This is about the warships. For the television program, see Supercarrier (TV series).

USS Enterprise, a supercarrier, and the medium-sized carrier Charles de Gaulle (R 91)

The 100,000t USS Nimitz, a supercarrier, and the medium-sized 43,000t carrier HMS Ark Royal, ca. 1978

Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons.^[1] In comparison, a few countries operate medium carriers of around 40,000 tons (such as Charles de Gaulle), whereas light carriers closer to 20,000 (such as HMS Illustrious) are more typical. Supercarriers are the largest warships ever buit— indeed, only some oil tankers are longer and heavier ships of any kind.

[edit] History

The first ship to be described by The New York Times as a supercarrier was HMS Ark Royal in 1938;^[2] with a length of 685 ft and a displacement of 22,000 tons, it was designed to carry 72 aircraft.^[3] In 1943 the superlative was transferred to the 45,000-ton carriers of the Midway class, as a step-up from the 27,000-ton Essex class.^[4] The post-war standard for supercarriers was set by the proposed USS United States and USS Forrestal.^[5]

Forrestal displaced 60,000 tons standard, and 78,000 tons in deep load, when launched,^[6] and is considered the first operational supercarrier in the present-day sense, as dubbed by the American press.^[7] The similarly-sized United States would have been in service earlier, had it been completed; its cancellation triggered the "Revolt of the Admirals".

The 72,000-ton armored Japanese carrier Shinano of the World War II era could be argued to be heavy enough to be considered a supercarrier.^{[citation needed]}

The Soviet Union's 85,000-ton nuclear carrier Ulyanovsk, closely comparable in size to earlier American supercarriers, was 40% complete when it and a follow-on vessel were canceled in 1991, due to post-Cold-War funding cuts.

The United States is no longer alone in building supercarriers, with the United Kingdom procuring two 65,000-ton carriers, and France considering building one vessel, possibly based on the same design. These ships are routinely referred to as supercarriers by legislators^{[8][9][10][11]} and the media.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]} The two Queen Elizabeth class vessels will provide the Royal Navy with capabilities much closer to United States Navy carriers than its current Invincible class vessels. Giving evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee, the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West explained that interoperability with the United States Navy was as much a deciding factor of the size of the carriers as the firepower of the carrier's airwing:

[edit] Classes

• United States class (USA, 1950s): Single-unit laid down, canceled along with four others
• Forrestal class (USA, 1955): Four-unit class, all decommissioned
• Kitty Hawk class (USA, 1961): Four-unit class, all decommissioned.
• Enterprise class (USA, 1961): Six-unit class, five canceled, one still active.
• Project 1153 Orel (USSR, 1970s): Canceled
• Nimitz class (USA, 1975): 10 unit class, all active.
• Ulyanovsk class (USSR, 1990s): Two units canceled after partial completion
• Gerald R. Ford class (USA, 2015): One unit in construction, two pending
• Queen Elizabeth class (UK, 2014): Two ships being built for the Royal Navy
• Future French aircraft carrier (France, projected 2017): One proposed aircraft carrier in the range of 70,000–75,000 tons.

[edit] See also

• U.S. aircraft carrier classes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aircraft carriers

• Haze Gray & Underway, World Aircraft Carrier Lists—comprehensive and detailed listings of all the world's aircraft carriers and seaplane tenders from 1913–2001, with photo gallery.
• Aircraft carriers of the USN