modern carrier aircraft in the western world, and as such was feared by Great Britain's Royal Navy. Planned as one of four carriers, the premature start to World War II ensured that the others never materialised, leaving the Graf Zeppelin as Germany's sole aircraft carrier. Afloat and 85 per cent complete as the war began, a combination of steel and manpower shortages, conspired to have the necessary work needed to complete her suspended. Moved to the waters of occupied Poland as protection from Allied bomber attacks, she languished there for a number of years before the strategic importance of such a ship was recognised and work on her once again began under direct orders from Adolf Hitler. Considered a greater threat to British sea power than Germany's massive twin battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, many in the Royal Navy had concerns that Britain's powerful but largely aging surface fleet was ill prepared to cope with the German carrier. Surviving an attack by the RAF, she would eventually meet her end after receiving multiple bomb and torpedo hits in an orchestrated attack by Soviet ships and aircraft. Once on the seabed, she lay largely forgotten in post war Europe until the discovery of her wreck in June 2006, lying deep in the Baltic Sea. Drawing on previously unpublished documentation taken from numerous eyewitness accounts, this narrative tracks the incredible tale of Germany's sole aircraft carrier. A leviathan that could have altered the outcome of World War II, perhaps even making Germany the victor long before America had entered into the war.
This book represents an attempt to catalog all the aircraft carriers that have seen service in the world's navies, together with the designs that, while not realized, have had a significant influence on the technical evolution of the type or on the design of subsequent vessels within a particular navy.
A fascinating history of the aircraft carrier's development and a comprehensive visual directory of 200 of the world's aviation ships over nearly a century, newly updated and expanded.
