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

USS Enterprise, a supercarrier, and the conventionally-sized aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle

USS Harry S. Truman

A supercarrier is a warship belonging to the largest (unofficial) class of aircraft carrier, and generally has a displacement greater than 75,000 tons deep load.^{[citation needed]} Few countries operate carriers with displacements larger than 40,000 tons (such as Charles de Gaulle). Those closer to 20,000 (such as HMS Illustrious) are more typical. Supercarriers are the largest warships - some oil tankers are longer and heavier.

History

The first ship to be described by the New York Times as a supercarrier was HMS Ark Royal in 1938; with a length of 685ft and a displacement of 22,000 tons, she was designed to carry 72 aircraft.^[1] 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.^[2] The post-war standard for supercarriers was set by the proposed USS United States and USS Forrestal.^[3]

Forrestal displaced 60,000 tons standard, and 78,000 tons in deep load, when launched,^[4] and is considered the first operational supercarrier in the present-day sense, as dubbed by the American press.^[5] The similarly-sized United States would have been in service earlier, had it been completed; its cancellation triggered the "Revolt of the Admirals". United States would have had a nuclear strategic bombing role, rather than the multi-purpose role that all subsequent supercarriers have had, carrying tactical fighters only for defense. The 72,000-ton armored Japanese carrier Shinano of the World War II era was almost heavy enough to be considered a supercarrier, but lacked several defining features,^{[citation needed]} such as catapults, arrestor wires, and angled flight decks, and also did not possess the sheer size of modern supercarriers.

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 cancelled in 1991, due to post-Cold-War funding cuts.

The United States Navy is no longer alone in building large aircraft carriers, with Britain building two 64,000-ton carriers and France considering building one vessel based on the same design. These ships are routinely referred to by legislators as supercarriers.^[6][7][8][9] The two Queen Elizabeth class vessels will provide the United Kingdom with capabilities much closer to United States Navy carriers than their 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:

Classes

• United States (USA, 1950s): Single-unit laid down, cancelled along with four others
• Forrestal class (USA, 1955): Four-unit class, all decommissioned
• Kitty Hawk class (USA, 1961): Four-unit class, one active
• Enterprise (USA, 1961): Single-unit class, still active
• Project 1153 Orel (USSR, 1970s): Cancelled
• Nimitz class (USA, 1975): Final unit (of ten) estimated to be completed in early 2009, all units still active
• Ulyanovsk (USSR, 1990s): Two units cancelled after partial completion
• Gerald R. Ford class (USA, 2013): One unit in construction, two pending
• Queen Elizabeth class (UK, 2014): Two ships being built for the Royal Navy

See also

• Aircraft carrier
• U.S. aircraft carrier classes

References

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