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Design considerations. Aircraft carrier design involved trade-offs between offensive striking power and defensive survivability. The more carrier tonnage allocated to guns and armor for protection, the less was available for carrying and launching aircraft, the warship's principal weapon.
Only about 25 carrier-launched aircraft models were used extensively for combat operations. Of these, nine were introduced during the war years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought United States into the war, four by the United States Navy (USN) and three by the Royal Navy (RN) and two by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).
9 lis 2015 · Nov 9, 2015. This is fairly naval aviation specific, but I'm curious if what requirements existed in terms of the following for operation off of the various carrier classes used by the US, UK, and Japan during the war. Maximum allowable aircraft dimensions. Maximum takeoff & landing weights.
Aircraft carriers serve as a seagoing airbases, equipped with a flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying and recovering aircraft. Typically, they are the capital ships of a fleet, as they project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for operational support.
The need for such carriers during the early days of the AAF’s expansion was met by the purchase of a wide variety of light commercial airplanes, which soon presented peculiar and serious problems for the maintenance personnel.
Carrier aircraft denied shipping lanes to enemies, sank raiders and submarines, escorted conveys, and delivered aircraft to other carriers and to land bases. Carriers were also used for training pilots and, at the end of the war, helped repatriate troops to their homes.
Sailors watch a Hellcat landing aboard the Lexington, 1944. The LSO can be seen at the far right corner of the flight deck. During World War Two aircraft were able to take off unassisted from carrier decks. Landing on a short flight deck however was a different matter.
