A rating from the American military experts.
Military experts in the United States made a rating of the best carriers in the history of creation, construction and combat use of ships of this class.
Bold American
Happened to be at the top of the American enterprise (“Bold”) — aircraft carrier type “Yorktown” — operated from 1936 to 1947. This is, without exaggeration, the most famous US Navy ship of war in the Pacific. The displacement of the aircraft carrier was 25 500 tons, a speed of 33 knots, crew — 2219 people. The air group consisted of 27 fighters, 15 torpedo bombers and 37 dive bombers.
From the first days of the war the enterprise took an active part in the hostilities. Dec 10, 1941 her aircraft sank the Japanese submarine I-70. Then came the attacks on Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands (1 February 1942), Wake island (February 24, 1942) Marcus island (March 4, 1942).
In the battle of midway planes “enterprise” sunk on 4 June 1942, three of the best Japanese aircraft carrier “Akagi”, “Kaga” and “Hiryu”. In August they participated in covering the landing on Guadalcanal and in the battle of the Eastern Solomons. During the last battle the ship suffered serious damage as a result of falling three 250-pound bombs, but remained in the ranks.
On 26 October 1942, the enterprise participated in the battle of the Islands Santa Cruz. His group has damaged the Japanese aircraft carrier dzuyho, however, the enterprise received three hits 250-pound bombs. Following this, the enterprise was attacked by 25 Japanese bombers, but did not achieve a single hit. Despite the heavy damage and losses in personnel, the carrier has retained the speed and handling and arrived for emergency repairs at Noumea.
The enterprise took part in the recent naval battle off the island of Guadalcanal on 13-14 November 1942. The aircraft carrier in this battle, sank the Japanese battleship “Hiei”, the cruiser “Kinugasa” and damaged several other ships.
In November — December 1943, the enterprise has covered an amphibious operation in the Gilbert Islands, in January 1944 — in the Marshall Islands and the Eastern Carolinas, April 21 attacked the enemy objects in New Guinea. Provided the landing to the Mariana Islands in June 1944, in September and October, attacked the Japanese bases in the Western Carolinas, Okinawa, Luzon and Formosa. Took part in the famous battle of Leyte Gulf, during which, on 24 October, the air group the enterprise participated in the sinking of one of the largest battleships in the world — Japanese “Musashi”.
On 11 April 1945 during the battle for Okinawa in “enterprise” the plane crashed pilot the bomber. The ship went to Ulithi island for three weeks of repairs. 14 may 1945 the enterprise was again severely damaged by hits of two kamikazes. One of them crashed into the water near the starboard side of the ship, the second in the stern. Exploded in the water charge of the first aircraft has damaged the power plant of an aircraft carrier, and part of the electrical equipment. The ship’s hull was punctured in several places. The aircraft carrier was out of order and stood for repair before the end of the war.
The enterprise was involved in almost all naval battles in the Pacific. According to official data, he destroyed or participated in the sinking of the 71 Japanese ship and its air group downed 911 enemy planes. In the late 1950s, American veterans of world war II attempted to buy out the aircraft carrier at the fleet and organize it a memorial to the sailors and pilots who died in the war, but the collected funds were insufficient, and August 1, 1958 the ship was sold for scrapping.
A nice Englishman
In second place ranking experts from The National Interest has set the aircraft carrier of the Navy of great Britain “Illustris” (“Illustrious”). He became one of the most famous British aircraft carriers of world war II. Displacement of the ship was 28 620 tons, speed — 30 knots crew — 1229-1997.
An outstanding episode in the battle history “Illustrius” was the attack of the Italian Navy base in Taranto on 12 November 1940. Carrier-based aircraft torpedo “Swordfish” because of its air group attacked the Italian battleships. All three battleships sank at their anchorages. And although the two of them, “Littorio” and “Duilio” were raised and repaired, they went down by 5 and 6 months respectively. The battleship “Cavour” never went to sea.
On 10 January 1941, escorting another convoy, the aircraft carrier was attacked by 45 German dive bombers Ju-87 and received heavy damage from direct hits of seven 500-pound and 250-pound bombs. Three bombs struck the armored flight deck, but three others, trapped in the aft Elevator, and another horizontal pierced the armor and caused much damage to the ship. The fire lasted for almost a day. Close the gap, another bomb brought down the electric steering the car, and the ship was out of control for three hours. Because of the admission of water into the casing, the carrier received the roll of 5 degrees to starboard, but managed 18-node swing to reach La Valletta in Malta. 16 January, during emergency repairs “Illustrious” received three more bomb hits damaged the flight deck. Three days later, close the gap sabotaged the power plant of the left side.
In March 1942 the ship went through the Suez canal and Durban for overhaul in the United States. In the course of work have been lengthened flight deck, and strengthened anti-aircraft armament. In April 1942, “Illustrious” moved into the Indian ocean, where in may and June supported the landing at Diego Suarez on the island of Madagascar. During the operation his aircraft sank two French submarines, the sloop “D ‘ Entrecasteaux” and auxiliary cruiser Bougainville. In January 1943 he returned to England for repair and modernization. Again was strengthened anti-aircraft armament, equipped with new radar and two arresting gear. In August 1943 he moved to the Mediterranean sea. Covered the landing in Salerno. In October he returned and stood on the next upgrade. The length of the flight deck of the ship was brought to 225,7 meters.
Since the beginning of 1944, “Illustrious” were part of the British Eastern fleet. During the shelling of a refinery in Sungi-Gerong 29 January 1945, the ship received damage from accidental hit of two shells from the battleship “king George V”. In February — March, underwent renovations in Sydney and was included in the British Pacific fleet. 6 April 1945, a plane kamikaze with a 500-kilogram bomb exploded near the side of the aircraft carrier, severely damaging the casing and set the casing. Vehicle speed dropped to 19 knots, he had to leave the area of hostilities. 15 APR 1945 “Illustrious” went to England and more in the fighting did not participate. In 1957 it was dismantled for scrap.
Japanese “Crane”
On the third place of the rating was “Zuikaku” (“Lucky crane”) is a Japanese aircraft carrier during the Second world war. This ship took an active part in almost all major battles in the Pacific against the U.S. Navy, including the attack on pearl Harbor, the RAID into the Indian ocean, battle of the coral sea, battle of the Eastern Solomons, battle of the Islands Santa Cruz, the battle of Mariana Islands battle of Leyte Gulf. The number of battles and operations “Zuikaku” second only to the American aircraft carrier “enterprise”.
The carriers of the “Shokaku” was the first aircraft carriers built without taking into account the restrictions of the Washington and London naval conferences. The project was developed on the basis of the carrier “Hiryu”, but the removal of restrictions on the tonnage has greatly improved the project. The extra displacement was used to create armor, increase the height due to the additional deck, the installation of more powerful mechanisms, strengthening of torpedo protection, increased air group and anti-aircraft weapons. The result is a very good ship, which according to its main characteristics remained the best type among Japanese carriers. Displacement standard — 29 800 tons, speed of 34 knots, the crew — 1690.
During the battle off the Marianas in 1944, the air group consisted of 75 aircraft (27 fighters, 27 dive-bombers, 18 torpedo bombers and 3 reconnaissance). Defeat and huge losses in this battle led to the fact that in his last fight at Leyte Gulf, the aircraft carrier “Zuikaku” went with non-standard and small group. Under a hail of bombs and torpedoes, the American deck aviation aircraft carrier “Zuikaku” was sunk 25 October 1944 in the battle of Cape Engano during the Philippine operations. The commander was killed along with the aircraft carrier, saluting at the last moment the Japanese flag.
Survivor English features
On the fourth place — “midway”, the first heavy American aircraft carrier, lead ship of the series. The speed of the ship was 33 knots, the crew — about 4,100 people. Aviation group — more than 100 aircraft.
“Midway” was designed in 1941-1942 under the influence of the concept of the British carriers. Recalling the history of aircraft carriers, the American experts did not mention that the first classic flush-deck aircraft carrier became the English “Argus”. The British invented a lot of different kinds of innovations that defined the look of modern aircraft carriers. In particular, they are still in 1952, was invented the angled flight deck. Its creation was due to the advent of jet aircraft with high landing speeds. It was found experimentally that the optimum arrangement of the landing deck at an angle of 10-11 degrees to the diametrical plane of the ship. In addition, the British invented the optical landing system (so-called system of “Mitbol”), which has been in use since 1954.
New American vehicle for its size and combat capabilities on the order of magnitude superior to its predecessors.
It was assumed that the “midway” will be different from other heavy aircraft carriers as much as a battleship is different from the battleship of coastal defense.
In the years 1943-1947 were built three aircraft carrier of this type, the construction of another three was cancelled before it started. All carriers of the “midway” was put into operation after the end of world war II and did not have time to participate in the fighting.
Nevertheless, they formed the basis of aircraft carrier of the US Navy in the early postwar period and was used extensively in several armed conflicts. Despite the arrival into service of more modern carriers of the “Forrestal”, two of the carriers of the “midway”, has repeatedly modernized, and remained in service for nearly half a century. The last one was withdrawn from service in 1992 shortly after the Gulf war, having to take part in it.
“Midway” repeatedly and radically modernized. 1 September 1955, the aircraft carrier was disabled and the following 25 months were the first upgrades. Its purpose was to increase the service life of the vehicle and the empowerment of an aircraft carrier. The design of the “midway” was made a lot of changes. A landing strip was deployed at 8 degrees relative to the longitudinal axis of the ship. This allowed both the takeoff and landing of aircraft. Instead of two old steam catapults were installed three more powerful. As a result of all these changes, the displacement of the ship increased to 62 000 tonnes. September 30, 1957, the aircraft carrier was again put into operation.
February 15, 1966, began for the second carrier and the largest in the history of shipbuilding complex modernization. The number of steam catapults were reduced to two. They were replaced by the more powerful. The area of the flight deck was doubled. January 31, 1970, the ship returned to service. Length of an aircraft carrier rose to 303,8 meters, width — 75, 5 meters, and the displacement increased to 64,200 tonnes. All these measures allowed the ship to remain in service until the 1990-ies.
“Roosevelt”
Fifth place went to “Theodore Roosevelt” American nuclear strike aircraft carrier, the fourth ship of the type “Nimitz”, which was introduced in combat the US Navy on 25 October 1986.
The cost of construction of the ship reached $4.5 billion ship Displacement was 91 400 tons, length — 333 m, speed — 30 knots.
Due to the large volume of upgrades and changes between the first three class aircraft carriers “Nimitz” and “Theodore Roosevelt”, as well as subsequent ships in the series, some experts believe that “Theodore Roosevelt” belongs to a specific class of aircraft carriers. But officially such division between the American “Nimitz” does not exist.
“Theodore Roosevelt” took an active part in the operation “desert Storm” in 1991. On Board the aircraft carrier was committed 4200 sorties, used more than 2,000 tons of aviation ordnance. That’s more than any other US aircraft carrier in the campaign. In 1999 “Theodore Roosevelt” participated in the NATO war against Yugoslavia. In 2007 the newly passed overhaul and modernization.
