(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] The idea of uniting
the aircraft and the ship
is a simple one.
But this simple idea
has been the subject of
great technical innovation
has led to decisive military success
and has found itself the focus
of increasing controversy.
The first ships to carry aircraft
appeared during the First World War.
To begin with they were little
more than floating hangars.
They had to find calm water
and then stop to launch and recover
their fragile reconnaissance seaplanes.
But Britain needed fighters
to combat German Zeppelins
shadowing the fleet.
Over the guns of a battleship
a platform would be built
with the turret turned into a wind
a two-seater Sopwith could be launched.
(dramatic music)
120 ships like HMS Renown
carried a Sopwith Pup on board.
HMS Furious commissioned in June 1917
had a special deck fitted for takeoff
and carried several planes.
(dramatic music)
But getting an aircraft airborne
was only half the story.
(dramatic music)
Once they had completed their mission
planes could not return to HMS Renown
but simply had to be ditched in the water.
(dramatic music)
Pilots would climb unto
the tail of their plane
to await rescue.
Understandably, the idea of trying to land
back on Renown's deck
appealed to the pilots
but this required a strange operation.
Crew had to run on to the flight deck
and pull the plane down by
ropes attached to its wings
just as the pilot cuts his engine.
This led to Renown being
fitted with a special
afterdeck for landings.
But the improvement was not well received.
The deck being after the funnel
meant that the excessive
turbulence was created
for aircraft trying to land.
(dramatic music)
Only three successful landings
were ever made on this deck.
In August 1918 a converted
liner, HMS Argus,
provided the solution, remove the funnel.
Argus had a flush deck 600 feet long
and was the first real aircraft carrier.
With no funnel there was
no turbulence to deal with.
Nevertheless, early aircraft were light
and sea winds could be strong.
Landing was still a tricky matter.
As a plane dipped into a
shallow gully on the deck
hooks on its undercarriage would
attach to a series of wires
preventing the plane from
being blown overboard.
But the system was not fail-safe.
Judge a landing wrong and
a delicate undercarriage
would be unable to withstand
the violent tug of the restraining wires.
(dramatic music)
So, the wires were removed.
During the 1920s, landings relied solely
on slowing aircraft down.
The carrier would steam
full speed ahead into wind
and the low speed of contemporary
planes would do the rest.
But by the early '30s faster aircraft
were finding a 600-foot deck too short.
So, the transverse wire system came in.
A hook attached to the plane's tail
would be grabbed by one of
several wires crossing the deck.
(dramatic music)
By this time, carriers like HMS Glorious
had sprouted the familiar tower
or island on their starboard side.
In Britain, the aircraft carrier
found itself with two masters.
The carrier itself
belonged to the Royal Navy.
However, since its inception in 1918,
the RAF had been responsible
for naval aviation.
It procured the aircraft,
provided many of the pilots
and provided all of the ground crews.
At top level, the situation
created a good deal of tension
although on the carriers the relationship
between the two forces was more amicable.
RAF pilots routinely flew
with naval navigators
flying at this time though
was still fairly basic
and a navigator's task was rudimentary.
Planes could not fly out
of sight of a carrier
because they still had
no navigational aids.
Meanwhile, the Americans had
recovered from a slow start
to take the lead in the development
of the aircraft carrier.
The first US carrier,
a converted coal ship named the Langley,
did not arrive until 1922.
The Langley could not
steam into wind fast enough
to slow a landing plane down.
So, the transverse wire system
was adopted from the start.
At the end of the 1920s
the much larger carriers,
Lexington and Saratoga, were built.
These were the first
carriers to employ a batsman
to guide planes into land.
In the US, the navy had
control over naval aircraft
as well as their carriers.
They were able to order
specialized machines
like torpedo planes and bombers
and they were able to order
them in large numbers.
Whilst the British Fleet Air Arm
possessed no more than
130 planes in total,
the big US carriers
could each boast over 90.
By the '30s, the US Navy
carried more than 700 aircraft.
(plane engines roaring)
The Americans had now
surpassed the British
not only in number but also in the quality
of their naval aircraft.
Many like the Grumman F3F were designed
specifically for carrier operation.
Organization was impeccable.
American carriers were
expected to remain at sea
for long periods.
By the late '30s, the
US Navy was operating
all metal monoplanes.
And instead of striking
aircraft below as they landed,
the Americans have started
the practice of parking planes
furrowed on deck.
However the safety barrier that
protected the part of planes
became a hazard to a pilot
who missed an arrestor wire.
(metal clunking)
Early barriers were too low.
(plane crashing)
(plane screeches)
But the US was setting the pace.
In contrast, RAF control
of the Fleet Air Arm
lasting until spring 1939
had held the British back
and the outbreak of war found the navy
flying obsolete biplanes.
After losing HMS Glorious
early in the war,
a new carrier, Ark Royal, was built
sporting the Navy's first
monoplane fighter, the Skua.
But the Skua was too slow to be effective
so the first of many American
planes to be used by the navy,
the Grumman Martlet appeared on the scene.
With its big radial engine,
the Martlet later to
be called the Wildcat,
was well-liked by British pilots.
Specially designed for carrier use
it had been given an extremely
robust undercarriage.
It was fast, it was strong
and it could cover long distances.
(plane skids)
But the best loved carrier aircraft
had to be the Fairey Swordfish.
Nicknamed the Stringbag,
this cloth-covered biplane
from 1936 should have
been history by the 1940s.
But the Swordfish remained in production
until the end of the war
and sank more ships than
any other allied aircraft.
(propeller buzzing)
In 1940, Swordfish launched
from HMS Illustrious
scuppered the Italian
fleet in a night raid
on the Mediterranean port of Taranto.
(plane engine roars)
In 1941, equipped with air
to surface vessel radar,
Swordfish from Ark Royal took off
in pursuit of the Bismarck.
A Swordfish torpedo succeeded
in crippling the Bismarck.
(bombs exploding)
She was later sunk by a Destroyer.
After the Bismarck action
the carrier's concern
return to the Mediterranean
where since early 1941
a running battle had been
fought over the Malta Convoys.
Carriers were used to ferry RAF Hurricanes
and Spitfires to Malta.
They became obvious targets
for Italian and German planes.
(bombs exploding)
(plane engine roars)
A new eight-gun fighter, the
Fulmar, took on the Stukas.
It had some success.
But the Fulmar doubling
as a reconnaissance plane
was large and slow.
(plane engine roaring)
HMS Eagle began flying hastily modified
ex-Battle of Britain Hurricanes.
Later in the war, the Royal
Navy would enlist the Seafire
adapted from the Spitfire.
But neither of these planes
were suited to carrier operations.
The Seafire was naturally a
very high performance machine
but it had a narrow rather
delicate undercarriage
and was not easy to land on a carrier.
It tended to float over the arrestor wire
and would then crash into the barrier.
In the hangar, a new engine
would have to be fitted.
Developments in the Atlantic
led to a different approach.
Since 1940, the Focke-Wulf Condor
with a range of over three
and a half thousand miles
had been harassing convoys
well beyond the reach
of land-based fighters.
No carriers could be spared
to protect the convoys.
Instead, merchant ships were fitted
with rocket fired catapult mechanisms
from which to launch Hurricanes.
However, the rockets could
not always be relied upon
to fire properly.
(plane engine roars)
And in any case, the plane
had to be ditched in the water
after its mission.
Subsequently, a large
number of escort carriers
were supplied to the convoys.
These were converted merchant ships
and sometimes still carried grain or oil
as well as aircraft.
The escort carriers flew Martlets
against the German condors
and later, the trusty
Swordfish found favor.
Their slow speed made landing on these
short carriers easier.
Equipped with centrimetric radar,
the Swordfish flew mission
in search of U-boats.
Once one was located they
would drop depth charges.
But developments in the
west were being watched.
Taking their cue from the
British attack on Taranto,
Japan sent a carrier
force to bomb the US fleet
at Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
(plane engine roaring)
Japanese aircraft and their pilots
had been unwisely dismissed by the west.
In 1942, the US engaged the
Japanese in the Coral Sea
in what was to be the first battle
between opposing carrier fleets.
But they made the mistake
of underestimating
the quality of the Japanese fighters.
(plane engine roaring)
The Japanese Mitsubishi Zero was quick
and immensely maneuverable.
American Wildcats found
they could not match them for agility.
(plane engines roaring)
But the Zero was not built
to withstand punishment.
If it could be hit it was
invariably put out of action.
(guns firing)
(plane engines roaring)
The Coral Sea produced
something of a stalemate.
But shortly afterwards,
new folding wing Wildcats
and dauntless dive bombers
helped the Americans
score a decisive victory at Midway.
(guns firing)
(plane engine roaring)
(bomb explodes)
(plane engines roaring)
The Japanese carrier fleet was crushed
and the tide of the
Pacific war was turned.
Now, the US geared up
for a war of production.
Drawing on experience in
the Coral Sea and at Midway,
Grumman designed a new fleet fighter
to outclass the Zero.
The Hellcat.
The Hellcat was 60 miles an
hour faster than the Wildcat,
had a range of 1,500 miles
and was an easy plane to learn to fly.
The Americans now prepared
to storm the Pacific islands.
(plane engines buzzing)
US naval pilots were sent
to Annapolis, Maryland
or Pensacola, Florida and put
through a rigorous training.
(planes buzzing)
At these schools they
learn to fly an aircraft
called the SMJ before being transferred
to one of the big,
newly-completed carriers
like the Hornet or Yorktown.
(dramatic music)
On arrival the first
task facing the novice
would be to become familiar
with his cavernous new home.
The hangar, the size of
several football pitches.
Lifts, the size of a tennis court.
(dramatic music)
And the nerve center of
the carrier, the tower.
The tower was where
the bridge was located,
together with various observation posts.
The tower also housed
the complex machinery
of the carrier's anti-aircraft batteries.
The giant guns were operated by remote
from a control room inside.
(dramatic music)
(guns firing)
Remaining at sea for months at a time
meant crew had to carry out
frequently dangerous refuelings.
(dramatic music)
Below deck, engine crew had to oversee
a system of huge boilers.
(dramatic music)
In the bows of the ship,
the massive propeller shaft
that drove the carrier
required constant monitoring.
(dramatic music)
Top of the pecking order on
board were the naval pilots.
They were the reason for
the carrier's existence
and their comfort was
the prime concern of all.
After them came the air crew,
aerial gunners and radiomen.
Other crew term them the mercenaries
because they receive 50%
extra wages when they flew.
(dramatic music)
Preparing meals for 3,000 men
was a project on a truly grand scale.
(dramatic music)
Catering for the welfare
of such a large body of men
meant that the big US
carriers had to provide
all the services of a small town.
From the local chemist,
to the local hospital,
to the local barber.
There was even a cobbler
and of course a post office.
(dramatic music)
After hours crew could get
a drink at the local bar.
Or else pick up an ice cream
during intermission at the movies.
(dramatic music)
One way or another,
everyone on board a carrier
had to find a way to
deal with the waiting.
(dramatic music)
Floating around for weeks or months
on the endless Pacific
waiting to see action
produced a characteristic blend
of apprehension and boredom.
(dramatic music)
Eventually, action would come.
During 1944, US carriers
put into operation
a systematic plan to destroy
Japanese Pacific island bases.
Now survival kits were checked.
Ammunition was loaded.
Bombs were winched out of their base
and torpedoes were made ready for loading.
Whilst aircraft were being loaded
with their high explosive cargo,
pilots prepared themselves
for the task ahead of them.
Preparation would include an
all-American steak breakfast
before pilots kitted themselves up
for their pre-battle briefing.
(beeping)
Now came the moment when the
tough US training program
would be put to the test.
(beeping)
(plane propellers buzzing)
(plane engines roaring)
On the way to their mission
planes would relay information
to the radio plotting room
enabling a map of enemy
positions to be built up.
(plane engines roaring)
(guns firing)
(plane engine roars)
(bombs exploding)
(guns firing)
(bombs exploding)
(plane engines roaring)
Landing back on deck and
maneuvering aircraft to be parked
had now developed into
an intriguing ritual.
(plane engine roaring)
Trying to land battle-damaged planes
resulted in frequent accidents.
(plane crashes)
Other planes would have to circle
until the deck could be cleared.
(plane engines roaring)
And then there were the injured.
Afterwards the score would be chalked up.
Painted flags for the Japanese casualties,
real ones for the American dead.
In 1945, the Japanese made
a last desperate attempt
to repel the US carriers.
(explodes loudly)
Carriers could do little
to protect themselves
against kamikaze attacks.
(plane engines roaring)
(guns firing)
Unless a plane could
be blown up in the air,
its destination was more or less assured.
(guns firing)
(plane engines roaring)
American carriers with their wooden decks
were particularly vulnerable.
(plane engine buzzing)
But the kamikaze pilots could
not hold off the inevitable.
Within months it was all over.
With the ending of the war however,
the future of the aircraft carrier
began to attract controversy.
(atomic bomb explodes)
In the aftermath of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
it seemed a future war would
be fought with the atomic bomb.
US funding for a new
class of aircraft carrier
was withdrawn in favor
of building a type of
long range bomber large
enough to carry the bomb.
(plane engine roars)
But in 1949, communist forces
advanced into South Korea
and drew an American response.
With South Korean air bases overrun,
US carriers moved in.
Operating under freezing
conditions in the sea of Japan
the carriers launched sky
raiders and bombing raids
on target inside Korea.
As a result, congress gave the go ahead
for new carriers to be built.
(bomb explodes)
But a new age had dawned.
(plane humming)
(plane engine roars)
- [Pilot] Travel 40 miles
heading to some (mumbles).
(background noise drowns out other sounds)
- [Narrator] The advent of the jet engine
meant heavier aircraft and
hugely increased speeds.
The fundamental problems of how to takeoff
and land on a carrier
had to be readdressed.
Initial solutions included
experimenting with a rubber deck
to absorb an aircraft speed on landing
but this was impractical
and a strengthened transverse
wire system was reverted to.
Subsequently, three British
innovations became standard.
The adoption of an angled deck for landing
did away with the need to protect
parked planes with a barrier.
If an aircraft came in too fast
it could simply overshoot
and come round again.
(plane engine roars)
A second innovation,
the mirror landing site
enabling pilots to
gauge their own approach
replaced the time-honored batsman.
And perhaps the most essential development
was the introduction of the steam catapult
without which the new larger planes
would be unable to get airborne.
(plane whirs)
Steam from the boilers was pumped up
to a high pressure reservoir
below the flight deck.
Aircrew would hook an
aircraft up to the reservoir
and the pressure would be let through.
Planes that required a
mile-long takeoff on land
could be launched by catapult
in a few hundred feet.
These changes were all
incorporated into the new carriers
built by the US Navy after
its success in the Korean War.
But the new US carriers
had one extra difference.
They were huge.
With the United States now fully committed
to a global military role,
each 6,000-man carrier was intended to be
a complete floating airbase
capable of dominating an area
of almost a thousand miles.
Despite congressional approval,
the expense of these vast fortresses
had not ceased to be an issue
for the American public.
Carriers were now equipped
with extremely sophisticated
information gathering technology.
The strange-looking Hawkeye spotter plane
could relay radar surveillance
to an electronic intelligence
center on board the carrier.
In turn, this was connected
to a more conventional plotting room.
With the crew now twice as large
as wartime carriers could accommodate,
the local services provided
became evermore comprehensive.
(dental drill whirring)
(machine buzzing)
(rattling)
In 1965, Lyndon Johnson
sent the USS Enterprise
to North Vietnam.
(dramatic music)
(plane engine whirring)
(plane engine roars)
The decision sparked new controversy
over the role of the aircraft carrier.
(bombs exploding)
(guns firing)
(bombs exploding)
But the Enterprise was controversial
for an additional reason.
Nuclear power.
An original supply of
uranium-enriched fuel
was able to sustain the
Enterprise for three years at sea.
The need for costly and
often dangerous refuelings
could be dispensed with.
By an increasingly vocal
anti-nuclear lobby however,
this was not seen as an improvement.
Meanwhile, the fate of
the aircraft carrier
was taking a different turn elsewhere.
No other country could
afford the giant carriers
America was maintaining.
Another direction had to be sought
if carriers were to have any future.
(helicopter buzzing)
The beginning of the jet age
had also ushered in the helicopter.
With the need for only a very small area
for takeoff and landing,
the helicopter seemed
to show the way forward.
(helicopter buzzing)
Russia, France, Britain all
started to think in terms
of smaller vessels that
would carry helicopters
as well as a reduced assignment of jets.
It was another British innovation
that made this proposition
a really viable one.
In February 1963, Bill Bedford,
Hawker Siddeley's chief test
pilot brought the prototype
of the Harrier Jump Jet
into land on Ark Royal.
(plane engine roaring)
As vertical takeoff consumed
a large amount of fuel,
the Harrier was also capable of taking off
in a conventional manner
from a very short deck.
The adoption of a ski jump
allowed aircraft with heavy payloads
to get airborne with these.
The Harrier revolutionized
aircraft carrier design
seeming to consign the
American style Leviathans
to a previous era.
(crowd clapping)
In 1982, the new smaller carriers
were put to the test when British troops
were sent to the Falklands.
It was a show of force that resulted
in a swift victory for Britain.
But the victory came not without loss.
Six British ships were lost
and 10 others were damaged
by Argentine planes
flying too low for
British radars to pick up.
The Harriers were equipped
only with short range radar
and with a mere four to a carrier,
air defense of the fleet was
arguably just not heavy enough.
For the US Navy, the
event served to vindicate
the much larger carriers they
were continuing to build.
But for many, the part
super carriers were playing
in American foreign policy
was becoming evermore questionable.
In 1981, President Reagan
sent the Sixth Fleet
into the Libyan Gulf
drawing an immediate
response from Gaddafi.
(plane roars)
Then in 1986, F-4 Phantoms and F-111s
were sent to hit targets inside Libya.
(bomb explodes)
As aircraft carriers
constitute sovereign territory
the US were able to act unilaterally.
Four years later, US super carriers
were again deployed in the Middle East.
- Five months ago, Saddam Hussein
started this cruel war against Kuwait.
Tonight the battle has been joined.
- [Narrator] Moving between the Red Sea
and the Persian Gulf,
only the carriers could evade detection
in the computerized war.
(plane engines roaring)
(bombs exploding)
(guns firing)
(bombs exploding)
(plane skids)
At the close of the 20th century,
the United States was the only power
able to afford a fleet of large carriers.
(plane engines roaring)
Whether it can continue to justify
this expense in the new century
will depend on the
future international role
America seeks to play.
(dramatic music)
