Navy Aircraft Carriers

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.

The Imperial Japanese Navy was a pioneer in naval aviation, having commissioned the world's first built-from-the-keel-up carrier, the Hosho. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, it experimented with its carriers, perfecting their design and construction. As a result, by the time Japan entered World War II and attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in 1941, it possessed a fantastically effective naval aviation force. This book covers the design, development and operation of IJN aircraft carriers built prior to and during World War II. Pearl Harbor, Midway and the first carrier vs carrier battle, the battle of the Coral Sea, are all discussed.

This book is a meticulously detailed history of British aircraft-carrying ships from the earliest experimental vessels to the Queen Elizabeth class, currently under construction and the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Individual chapters cover the design and construction of each class, with full technical details, and there are extensive summaries of every ship's career. Apart from the obvious large-deck carriers, the book also includes seaplane carriers, escort carriers and MAC ships, the maintenance ships built on carrier hulls, unbuilt projects, and the modern LPH. It concludes with a look at the future of naval aviation, while numerous appendices summarise related subjects like naval aircraft, recognition markings and the circumstances surrounding the loss of every British carrier. As befits such an important reference work, it is heavily illustrated with a magnificent gallery of photos and plans, including the first publication of original plans in full colour, one on a magnificent gatefold.??Written by the leading historian of British carrier aviation, himself a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot, it displays the authority of a lifetime's research combined with a practical understanding of the issues surrounding the design and operation of aircraft carriers. As such British Aircraft Carriers is certain to become the standard work on the subject.

"U.S. Aircraft Carriers Revised Edition is one of the most comprehensive references available on the entire development of U.S. Aircraft Carriers, starting in 1920, with USS Langley CV-1, continuing to Enterprise, the mass-produced Essex-class, and the large Midway-class of post-World War II. Friedman authoritatively analyzes the design and performance histories of this popular type. The long careers of the Nimitz-class and the new Ford-class are also included. Like Friedman's other design history books, U.S. Aircraft Carriers is based largely on formerly classified internal U.S. Navy records"--

This text is a radically original history of the entire Cold War, making sense of one of the most complex and fascinating epochs of world history.

Step aboard the floating cities that patrol international waters, launch aircraft from their decks, and decide the fate of war. Behold the king of naval warfare: the aircraft carrier. Soon after the Wright Brothers' historic flight in 1903, officials explored the airplane's military applications. The seaplane and the flying boat were conceived to combine air and naval operations, but their potential proved limited. Aircraft that could operate from the deck of a ship, however, offered tremendous possibilities. A few visionaries seized the opportunity, and by mid-century the aircraft carrier eclipsed the battleship as the preeminent weapon of naval warfare. Since the first successful launch of an airplane from the deck of a naval ship in 1910, "fighting flattops" have evolved into immense, nuclear-powered vessels--floating cities capable of launching dozens of aircraft performing a variety of missions, including attack, escort, antisubmarine patrol, and deterrence. This illustrated history covers that evolution, from the first tentative steps taken by naval aviators before World War I to the roles these massive ships have played in the War on Terror. While author Michael Haskew focuses on US Navy carriers, he also provides coverage of parallel and competing carrier developments overseas. In addition to explaining the technologies behind past and present carriers and their aircraft, Haskew reexamines major engagements involving carriers, especially the epic Pacific battles of World War II, as well as personalities who were central to carrier development and deployment and naval doctrine relating to carriers. Filled with carefully curated period photography and modern images showing aircraft carriers throughout the decades, Aircraft Carriers is a celebration of naval warfare's most important innovation.

An account of the role of the aircraft carrier in war which is illustrated by first hand accounts of action during the Second World War and the Gulf Conflict.