When was the first aircraft carrier born in the world?

The American "Birmingham" light cruiser quietly anchored at the anchorage of Hampton on the east coast of the United States, and its bow deck was covered with a wooden flight runway. This 26-meter-long runway extends from the bridge of the cruiser to the front deck. At the beginning of the runway, a single-seat biplane civil aircraft named "Curtis"-"Golden Bird" was parked.

The test should have been carried out when the warship was sailing against the wind, but a strong wind suddenly blew at the scene. In order to complete the test flight, pilot Yili decided to take off forcibly when the warship was moored.

The plane started smoothly, but due to the short taxiing distance, it failed to reach its due takeoff speed. As soon as she left the flight deck, the golden bird flew lower and lower because of the lack of lift, and almost went straight to the sea. At the critical moment, Yili calmly and skillfully manipulated the horizontal rudder at the tail of the plane and finally pulled it up before it was about to fall into the sea. Then, "Golden Bird" flew thousands of meters on the sea, and finally landed safely in a square near the beach, and the crowd watching broke into warm cheers.

This is the first time that humans have taken off from a warship by plane. This feat took a difficult first step for the development of aircraft carriers and naval aviation.

Two months later, that is, 19 1 1 year 1 month 18, an aircraft landing test was conducted in San Francisco on the west coast of the United States. This time, the test pilot was still Yili, and the warship was replaced by the heavy cruiser "Pennsylvania".

On this day, the weather was bad and the wind and waves were very strong. The captain's temporary decision to let the stern face the wind brought greater difficulties and risks to Yili. But in the face of the test, Yili once again showed his true colors as a hero. He maneuvered the plane to quickly lower its altitude, and then made a decisive dive on the runway of the ship. The plane rushed to the runway, and Yili immediately pulled up the nose and turned off the engine of the plane. Due to the fast landing speed, the plane only caught the last 1 1 of the 22 blocking cables, but it still stopped at a distance of about 9 meters from the runway terminal.

These two tests are milestones in the history of aircraft carrier development, which proves that aircraft can take off and land from warships and carry out combat missions, which lays the foundation for the survival of aircraft carrier as a new type of warship. In the near future, as a new generation of maritime overlord who dominates the sea and air battlefield, the aircraft carrier will officially enter the historical stage.

The history of aircraft carrier development-the birth of the first aircraft carrier in history

1965438+in March 2007, the British navy decided to convert a large cruiser "fury" under construction into an aircraft carrier. Fury's front main gun was dismantled, a 69.5-meter-long flight deck was installed in the first half of the hull, and a wooden flight runway was laid. The modified Rage is called "aircraft carrier", with standard displacement of 1.9 1.53 tons and speed of 3 1.5 knots. * * * Carrying 10 aircraft: 6 puppy fighters and 4 short water planes 1.84. However, due to the blocking of the towering towers and chimneys on the ship, the plane after taking off could not return to the mother ship.

In order to break the forbidden zone of plane landing, British Navy Major Deng Ning made a brave attempt. 1965438+On August 2, 2007, Deng Ning landed on the front deck of the sailing vessel Rage with superb driving skills, which was the first time in the world to land the plane on a sailing vessel. A few days later, when Deng Ning tried to repeat this thrilling action again, the plane turned out of the warship and fell into the sea. Unfortunately, Deng Ning died in the line of duty.

The lesson of blood made the British understand that the skills of pilots alone could not make up for the fundamental defects in equipment. In order to realize the safe take-off and landing of conventional aircraft on warships, the structure of the mother ship must be completely changed. From the end of 19 17 to 19 18, Fury was greatly modified. This time, the rear main gun and mast of the warship were dismantled, and an 86.6-long flight deck was installed at the stern of the hull. In this way, with the superstructure in the middle of the hull as the boundary, the front deck is used for aircraft takeoff and the rear deck is used for aircraft landing, so that aircraft can take off and land at the same time without interference.

Despite this, Fury still does not have an all-inclusive flight deck. Although the plane can barely land, it is still very difficult to land because of the bumps caused by the bridge, mast and chimney in the middle of the hull. Therefore, at this time, "Fury" is still a very imperfect aircraft carrier.

The persistent British are determined to build a real aircraft carrier. Starting from 19 17, the British navy converted the passenger ship "Kajilin" under construction into the world's first aircraft carrier with full flight deck-"Hundred Eyes Giant". The original chimney on the ship was demolished, and the designer designed a horizontal smoke exhaust pipeline from below the main deck to the stern of the ship, which eliminated the biggest obstacle to the take-off and landing of the aircraft. The flight runway runs through from front to back, forming an all-pass flight deck, which greatly facilitates the take-off and landing operations of carrier-based aircraft. The aircraft carrier of this structure is called "plain type". The "Hundred Eyes Giant" has begun to take shape as a modern aircraft carrier.

1965438+In May 2008, the renovation project of Cyclops was completed. The ship has a standard displacement of 14450 tons, a maximum speed of 20 knots and can carry 20 aircraft. In September of the same year, the ship was incorporated into the operational sequence of the Royal Navy. However, as the First World War was drawing to a close at this time, the "Hundred-eyed Giant" who hastily served had not had time to be baptized by the gunfire of the war, and the war was over. The "Hundred-eyed Giant" can only stay in the fleet of the Royal Navy silently, and can't show its talents in the real war. However, as the world's first aircraft carrier with all-pass flight deck, the pioneer position of "Hundred Eyes Giant" in the history of aircraft carrier development is undeniable.

19 17, Britain newly designed and built the aircraft carrier Competitive God according to the aircraft carrier standard, and used the island superstructure on the starboard side of the flight deck for the first time. The first aircraft carrier designed as an aircraft carrier from the beginning was Japan's Fengxiang aircraft carrier. 1922 12 entered the service in February. The aircraft carrier with all-pass flight deck and superstructure island structure has become a model of aircraft carriers in various countries.

The most important maritime weapon in this century is the aircraft carrier. As the largest warship in the world, as the backbone of navies and an important symbol of maritime strength, aircraft carriers are world-famous for their strong air and sea control ability, endurance and brilliant achievements. However, the appearance of the aircraft carrier has experienced some unusual twists and turns, leaving an amazing story.

1909, Kreman Ade, a famous French inventor, first described the fascinating dream of combining airplanes and warships to the world. In the book "Military Flight" published that year, he put forward the basic concept of aircraft carrier and the preliminary idea of building aircraft carrier. And used the concept of "aircraft carrier" for the first time.

But at that time, the French military was developing seaplanes with great enthusiasm, and it seemed that it didn't have much thought to care about this "whimsical" aircraft carrier. Ade's creativity has received a warm response in the British Isles, bringing hope for the British to realize their dream of an aircraft carrier.

19 12 years, the British navy carried out a large-scale modification of an old cruiser "Competitive God". Engineers and technicians dismantled some guns and equipment on the warship and laid a platform at the bow of the warship for parking seaplanes; In addition, a large derrick was installed on the ship to carry the aircraft. In this way, "Competitive God" became the first seaplane carrier in the world. But it is not the kind of aircraft carrier described by Adebayor, nor is it the prototype of an aircraft carrier in the modern sense, because the aircraft carried on the ship cannot take off and land directly on the ship, and all aircraft need to take off and land on the water, and then rise from the water to the warship.

19 14, three Sopwise 807 water detectives successfully took off from the Royal Ark in battle cruiser. Soon, the British Navy will convert this ship into a seaplane carrier. At the end of next year, this seaplane carrier will join the active service as the first official seaplane carrier of the British Navy. Later, it was renamed "Pegasus". According to some historical records, it was the first aircraft carrier in the world. But in fact, Pegasus can only be called the first seaplane carrier that can take off on board, because the plane still can't land on board.

Shortly after the advent of the seaplane carrier, it emerged in the naval battle. 19 14, 14 On February 25th, a British task force consisting of three seaplane carriers, namely Ngadan, Empress and Riviera, was ordered to attack the German airship base in Cox Harbor. Because of the dense fog, the pilots failed to find the target, so they attacked the fleet moored in the port instead. However, due to the small power of the bomb carried by the seaplane, it failed to cause harm to the fleet and had to return in vain. Although the attack did not achieve the expected goal, it showed the world a brand-new method and bright prospect of attacking enemy ships from the air by the special mixed formation with mother ships as the mainstay. As Major Cecil Laiske Ranch, who was in charge of making this operational plan, later pointed out: "1The incident on February 25th is clear evidence of the change of naval operational principles. It is conceivable that if our plane carries torpedoes instead of small bombs, then German warships may be sunk. "

Soon after, seaplane carriers began to show their talents in the naval battle in Daniil. 1965438+On August 2, 2005, British Navy pilot Emmons piloted a short 184 seaplane that took off from the seaplane carrier, and successfully sank a 5000-ton Turkish transport ship with a torpedo weighing 367 kg. This is the first major achievement after the birth of seaplane.

19 16, British aircraft carrier designers summarized the experience and lessons since seaplanes entered the war, put forward the problem of redeveloping aircraft carriers that can take off and land on warships, and suggested using land-based aircraft directly on aircraft carriers.

Since then, British designers began to make major new modifications to the structure of the aircraft carrier, which led to the birth of the world's first full-deck aircraft carrier "Hundred Eyes Giant". Originally named Cargill, The Hundred Eyes Giant is a passenger ship built by British shipbuilders for Italy. Soon after its construction, it was bought by the British Navy and prepared to be converted into an aircraft carrier. The reconstruction began at 19 17 and was not completed until September of the following year. In the process of reconstruction, the biggest problem encountered is the "unsteady eddy current" problem. Just when the British shipbuilding experts were at their wits' end, a naval officer came up with a brilliant idea. This method is to merge the bridge, mast and chimney into the superstructure, and then move the position of the whole building from the midline of the aircraft deck to the starboard side, so that the take-off deck and landing deck can be integrated, and the influence of "unsteady vortex" will no longer exist. The naval officer called his brilliant idea "island" design.

The carrier aircraft of "Hundred Eyes Giant" adopts a cuckoo torpedo attack aircraft that originally took off and landed on land. It has folding wings, can carry a 457 mm torpedo weighing 450 kilograms, and has strong offensive ability. Due to the slow construction speed of this kind of aircraft, the first batch of aircraft ready to board the ship failed to catch up with World War I.

Today's aircraft carrier overlord, the United States, has been making unremitting efforts. American pilot Eugene Iliu took off from Birmingham light cruiser on June 4th+091010, and landed on Pennsylvania heavy cruiser two months later. 1922 in March, the Americans converted the coal carrier Jupiter into the aircraft carrier Langley.

However, the real aircraft carrier in the world was preempted by the Japanese navy. Japan built Fengxiang in February 1922 and 65438+. Because it has not been modified, it is considered to be the first specially designed and built aircraft carrier in the world. This period can be said to be the initial stage of the aircraft carrier.

At the beginning of 1922, the Washington Naval Disarmament Conference signed a contract. The agreement not only allocates the gross tonnage of aircraft carriers in various countries, but also formally defines aircraft carriers for the first time. At that time, warships with standard displacement of 654.38+0.0000 tons to 27.000 tons were defined as aircraft carriers. According to the special provisions of the treaty, the United States transformed two battleships under construction into Lexington and Saratoga aircraft carriers; Japan was converted into Chicheng and Kaga, Britain was converted into Brave and Glory, and Fury was renovated. The French rebuilt the bay. The 1920s was the stage of rebuilding aircraft carriers.

In 1930s, the United States built five * * * ships, including Raiders, and started the development of Essex class. 1935 In March, Britain began to build the Royal Ark (II) with excellent performance, and then began to build its improved glory class. The Japanese are sharpening their swords. They have successively built Jiaolong, Black Dragon and Longfei, and started to build Xianghe and Ruihe. This period is the development stage of the aircraft carrier.

In World War II, the aircraft carrier showed its talents and replaced the battleship in one fell swoop, establishing its dominance in the fleet.

Modern aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft have become high-tech intensive military systems engineering. Aircraft carrier has become a symbol of a country's military, industrial, scientific and technological level and comprehensive national strength.

At present, there are 26 active aircraft carriers in the world, and 4 are under construction. 3 helicopter carriers; Amphibious assault ship 15, 2 under construction. Since the advent of aircraft carriers, eight countries in the world have built aircraft carriers, namely Britain, Japan, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia (the former Soviet Union); There are 14 countries, plus Thailand under construction, the total will reach 15. According to statistics, the total number of various aircraft carriers built and put into service exceeds 300; Among them, fleet carrier accounts for 45%, escort carrier accounts for 42%, seaplane carrier accounts for 6%, helicopter carrier accounts for 2%, and amphibious assault ship accounts for 5%. In the future, the aircraft carrier will have stronger and more comprehensive anti-attack capabilities such as air defense, air defense, anti-submarine, anti-ship and anti-guidance, and the active attack capability for air and sea control will be more comprehensive.

On February 4th, 1958, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN65 "Enterprise" started construction at newport news Shipyard, and was launched on September 24th.19165438+1October 25th officially entered service. During the service period of nearly 40 years, the carrier aircraft on the Enterprise has been changed many times. Now it is the carrier-based aircraft wing number 1 1, which adopts the "standard" configuration.

During its long life at sea, Enterprise changed its nuclear fuel four times: after sailing for 207,000 nautical miles, the first change was in1964165438+10 month; It sailed for another 300,000 nautical miles and was replaced for the second time in June 1969 10; After sailing 500,000 nautical miles, 1979 was replaced for the third time; 199 1 year, the nuclear fuel was replaced for the fourth time when the ship implemented the "Extended Service Reconstruction Plan".

Enterprise performance parameters:

The total length is 342.9 meters

The font width is 40.5m.

The draft is11.9m.

The flight deck is 33 1.6m long.

The flight deck is 76.8 meters wide.

The crew is 32 15, including officers 17 1 person.

There are 2480 aviation personnel, including 358 officers.

There are 70 flagship personnel, including 25 officers.

The full-load displacement is 93,970 tons.

This ship carries 8500 tons of aviation fuel.

Speed 33 knots

Power 8 Westing-house)A2W PWR

4 Westinghouse steam turbines, 209,000 kilowatts; ;

4 emergency diesel engines, 8000 kW, 4 shafts.

Weapons 3 8-pack "Sea Sparrow" ship-to-air missile launchers;

3 MK 15 dense array; 4 seats MK36-S-RBOC

Ejector c 13- 1 4 seat

Aircraft are generally equipped with 20 F- 14 tomcats and 36 F/A- 18 bumblebees.

4 EA-6B Rangers and 4 E-2C Hawkeyes.

6 S-3B Vikings, 2 ES-3A and 4 SH-60F.

Two HH-60H seahawk helicopters.