Light aircraft carrier

World War II American aircraft carriers: Saratoga , Enterprise , Hornet and the light aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto ( Independence- class) beginning in the foreground

HMS Illustrious (right) alongside the much larger USS John C. Stennis .

A NATO exercise in 1991; from the front: the Spanish light aircraft carrier Príncipe de Asturias (R-11), the American amphibious assault ship USS Wasp and the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal and the British aircraft carrier HMS Invincible .

A light aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier that is considerably smaller than a fleet aircraft carrier . There is no precise definition as it differs from country to country. The air combat group of a light aircraft carrier is often only 1/2 to 1/3 the size of a real fleet carrier and the capabilities of the carrier itself in terms of speed, armor, armament, range and ammunition capacities are often comparatively lower. At the same time, the light aircraft carrier is designed for use in the role of a fleet carrier and not like z. B. the escort aircraft carrier tailored to a limited area of responsibility. Light aircraft carriers are often built when circumstances do not allow a real fleet carrier to be built.

Before World War II

In Germany in October 1938 a memorandum of the Kriegsmarine stated: “The vulnerability of the carrier makes it necessary to attach particular importance to a larger number of carriers in order not to have all or a substantial part of the available sea air forces due to the failure of one carrier from the warfare turn off. - It is therefore proposed not to continue the construction of large girders beyond B and to plan the later structures as smaller girder types. ”Thereupon the construction of further large girders of the Graf Zeppelin class was dispensed with and a small aircraft carrier type was built as a successor intended. With the beginning of the Second World War , these small girders were no longer built.

In the early 1930s, Japan tried to build a small aircraft carrier with the Ryūjō . The background to the development was a loophole in the Washington fleet agreement , according to which ships with a tonnage of up to 10,000 tons were not considered aircraft carriers in the sense of the agreement, the number and size of which were limited for each country. However, the ship did not turn out to be a good design, mainly because the requirements of the Japanese Navy could not be met with such a small tonnage. The necessary modifications to fix the biggest problems increased the tonnage to 15,000 tons. Since the loophole in the contract had been closed in the meantime, the Japanese gave up building such small girders. As a makeshift measure in order to be able to quickly increase the number of aircraft carriers in the event of war, however, large ships in the Japanese navy, such as the tanker Zuiho and the seaplane carrier Chitose , were prepared for conversion to small aircraft carriers during construction and in the early 1940s Years later these ships were converted into light carriers.

Second World War

In 1941, Great Britain and the United States began to consider building aircraft carriers that could be manufactured quickly for service in the fleets, as the construction of the large fleet aircraft carriers is tedious, but the war quickly required additional carriers.

In England, this led to the Colossus-class girders , which began construction in 1942. These were based on the fleet carriers of the Illustrious class , but were scaled down and otherwise modified in order to be able to complete the carriers as quickly as possible. For example, the armored flight deck used in the Illustrious class was dispensed with, the propulsion system was only designed for a maximum speed of 25 knots and reduced defensive armament was carried along.

In the USA since 1942 nine under construction light cruiser of the Cleveland class as Light aircraft carrier Independence class built and could go all the 1943 in service to compensate for the lack of media until enough aircraft carrier of the Essex class were put into service . These carriers were not much larger than the largest escort aircraft carriers , but they were characterized by a high speed. Their biggest disadvantage was the relatively short and narrow flight deck, which led to an increased accident rate during take-offs and landings. Since fighters had fewer problems with the shorter deck than torpedo bombers and dive fighter planes , the composition of their air group was changed so that they consisted for the most part (partly entirely) of fighters and the carriers were only used in conjunction with fleet carriers, which in turn were used against some of their fighters exchanged additional bombers.

When it was believed in 1942 that there was an urgent need for aircraft carriers for the German navy, it was decided to convert the not yet completed cruisers Seydlitz and De Grasse into aircraft carriers, even if only relatively few aircraft could be stationed on board these carriers. Due to the discontinuation of the German carrier construction program in 1943, the two ships were not completed as light aircraft carriers.

Despite the small number of airplanes that could be carried and numerous compromises, the United States Navy commissioned a new class of light aircraft carriers in 1944. These units were based on the hull and machinery of the heavy cruisers of the Baltimore class , but were not conversions, but completely redesigned. Because the war ended quickly, this Saipan class only consisted of two units.

After the Second World War

Since the light aircraft carriers were unsuitable for the use of the newly emerging jet aircraft , the light carriers built in World War II were used as aircraft transporters or converted into command or communication ships after the war.

After the war, the British Royal Navy operated with some light aircraft carriers of the Colossus and Majestic classes , some of which were already put into service during World War II. The development of aircraft with capabilities for vertical takeoff and landing and later of ski jump ramps made it possible, however, from the mid-1970s to operate carriers with a shortened flight deck and thus smaller size. The British Invincible-class aircraft carriers and similarly specialized ships like the Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi or the Spanish Príncipe de Asturias followed this pattern .

The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is also classified in some sources as a light aircraft carrier despite its 40,000 ts , since the US Navy’s large carriers today displace 100,000 tons and have twice as many aircraft on board.