An aircraft carrier is a warship
that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and
facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically,
it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air
power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft
operations. Aircraft carriers are expensive to build and are critical assets.
Aircraft carriers have evolved from converted cruisers to nuclear-powered
warships that carry numerous fighter planes, strike aircraft, helicopters, and
other types of aircraft.
There is no single definition of an "aircraft carrier", and modern navies use several variants of the type. These variants are sometimes categorized as sub-types of aircraft carriers, and sometimes as distinct types of naval aviation-capable ships. Aircraft carriers may be classified according to the type of aircraft they carry and their operational assignments. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, former head of the Royal Navy, has said that "To put it simply, countries that aspire to strategic international influence have aircraft carriers".
Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters. As of 6 December 2015, there are thirty-seven active aircraft carriers in the world within twelve navies. The United States Navy has 10 large nuclear-powered carriers (known as supercarriers, carrying up to 90 aircraft each), the largest carriers in the world; the total deckspace is over twice that of all other nations' combined. As well as the supercarrier fleet, the US Navy has nine amphibious assault ships used primarily for helicopters (sometimes called helicopter carriers); these can also carry up to 25 fighter jets, and in some cases, are as large as some other nations' fixed-wing carriers.
Most navies operate only one or two aircraft carriers, if any. TheUSA
A total of 20 fleet carriers are in active service with ten navies. Additionally, the navies ofAustralia , Brazil ,
China , France , India ,
Italy , Japan , Russia ,
South Korea , Spain , Thailand
and the United States
Among helicopter-only types:
There is no single definition of an "aircraft carrier", and modern navies use several variants of the type. These variants are sometimes categorized as sub-types of aircraft carriers, and sometimes as distinct types of naval aviation-capable ships. Aircraft carriers may be classified according to the type of aircraft they carry and their operational assignments. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, former head of the Royal Navy, has said that "To put it simply, countries that aspire to strategic international influence have aircraft carriers".
Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters. As of 6 December 2015, there are thirty-seven active aircraft carriers in the world within twelve navies. The United States Navy has 10 large nuclear-powered carriers (known as supercarriers, carrying up to 90 aircraft each), the largest carriers in the world; the total deckspace is over twice that of all other nations' combined. As well as the supercarrier fleet, the US Navy has nine amphibious assault ships used primarily for helicopters (sometimes called helicopter carriers); these can also carry up to 25 fighter jets, and in some cases, are as large as some other nations' fixed-wing carriers.
Aircraft Carriers in Service
Most navies operate only one or two aircraft carriers, if any. The
A total of 20 fleet carriers are in active service with ten navies. Additionally, the navies of
- CATOBAR [catapult assisted take-off but
arrested recovery] types are operated by
- STOBAR [short take off but assisted recovery]
type are operated by
- STOVL [short take-off, vertical landing]
types are operated by
Among helicopter-only types:
- ASW [anti-submarine warfare] ships are
operated by
- An offshore helicopter support ship is
operated by
- Amphibious assault ships are operated by
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