The world's newest aircraft carriers

USS Gerald R. Ford underway on its own power for the first time in Newport News, Virginia, April 8, 2017.
US Department of Defense



The earliest aircraft carriers in history looked nothing like they do today.

They were known as "seaplane tenders" because they could only carry and support seaplanes.

These ships, like France's Foudre and Britain's HMS Ark Royal didn't even have large flat decks, because seaplanes could only take off from the surface of the ocean after being placed on the water.

Over a century later, almost everything has changed. Affectionately nicknamed "flattops," aircraft carriers have become one of the most important weapons in the arsenals of navies around the world.

There are currently 20 aircraft carriers in service with nine different countries around the world today. Five of those countries are currently building new aircraft carriers, which are expected to take to the seas in the next few decades.

The US, UK, China, India and Italy are all either in the process of building new flattops, or are in the final stages of planning. Aircraft carriers that support fixed-wing, smaller helicopter carriers are being built, and may be upgraded to carry aircraft like the F-35b, which has vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities.

See the newest aircraft carriers here:

USS Gerald R. Ford

An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 approaches the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 7 for an arrested landing, July 28, 2017.
US Nay
The USS Gerald R. Ford was laid down in November 2009, completed in October 2013, and commissioned in July 2017. It is the lead ship of its class, and is planned to be the first of 10 new aircraft carriers.

The ship has a number of new technologies, like the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, which is intended to replace the steam-powered launch system on current aircraft carriers.

With a length of 1,106 feet, Ford is expected to carry over 75 individual aircraft, with most of them planned to be F-35 variants. However, due to technical and delivery issues, Ford will likely not see F-35s on her deck until late 2018 at the earliest.

Ford recently tested launching F/A-18F Super Hornets off of its deck. It is expected to be fully operational and integrated and into the US Navy by 2022.

USS John F. Kennedy

A crane moves the lower stern into place on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) at Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, June 22, 2017.
US Navy
USS John F. Kennedy is the second Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier to be built for the US Navy. The ship was reportedly 50% structurally complete as of June 2017.

Kennedy is currently under construction at a Huntington Ingalls Industries facility in Newport News, Virginia. The carrier was originally supposed to be completed in 2018, but it ran into a number of problems during construction.

Most of the problems stem from cost issues relating to the Gerald R. Ford. Ford had a cost increase of 22%, topping $12.8 billion in 2008.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended delaying the commissioning of the ship in 2013. It is now expected to be commissioned in 2020.

USS Enterprise

Artist's impression of the future USS Enterprise
Wikimedia commons
USS Enterprise is the third Gerald R. Ford-class carrier currently being built. The first cut of steel was cut in a ceremony last August by the ship's sponsors, Olympians Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles.

Enterprise will the be ninth vessel in the US Navy to have the name. The previous ship was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ever built, and was decommissioned last February.

Like the Ford and the Kennedy, Enterprise expected to carry over 75 aircraft.

HMS Queen Elizabeth

The 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, sails past Morocco coast as it arrives at the British territory of Gibraltar, February 9, 2018.
Associated Press
Commissioned in 2017, HMS Queen Elizabeth is the newest aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, and currently Britain's only active one as well.

Queen Elizabeth is unique from other carriers in that she has two control towers, one for sea operations, and one for air operations.

With a deck that is 932 feet long, Queen Elizabeth is intended to have up to 40 aircraft, with the F-35 being the main fixed-wing jet for the ship. Other aircraft planned to be included are Chinook helicopters, Apache AH MK1 gunships, AW101 Merlin transport helicopters, and AW159 Wildcat anti-surface warfare helicopters.

Queen Elizabeth docked for the first time at an overseas port on February 2018, when it visitedGibraltar.

HMS Prince of Wales

Sailors march past Britain's second new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales during its official naming ceremony at Rosyth naval dockyards, in Scotland, September 8, 2017.
Sailors march past Britain's second new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales during its official naming ceremony at Rosyth naval dockyards, in Scotland, September 8, 2017.
HMS Prince of Wales is Britain's second Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier. It is currently under construction at the Rosyth Dockyard in Scotland, and will be Britain's second aircraft carrier when complete.

Prince of Wales was officially named at a ceremony last September, which was attended by the current Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Rothesay.

Last December, Prince of Wales un-docked and was afloat for the first time. The carrier was moved to her fitting-out berth, where she will have all of her equipment and controls added on.

The carrier is structurally complete and is expected to start sea trials in 2019, and be officially commissioned in 2020.

.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-newest-aircraft-carriers-2018-3

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I don't know whose but they look like they are on their way to kick some ass. Terrible... These are floating air bases carrying dozens of killing machines for god's sake. I heard the British ones will be patrolling the Baltic Sea to check everything is in order.

 

Aircraft carriers were the determining factor in leveraging the overall U. S. victory in the Pacific theater in World War II. A lot has changed in the past 72 years, however....

Today? Unfortunately, they are little more than large, expensive targets which can be destroyed with the weapons technologies employed by most of today's more advanced nations. In today's world, they are "fixed fortifications"... and you may remember what General George Patton said about them -- "Fixed fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity."

 

Seriously? Like trying to make Patton's quote as if it was said for aircraft carriers? hahah...

What "advanced nations" are you referring to?

I'm sure the meaning of ""STRIKE GROUP"" is worth to think before jumping to conclusions that the carriers are patrolling without no protection...

 

They are a total waste of resources in the modern era. We don't need to get into any more wars, we need to be fixing our economic and social problems. The issues we face can't be addressed by huge investments in naval warships.

Iraq did what exactly for US security (well I guess you can argue we helped out the Iraqi people, we did nothing for ourselves except spend a fortune).

 

I woner if aircraft carriers can survive in the modern battlefield at sea

Anti ship missiles are becoming almost unstoppable

 

Anti ship missiles are a factor, but it wont be until the next significant war between powers that we will know how effective and practical they really are in large numbers. Tanks have shown to be still effective, but show more vulnerability with the new anti tank missiles used by proxy forces recently. Also, as of now ASBM's are now on the table, their combat effectiveness and accuracy unknown.

Anti ship missiles show good promise in the little they have been used, and by less advanced players at that.

Hit and damaged by Hezbollah.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Hanit

Hit and disabled by the Houthi's, although they have not had success hitting a US ships. But you would not expect the Houthi rebels to hit anything, even with Iranian assistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSV-2_Swift

 

During WW ll the U.S. Navy had 6.768 ships with 99 flatops (aircraft carriers)
Source -> https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/us-ship-force-levels.html

When I served in the "Old Corps" the U.S.Navy had just over 900 ships with 23 aircraft carrier and 9 LPH's mostly Essex class aircraft carriers that were converted to being amphibious assault ships armed with the most deadly weapons in the world, 2,000 bad ass U.S. Marines armed with rifles.

We also had one of the most feared weapons in the world, an Iowa class battleship, the USS New Jersey.

 

The floating city of metal known as a "Carrier" is a floating death-trap should any of the major powers decide to destroy them.

It is not some big secret that Anti Ship Missile technology has advanced at a rate much faster than the ability to defend.

When the wall fell, Russia realized that it could not compete with the US.. plane for plane, ship for ship. They then put their resources into niche technologies such as missile technology. You can build a whole lot of anti ship missiles at 1 million/each for the cost of a 15 billion dollar aircraft carrier (never mind the cost of the carrier group and the costs of operation and maintenance) 15000 - for those who are not great at math.

In the 1990's Russia introduced its Sunburn anti ship missile. This supersonic cruise missile flies just above the ocean surface and is not detected until it breaks the horizon at which point the ship has roughly 45-50 seconds to react. At the time we had no defense.

Since that time the improvements on this technology have been many. The newer versions are faster (reducing the reaction time to 25-30 second), stealthy, and smart making evasive maneuvers prior to impact.

In addition, Russia has collaborated with other nations such as India (brahmos) and China in further advancing this technology.

During this time the ability to defend has not advanced that much. A ship may luck out and be able to destroy a single missile ... a salvo or numerous salvo's ? Not a chance.

 

You're probably right if the enemy is a first world power. They are still a powerful platform with which to exert power over second and third rate powers.

 

Not sure that slow moving home-made Hezbollah rockets and the Houthi missiles are good examples of modern missile technology see post 8.

 

Yes I agree

Carriers are still a valuable weapons short of all out war

And maybe even then depending on how much our militsry is not telling us about ship defenses

 

Potentially even during all out war, if missile systems can be targeted and destroyed by our own.

The first strike advantage seems to be growing.

 

They are dated, but not home made to a degree; im just impressed with the technology if those faction can use them effectively. I believe that Hez used Chinese missiles, and the Houthi used some Iranian models. Definitely not the best and latest of tech, and I agree that the carrier and other surface vessels might be in trouble from some of the newer Chinese and Russian types. ASBM's are also scary, but have not been used to hit a vessel in combat yet.

 

The only way you can sink an Iowa class battleship is by breaking its keel. -> https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/war...a-class-survivability-t9494.html#.VC2bb0pX-uY

Can you sink a Nimitz class aircraft carrier ?

American historians give credit to U.S. Navy aircraft carriers for winning the war in the Pacific during WW ll.

Japanese historians give U.S. Navy submarines and U.S. Marines credit for winning the was in the Pacific.
(The majority of the ships sank during WW ll were sank by submarines not by bombs from aircraft)

British historians credit U.S. Navy battle damage control procedures for winning the war in the Pacific.

Can a Nimitz class carrier be sank ?

A Nimitz class carrier is so freaking huge consisting of numerous water tight compartments and every American sailor except for female sailors are firemen first.

But a super carrier can be knocked out of business unable to conduct air operations and has to limp back to a shipyard for repairs.

You are correct about Russian anti ship missiles being launched in salvos.

It was scuttlebutt that Russian navy doctrine was that its ships and submarines would all launch 1/2 of their anti ship missiles at the same time. Loitering while all missiles caught up and then skinning just above the water towards their targets all coming on target at the same time.

When Obama was drawing red lines in the sand in Syria, Putin showed his hand when Russian warships launched salvos of missiles killing Obama's "JV Team." It raised eyebrows in the U.S. Navy.

CSG or CBG have three layers of defense dealing with anti ship missiles.

It's estimated that 10% of the Russian anti ship missiles will hit their targets.

 

A strike group, other than the carrier, has submarines, destroyers, frigates, supply ship and a logistic ship. All have pretty effective radars and automated defense systems built for engaging sea-skimming and high diving "anti-ship missiles"... No need to mention "supersonic SeaRAM Anti-ship Missile Defense Systems" or newly developed laser systems.
I'm sorry but there's no such country in the world that has in possession of weapon systems the US unable to defend its military from.

 

Yeah try telling that Putin sometime too, will you...

 

No they are not...

 

A hypersonic first strike is likely to be devastating. I imagine that your country will have developed such a system within a decade, with some help.

 

I hope you are right

 

Turkey doesn't need it. We got Russia with us. Thanks lord...

 

Not sure where you get the 10% figure from but it is highly suspect. Regardless, when you can build 15000 anti ship missiles for the cost of one carrier (never mind the cost of operation and the rest of the carrier group" 10% is 1500 hits.

Some of our Admirals and Naval experts do not share your hubris.

https://warisboring.com/the-u-s-navy-s-big-mistake-building-tons-of-supercarriers/

 

Hubris is not an argument for much.

 

Of course you do. Why limit yourselves to depending on foreign powers to protect you from one another?

 

Considering how old this is and the fact it is allowed on YouTube, it is HIGHLY likely the U.S military has many things we wont know of until used.

Hell we didn't know about stealth until people started seein UFO's and they had to fess up.

 

Why sink it?
A small cruise missile impacting the deck and destroying the aircraft launching system would render it useless, actually even a small drone loaded with C4 could do enough damage to stop it launching or landing any aircraft.