The concept of the aircraft carrier began shortly after World War I, a combination of the rising popularity of aircraft and their military potential and the historical influence of naval power. Developing into what we would recognize as an aircraft carrier today in the years leading up to World War II, they have become an integral part of the worlds greatest militaries up to this day (Grant). Allowing the quick and long range deployment of aircraft, carriers have forever changed how we fight, both at the time of their inception and now. It is because of aircraft carriers that air strikes were as effective as they were in World War II, and they are just as influential to the deployment of military aircraft today. Aircraft carriers were indispensable in the development of military aviation, and have remained a key factor to this day.
The history of the aircraft carrier as it is known today begins with the purchase of a Chilean ship by the British Royal Navy for conversion to such a ship that could carry and act as a runway for planes while at sea (Mason). Named the HMS Eagle, it bears some resemblance to the aircraft carriers of today, with a flight deck positioned next to the bridge. However, it saw little use due to a combination of the planes themselves being under the command of the RAF and a lack of funding for naval aviation. Around the same time, the US began developing its own aircraft carriers, beginning with the USS Langley, a small, slow ship converted to a carrier, followed shortly after by the first two ships to be built as carriers, the USS Lexington and the USS Saratoga. With each having the ability to carry three times as many aircraft as the HMS Eagle, bringing about “the capital ship of the future” that Admiral William Sims had predicted in 1921 (Grant).
The US began naval exercises with their carriers in 1929, and it was soon apparent how large of an impact that carriers would have on warfare in the future; in a simulated attack on Pearl Harbor in 1932, the aircraft launched from the Lexington and Saratoga “achieved total surprise”, demonstrating the potential for massive destruction if used effectively (Grant). This potential was fulfilled the night of November 11th, 1940, when the HMS Illustrious launched an assault on the Italian fleet in Taranto. The use of the aircraft carrier allowed the 21 Fairey Swordfish to take the fleet by surprise, destroying three of six warships at the cost of only two aircraft. A true demonstration of the effectiveness of the aircraft carrier, the attack effectively crippled the Italian navy for the remainder of the war (Alexander).
Foreshadowed by the training exercise nine years prior, the Japanese 1941 assault on Pearl Harbor further emphasized the importance that carriers would have in military aviation and its ability to cause significant damage in a short period of time. Months later, the United States retaliation in the Doolittle Raid showed that bombers could also be launched from a carrier (Grant). Although the raid itself did not cause significant damage, it showed that it was possible to launch a bombing raid from a carrier and effectively surprised the Japanese.
Aircraft carriers did not only just provide the opportunity for deployment of aircraft against ground targets, but also changed the way that ship to ship combat was carried out. In 1942, for example, the Battle of the Coral Sea saw the first naval battle where no ships of the the opponent were seen from the ships themselves, with the attacking being carried out by the aircraft onboard carriers.
Development of aircraft carriers continued throughout the postwar-era. The USS Enterprise, for example, was the first aircraft carrier to run off nuclear power as opposed to the boilers that had been used previously. This allowed the carriers to have an effectively infinite range, and nuclear power has continued to be used to this day. Following the Enterprise-class carriers, the Nimitz-class carriers that are still predominantly in use today were developed. They were built to have the same capacity in terms of number of aircraft, however this required them to be much larger due to the increasing weight of the aircraft that they needed to carry.
Although they had proven themselves to be effective in wartime, aircraft carriers faced many difficulties, some of which persist to this day. It took many years after their conception to become a significant military asset, starting off as slow, converted ships with a small carrying capacity. These problems were soon solved, as dedicated carriers, built to be both larger and faster were produced both prior to and during World War II (Grant). Working with such a limited space, takeoff and landing are a concern, as there are no backup options for landing or alternatives if the necessary speed for takeoff is not reached. This has been solved with the introduction of catapults and ramps on the end of runways to achieve takeoff speeds, and hooks to catch and slow the planes down enough so that it is possible to land and come to a stop. Another issue plaguing aircraft carriers is the massive costs associated not only with producing them, but also with operating and maintaining them. This has been a problem since the HMS Eagle, which struggled to find funding for the maintenance and operation of its aircraft prior to World War II, and continues to be a problem today; very few countries have any aircraft carriers, and fewer still have more than one (Pike). The US, making up over a third of the world’s combined military budgets, has the most aircraft carriers by a large margin, in ownership of over half of those that are currently in operation. Finally, carriers have significantly less defensive capabilities compared to most other battleships, and as such they typically require a large number of ships to protect them (Pike).
The importance of aircraft carriers has only grown since World War II. Then, they served as a way to deploy aircraft in ways that were previously impossible. Today, for the US, with 19 carriers around the world, they serve as a way to deploy aircraft to nearly anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice (Pike). Additionally, the rise of naval aviation brought about by the aircraft carrier has led to many more developments in aviation, helping to motivate the development of aircraft that can take off and land vertically, such as helicopters and VTOL jets such as the Harrier jump jet, drastically reducing the space necessary for takeoff and landing. This has allowed for the development and deployment of many light carriers and multi-purpose ships.
Additionally, the future of aircraft carriers attempts to address those problems that do remain. The new Gerald R. Ford-class carriers incorporate a significant amount of automation in an attempt to reduce the operating and maintenance costs. However, the initial cost for these carriers is much higher, and as such, there is currently some debate as to how many should be built. Additionally, the new carriers will be the first to incorporate a magnetic launch system, along with an improved power generation and distribution system to account for the increased power demand for modern technologies, and increased integration with unmanned aerial vehicles. The United States also has the planned the production of 11 more America-class light carriers to supplement its fleet.