(Historische) vliegdekschepen

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In 1935, Germany's first aircraft carrier was ordered, and she was launched as the Graf Zeppelin in December 1938. She was to provide the commerce-raiding capital ships and cruisers with air cover, and would have increased their potential for destruction considerably. A second ship, provisionally to be called KMS Peter Strasser after World War I head of the naval airship squadrons, was ordered the following year, but she was canceled in 1940 to release shipyard capacity for more urgent work.
Unfortunately the Germans overreached themselves. They had no experience of all the problems which had beset the early American, British and Japanese carriers despite of intense research done by scientists and engineers in smaller scales using modified merchantmen. But worst of all, the head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring refused to allow his "empire" to be encroached upon, having said anything that flied in Germany belonged to him, by permitting the formation of a separate naval air force; even though the short-landing Fi 156, the clipped-winged Junkers Ju 87C and Messerschmitt Me 109T were ready. The result was that the Navy had to try to persuade the Luftwaffe to part with a small number of aircraft, and the wrangling went on until there was no hope of getting a carrier to sea.
Although the Graf Zeppelin had some advanced features she displayed her designers' lack of experience. The heavy surface armament was of little use and accounted for too much weight; the anti-aircraft armament was heavy but badly sited, all on the starboard side; the radius of action was low for a fleet carrier intended to operate with the capital ships on the Atlantic shipping routes.
The wrangles over aircraft were matched by arguments over the equipment of the ship, and construction was suspended in 1940. Work started on a revised design in 1942 but was stopped in 1943. The catapults were fitted partly on the flight deck when construction was ceased but they were never completed and eventually destroyed by a special German crew on 25 April 1945 when the hull was scuttled at Stettin. The ship was reported to be listing to the starboard with heel about 0.5 degree after scuttling. After Germany's surrender the Russians raised it. Loaded with booty and with her hangars full of sections of U-boats and other bulky items, she left Stettin in tow for Leningrad in August 1947. Afterwards, she was renamed by the Russians as "PO-101" (this designation means F(loating) B(ase) No. 101). The ship was further towed to the naval polygon off Swinemünde to be anchored as a training target for Russian dive-bombers and torpedo vessels. The tests began on 16 August 1947, and the Soviets installed aerial bombs on the flight deck, in hangars and even inside the funnel; in addition to bombs dropped from aircraft and two 533-mm torpedoe-hits. In total the carrier withstood 24 hits scored by the Russians before finally sinking to the bottom: two 1000kg, two 500kg, three 250kg and five 100kg aerial bombs; four 180mm shells weighing 92kg; six bombs dropped by fleet dive-bombers; and two 533mm torpedoe-hits.

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Op zaterdag 3 september 2005 18:34 schreef icecreamfarmer_NL het volgende:
als pl z gelukt voltooid was had de britse marine niets meer te zeggen gehad.

de vliegtuigen vooor die graf zeppelin waren trouwens al wel ontwikkeld.

de duitse marine heeft trouwens een site waar ook de scepen van pl z langs komen

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Op zaterdag 3 september 2005 18:38 schreef Kamigot het volgende:
Die bovenste foto is de USS Hornet (en wel de 7de die verantwoordelijk was voor de "counterstrike" op Japan) Je ziet zelfs de amerikaanse vlaggetjes erop zitten

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Op zaterdag 3 september 2005 18:58 schreef JoRuZ het volgende:
en later weer door de britten tot zinken gebracht in de falkland war iirc

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Italian aircraft carriers
Aquila is considered the first aircraft carrier built for the Italian Navy, and the only one before the future Conte di Cavour. However, Regia Marina had already tested the capabilities of ships with improved air capabilities, just after the World War I. In 1923, the auxiliary carrier Giuseppe Miraglia was launched, but the experiment was soon abandoned.

The role of the aircraft carriers was undervaluated by the Regia Marina, as well as by other navies, up until 1940; furthermore, the Regia Marina was to operate in the narrow Mediterranean sea, close to Italian air bases. These considerations led to the position, held by Italian High commands, that there was no need for aircraft carriers, since "Italy itself is an aircraft carrier laid over Mediterranean", as Mussolini once said.

According to the plans developed, the fleet air coverage would have been responsibility directly of the Regia Aeronautica; Regia Marina was to request, case by case, air coverage to Regia Aeronautica, which would fulfill these requests once provided to her own necessities. The end result of this `collaboration' was that several times the fleet fought without air coverage, or that the Italian aircraft arrived late to the battle area, or, even, that Italian aircrafts attacked Italian ships (as during the battle of Calabria).

When the necessity for an air component travelling with the fleet was clear, it was decided to convert two ocean liners: Roma was to be transformed into Aquila, a fleet carrier, while Augustus was to become the escort carrier Sparviero.
Aquila was obtained through the conversion of the kneel of the ocean liner Roma; since a Roma battleship was already under construction, the name of the ship was changed to Aquila. The propulsion section was obtained combining two motor compounds built for two light cruisers of the Capitani Romani cruisers that had been dropped in 1941 (Cornelio Silla and Paolo Emilio). She had a single, continuous flight deck 211.6 x 25.2 m wide at 23 m on the sea, with 2 German-built Demag catapults. The big isle, containing the command tower, was on the right side of the flight deck. Aquila was designed to carry 51 Reggiane Re.2001 fighters: 10 on the flight deck, 26 in the hangar, and 15 hanging from the hangar ceiling (Italian air force had no foldable-wing airplanes).

Aquila was a quick response to the problem Supermarina (Italian Navy High Command) faced during the first years of the war in the Mediterranean: the otherwise powerful Regia Marina had no aircraft carriers, the air coverage of the Regia Aeronautica was useless at best, and the Italian warships faced many battles against the Royal Navy without an air component travelling with them, such in the night of Taranto and in the battle of Cape Matapan. Her role would have been of fleet defense, and, therefore, her hangar would have been filled with fighters or fighter-bombers

Aquila would have been a good aircraft carrier, and a better conversion even than the Japanese Junyo; her major points were her good speed (30 knots), her average attack capability (equivalent to the Japanese Tahio), and the protection of the flight deck. Her major drawback was an operational one: even if capable to finish her before the end of the war, the Regia Marina would have had the problem of training the pilots to fight on an aircraft.

Liner Roma conversion started in Genoa, at Cantieri Ansaldo, at half 1941. After the armistice of 8 September 1943, when the ship was complete at 90% and had already passed the first statical test. Germans took possession of the ship and started demolishing it. The ship was damaged during some allied air attacks on Genoa. Since it was possible that the Germans would have used the big kneel to block the entrance to Genoa port, Aquila was partially scuttled by Italian frogmen. After the war, Aquila was brought to La Spezia, where she was scrapped in 1951-52

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Op maandag 5 september 2005 17:30 schreef sp3c het volgende:
de Garibaldi is een echt vliegdekschip (echt klein ook), geen helikoptercarrier

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Op maandag 5 september 2005 17:52 schreef sp3c het volgende:
lijkt me wel anders zijn die britse schepen ook geen carriers (en die nieuwe die de italianen aan het bouwen zijn ook niet) de Amerikanen spelen gewoon vals dat ze hun amphibische gevechtstuigen niet gewoon vliegdekschip noemen

de dingen zijn zo'n beetje groter dan elke andere carrier ter wereld (op deCharles de Gaulle na dan)

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Op maandag 5 september 2005 23:33 schreef Wombcat het volgende:
Toch grappig dat tot nu toe in dit topic eigenlijk vooral vliegdekschepen genoemd worden die eigenlijk grotendeels onbekend zijn (of niet afgemaakt), terwijl de echt historisch niet genoemd worden.

Dus bij de deze:
Ark Royal
Speelde een cruciale rol in het tot zinken brengen van de Bismarck. Met een paar ouderwetse torpedeobommenwerpers werd de Bismarck vleugellam gemaakt. Enig geluk hadden de Britten hierbij wel, want het roer werd geraakt en kwam vast te zitten. Wat ook een rol speelde was dat de Swordfishes zo langzaam waren, dat ze niet door het volgsysteem van de luchtafweer opgepikt konden worden.