Chapter 3 - A Changing Role

(Part 4)

The Modern Carrier

As the last decades of the 20th Century approached, only the United States had a substantial carrier force. This was composed of some of the conventionally-powered Forrestal and Kitty Hawk-class ships and the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise and Nimitz-class super carriers. These carriers are all extremely large, in order to accommodate the large, modern jet attack and fighter aircraft. At the same time, the need developed for carriers that could support amphibious troop landings. This led to the development of the amphibious assault ships (commonly called "helicopter carriers") of the Iwo Jima, Tarawa, and Wasp-classes. These carriers are considerably smaller than the conventional carriers and support various types of U.S. Marine attack and troop- carrying helicopters and AV-8 Harrier V/STOL aircraft.

Ironically, during the 1970's, the Royal Navy, which had pioneered the use of carriers and many later technological advancements in carrier design, abandoned its large fleet carriers. The few carriers in existence at that time were used as amphibious assault ships, equipped with helicopters and Harriers. The use of the Harriers led to another British innovation. The HMS Hermes and the Royal Navy's newest assault carriers, the three ships of the Invincible-class, had the front of their take-off decks slanted upward to form a "ski jump" ramp. This allowed the Harriers to take-off in shorter distances with heavier armament loads.

The British government was ready, around 1980, to also abandon its Invincible-class carriers. However, on April 2, 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a small British dependency in the South Atlantic also claimed by Argentina as the Malvinas. The Royal Navy dispatched a naval and marine assault force, including the V/STOL carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible. The 22 Harriers carried aboard the two carriers flew a total of 1,600 sorties and destroyed 20 Argentinean aircraft, against losses of 10 Harriers and 2 crew. However, the ships of the British task force fared much worse. Argentinean aircraft, flying from bases in Argentina, sank or totally disabled seven British ships. About 75 percent of the surface ships in the British task force were at least damaged by Argentinean aircraft. The British ships were especially vulnerable because the small carriers were not capable of carrying early warning aircraft, which needed catapults and landing arrestor wires. After a bitter struggle, which also saw the sinking of the Argentinean cruiser General Belgrano by a British submarine, Argentina withdrew from the Falklands on June 14th. As a result of this experience, the British government decided to maintain the three carriers of the Invincible-class with their complements of 9 Harriers and 12 Sea King helicopters each.

Without the air support provided by the HMS Hermes . . .

. . . and HMS Invincible, Great Britain surely would have lost control of the Falkland Islands to Argentina

In 1985 Spain and Italy both commissioned new assault carriers with ski jump ramps for the deployment of Harriers. France also had new carriers under construction for the late 1990's which will have ski jump ramps. India acquired the HMS Hermes in 1987, renamed Viraat, and added a ski jump ramp to its older carrier, the Vikrant.

One country which did not pursue naval aviation until the late-1960s was the Soviet Union. In 1967 it launched the first of two Moskva-class cruisers, which had aft decks for the launch of helicopters. In 1978, the Soviet Union commissioned the Kiev, the first of four V/STOL type carriers. These carriers are about 1/2 the tonnage of the large American carriers and have angled decks for helicopters and Yak 36 V/STOL aircraft. In 1991, the Soviet Union also commissioned the Admiral Kuznetsov (formerly the Tbilisi). The Admiral Kuznetsov has a ski jump ramp in the tradition of the newest European carriers, and it was planned that the two ships of this class would deploy naval versions of the Sukoi Su-27 and MiG-29 supersonic fighters. The Soviet Union also had at least one large nuclear powered carrier under construction in 1991. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991, the future of the aircraft carriers and other ships of the former Soviet Navy was put in doubt. Many of the former Soviet carriers have either been retired or placed into inactive status, and the ships under construction may never be completed.

Russia's first two fixed-wing carrier classes were the Kiev . . .

. . . and the Kusnetsov

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003