History of Aircraft Carriers feat. INS Viraat

Shankar

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7 min readSep 27, 2020

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Writer & Geek - 096: History of Aircraft Carriers feat. INS Viraat

INS Viraat was India's flagship aircraft carrier before INS Vikramaditya was commissioned in 2013. It was completed and…

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INS Viraat was India’s flagship aircraft carrier before INS Vikramaditya was commissioned in 2013. It was completed and commissioned in 1959 by the British Royal Navy (as HMS Hermes) and was the last of Centaur-class aircraft carriers. It served the Royal Navy for 25 years before being sold to the Indian Navy in 1987. The carrier was decommissioned in 2017 and is currently on its way to be scrapped at the port of Alang, Gujarat.

LARGEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER

USS Gerald R Ford

Length: 337 metres

Displacement: 100,000 tons

Speed: In excess of 30 knots (56 km/h)

Range: Unlimited (20–25 years)

Cost: $12.8 billion + $4.7 billion R&D

SMALLEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER

HTMS Chakri Naruebet

Length: 182.65 metres

Displacement: 11,486 tons

Speed: 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h)

Range: 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 kilometres)

Cost: $285 million in 1993

HISTORY OF AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

In 1806, the Royal Navy used a ship to launch kites with propaganda leaflets. These leaflets with propaganda against Napoleon in French were dropped in France.

BALLON CARRIERS

On 12 July 1849, Austrian ship SMS Vulcano tried to drop incendiary balloons in Venice. But the wind blew most of the balloon incendiary back to the city.
Gas-filled balloons were used during the American Civil war for the reconnaissance of Confederate positions.
Ballon carriers were used during World War I by the navies of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Sweden mostly as observation posts. Their ships were mostly decommissioned or turned into seaplane carriers.

SEAPLANE CARRIERS

In 1910, seaplanes were invented. These led to the development of ships which could carry these seaplanes. It was the first form of aircraft carriers.
The first seaplane carrier, Foudre, was developed by the French in December 1911. A 10-metre flat deck was developed in 1913 for launching the seaplanes.
HMS Hermes was temporarily converted to a seaplane carrier by the Royal Navy in April-May 1913, making it the first British seaplane carrier.
The first seaplane carrier of the US was USS Mississippi, which was converted in December 1913.
The first naval launched air raids that happened in 1914 during World War I. The Imperial Japanese Navy seaplane Wakamiya lowered four Maurice Farman seaplanes using a crane, which went on to bombard German forces.
The naval raid on the Zeppelin base at Cuxhaven on 25 December 1914 demonstrated the ability of seaborne air raids to the Europeans.
Many ships used catapults to launch seaplanes for reconnaissance and later retrieve it using cranes. This method was popular even during World War II.

FLAT-DECK CARRIERS

The first successful launch of a plane from a stationary ship took place in November 1910. The pilot was Eugene Ely. A structure was fixed over the armoured cruiser USS Birmingham.
The first landing took place on 18 January 1911 on the structure fixed on USS Pennsylvania. It used an improvised braking system of sandbags and ropes.
On 9 May 1912, Commander Charles Rumney Samson became the first pilot to take off from a moving plane. He took off from the battleship HMS Hibernia.

WORLD WAR I

HMS Ark Royal was the first aircraft carrier. It was launched on 5 September 1914. It was part of the Gallipoli campaign. It was a merchant ship modified to be a carrier.
The first ship to be designed as an aircraft carrier was HMS Furious in 1916. At first, it had separate flight decks but was rebuilt in 1925 with a full-length flight deck. It took part in combat during World War II.
Squadron Commander EH Dunning landed his plane on a moving HMS Furious on 2 August 1917, becoming the first person to land on a moving ship. But he tragically died five days later while trying to land another plane on the same carrier.
The first-ever carrier-launched airstrike took place on 19 July 1918 during the Tondern Raid. Seven planes were launched from HMS Furious with two 23-kilogram bombs to attack the German Zeppelin base in Tondern. As the carrier had no recovery system, two pilots ditched their planes and the rest landed in neutral Denmark.

IN-BETWEEN YEARS

The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 was put forth to limit the arms race and it came up with strict restrictions while constructing cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers. The maximum tonnage limit was set at 27000 tons.
HMS Argus became the first full-length flat-deck carrier in September 1918.
The US got their first full-length flat-deck carrier in 1920 when they converted USS Langley. But they didn’t enter service until November 1927 when the Lexington-class carrier, USS Saratoga was commissioned. In December, their lead ship USS Lexington was commissioned.
Though the first purpose-built aircraft carrier, HMS Hermes was laid in 1918, it was a Japanese aircraft carrier, Hosho which was first commissioned in 1922. HMS Hermes followed in 1924.
HMS Hermes was the first aircraft carrier to have the two main features of aircraft carriers — full-length flight deck and starboard-side control tower island. It also had a hurricane bow.
Its sister ship, HMS Eagle, which was commissioned two days later also had these two features. Unlike HMS Hermes, HMS Eagle was a converted ship.

INNOVATIONS BEFORE AND DURING WORLD WAR II

Torpedo bombers, dive bombers (both also used for reconnaissance), and fighters for bomber escort and fleet defence were the aircraft mostly used in aircraft carriers before the war.
Since the commission of HMS Illustrious in 1940, armoured flight decks have been developed.
Light aircraft carriers were developed during this time to serve as fast carriers (INS Viraat was one of this kind).
Merchant aircraft carriers were made with a flat deck that can accommodate six aircraft carriers.
The introduction of escort carriers saw the aircraft carriers have 20–30 aircraft on board with proper maintenance facilities. It was mostly for anti-submarine duties.
Catapult aircraft merchantmen were used before the creation of both the above. It had the capability to launch one aircraft but didn’t have the facility for it to land back. The pilot had to ditch the aircraft in the sea if it was not within the range of land.

WORLD WAR II

The Royal Navy, Japan, and the United States had seven, ten and seven aircraft carriers at its disposal during the start of World War II.
Aircraft carriers played a big role in World War II. It worked as a base in the sea to attack the enemies. But the vulnerability of it against battlecruisers and U-boats were evident from the sinking of HMS Courageous by U-boats in 1939 and HMS Glorious by German battlecruisers in 1940.
The first taste of victory through airstrike launched from aircraft carriers took place in November 1940 when HMS Illustrious incapacitated several battleships of the Italian force.
Germans and Italians started construction or conversion of many carriers, but none was launched except the almost finished Graf Zeppelin.
The German battleship Bismark (Tirpitz) was slowed down in 1941 with the help of HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious.
The Japanese developed aerial torpedoes to be used against aircraft carriers in 1939.
The Battle of Coral Sea of 1942 was the first aircraft carrier battle. None of the carriers came face to face in this battle.
The Battle of Midway was decisive in turning the tide towards the allies in the Pacific theatre. It resulted in the US sinking four of Japanese aircraft carriers. It was with the help of cryptographers that the Americans were able to know when and where the Japanese attack would happen.
The Battle of the Philippine Sea of 1944 was the largest aircraft carrier battle in World War II. It involved 24 aircraft carriers and deployed around 1,350 carrier-based aircraft.
Shinano, the Japanese aircraft carrier was the largest one to be built during World War II. But it was sunk by USS Archerfish, a Submarine before it was fully operational in 1944. It was 265.8 metres long and weighed 65,800 tons.
USS Enterprise was one of the most popular US aircraft carriers of World War II.

POST-WAR DEVELOPMENTS

Jet-powered aircraft landing on carriers were introduced on 3 December 1945.
Angled decks were introduced with the commissioning of HMS Triumph on 6 May 1946. It was invented by Rear Admiral (former Captain) Dennis Cambell.
Ski-jumps were also introduced after World War II.
The idea of flexible decks was thrown around but was never put in place.
Steam catapults were introduced, which replaced the less powerful hydraulic catapults.

POST-WORLD WAR II CONFLICTS

Aircraft carriers played an important part in the Korean war
Colonial empires used carriers in battles with their colonies during post-colonial conflicts.
During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, INS Vikrant was deployed in the stations of Andaman against the forces of Pakistan in the east (present-day Bangladesh).
The US aircraft carriers were also used during the Vietnam War.
HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible played an important part in the Falklands War.
Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq also saw the US aircraft carriers serving as a base for aircraft.

LIST OF INDIA’S AIRCRAFT CARRIERS:

ACTIVE:

INS Vikramaditya: 45,400 tons, Modified Kiev class carrier (ex-Admiral Gorshkov), in service with India since 2013.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

INS Vikrant: 44,000-ton carrier. It was built at Cochin Shipyard and has been launched; expected to enter service in 2021.

PLANNED:

INS Vishal: 65,000-ton carrier. Yet to start, but planned to enter service in 2025. It will be conventionally powered

RETIRED:

INS Vikrant: 19,500 tons, Majestic-class carrier, (ex-HMS Hercules), in service from 1961 to 1997, used as a museum until 2012, scrapped 2014–2015.

INS Viraat: 28,700 tons, Centaur class carrier (ex-HMS Hermes) in service from 1987 to 2016. Decommissioned on 6 March 2017.

Length: 226.5 metres
Displacement: 23,900 tons
Speed: In excess of 28 knots (52 km/h)
Range: 10,500 kilometres
Cost: $65 million (1987)

Find the cryptography episode mentioned here: 050: Cryptography Ft. Rupen Paul

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