How to Build an Aircraft Carrier

Author: Chris Terrill
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 1405942533
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

Book Description
The enthralling story of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy's largest ever warship 'Fascinating, often funny and sometimes moving . . . Terrill takes us deep into the bowels of Britain's biggest warship . . . Exhilarating' THE TIMES ________ 65,000 tons. 280 metres long. A flight deck the size of sixty tennis courts. A giant piece of Sovereign British territory that's home to up to 50 Aircraft. HMS Queen Elizabeth is the biggest ship in the Royal Navy's history and one of the most ambitious and exacting engineering projects ever undertaken in the UK. But it's her ship's company of 700, alongside an air group of 900 air and ground crew that are Big Lizzie's beating heart. And How to Build an Aircraft Carrier tells their story. From before the first steel of her hull was cut, Chris Terrill has enjoyed unprecedented access to Queen Elizabeth and the men and women who have brought her to life. From Jerry Kyd, the ship's inspirational Captain to Lt Cdr Nathan Grey, the first pilot to land Britain's new stealth jet fighter on her deck, Terrill has won the trust and confidence of the ship's people. How to Build an Aircraft Carrier tells the story of Britain at its best: innovative, confident, outward-looking and world beating. ________ 'A detailed account of the challenges, trials and triumphs on the ship's progression . . . and a portrait of the men and women who made it happen. [Terrill] writes with affection, humour and understanding' TELEGRAPH

Yorktown Class Aircraft Carriers

Author: Roger Chesneau
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473831644
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
This fully illustrated guide offers historical context and step-by-step instruction for building and modifying US aircraft carrier models. This volume in the ShipCraft series covers the Yorktown class of American aircraft carriers. These legendary ships kept the Japanese at bay through World War II, in the dark days between Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway, where the USS Yorktown herself was lost. The USS Hornet launched the famous Doolittle Raid on Japan before being sunk at Santa Cruz in October 1942, but the USS Enterprise survived the fierce fighting of the early war years to become the US Navy's most decorated ship. This lavishly illustrated guide takes readers through a brief history of the development and careers of the Yorktown class. With its unparalleled level of visual information—including paint schemes, line drawings and photographs—it is simply the best reference for any modelmaker setting out to build one of these famous carriers.

Modernizing the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Fleet

Author: John Frederic Schank
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 9780833037206
Category : Aircraft carriers
Languages : en
Pages : 98

Book Description
The U.S. Navy is currently designing the next generation aircraft carrier, the CVN 21. This class of carriers will use the same basic hull form as the current Nimitz class but will include a substantial redesign of the interior of the ship for improved weapons handling and stores management functions. It will also incorporate several new technologies including a new propulsion system and new aircraft launch and recovery systems. These improvements not only will increase the operational capability of the ship but also are anticipated to lower the ship's manpower requirements and maintenance costs. Under current force modernization plans, new ships of the CVN 21 class will be introduced every four or five years as the ships of the Nimitz class reach the end of their planned 50-year operational life. Under this strategy, Nimitz class carriers will be operating for over 50 more years and it will take decades to transform the aircraft carrier fleet to ships of the new class.On the basis of some preliminary calculations that appeared promising, RAND proposed to the Program Executive Office (PEO) for Aircraft Carriers an examination of a way to accelerate the transformation of the carrier force: replacing Nimitz-class carriers as they reach mid-life instead of refueling them. In this report we identify specific fleet management options for building new instead of refueling, and we evaluate their advantages and disadvantages. This report should be of interest to Navy and Office of Secretary of Defense planners examining fleet modernization options, especially those organizations addressing the costs of alternative force structure options.

US Cold War Aircraft Carriers

Author: Brad Elward
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472807782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 108

Book Description
The Forrestal class (Forrestal, Saratoga, Ranger, and Independence) was the first completed class of US Navy supercarriers, so-named for their 25 percent size increase over the World War II-era carriers such as the Midway class, and the strength of their air wings (80–100 aircraft, compared to 65–75 for the Midway, and fewer than 50 for the Essex class). Design-wise, the Forrestals were a huge improvement over their predecessors, being more stable and comfortable, while maintaining advancements such as the armored flight decks that had been introduced with the Midway. The Kitty Hawk class was an improvement on the Forrestal-class designs, and four were built in the 1960s – Kitty Hawk, Constellation, America and John F. Kennedy. These were even longer than the Forrestals, and fitted with advanced defensive weapons systems and an improved elevator layout. All nine of the carriers covered by this volume are icons, and hold a much-respected place in US naval history. They are also some of the more well-known vessels outside of the military, for their long service histories, as well as for some of the more unfortunate events that seem to follow them.

Aircraft Carrier Impero

Author: Davide F. Jabes
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
From 1941, Italy had been developing a top-secret project to install guided rocket weapons aboard aircraft carriers. Campini Capron s revolutionary guided rocket weapon, the DAAC, which would later become Hitler s Henschel HS-117 Schmetterling ( Butterfly ), was the selected projectile. Classified intelligence on the V-1 flying bomb and other aircraft projects were acquired and then discarded when Ansaldo s naval architect, Lino Campagnoli (1911 1975), issued plans for the Impero battleship to be transformed into a modern fleet carrier. Previously unpublished documentation reveals how the last of the four state-of-the-art Littorio-class battleships, which was in advanced completion (hull components and engines installed), was destined for conversion into a modern aircraft carrier. This is an exhaustive historical review of the Impero and Regia Marina s (Royal Navy) developments as well as the dramatic story of the lack of co-operation and strategic insight with Regia Aeronautica before and during the war (1922-1943). Also, a final evaluation of the revolutionary Pugliese anti-torpedo system, based on unpublished German and Russian documentation, is assessed.

Heavy Metal

Author: Michael Fabey
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062996274
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
An extraordinary story of American can-do, an inside look at the building of the most dangerous aircraft carrier in the world, the John F. Kennedy. Tip the Empire State Building onto its side and you’ll have a sense of the length of the United States Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the most powerful in the world: the USS John F. Kennedy. Weighing 100,000 tons, Kennedy features the most futuristic technology ever put to sea, making it the most agile and lethal global weapon of war. Only one place possesses the brawn, brains and brass to transform naval warfare with such a creation – the Newport News Shipbuilding yard in Virginia and its 30,000 employees and shipyard workers. This is their story, the riggers, fitters, welders, electricians, machinists and other steelworkers who built the next-generation aircraft carrier. Heavy Metal puts us on the waterfront and into the lives of these men and women as they battle layoffs, the elements, impossible deadlines, extraordinary pressure, workplace dangers and a pandemic to complete a ship that will be essential to protect America’s way of life. The city of Newport News owes its very existence to the company that bears its name. The shipyard dominates the town—physically, politically, financially, socially, and culturally. Thanks to the yard, the city grew from a backwater to be the home of the premier naval contractor in the United States. Heavy Metal captures an indelible moment in the history of a shipyard, a city, and a country.

Aircraft Carriers

Author: Virginia Loh-Hagan
Publisher: Cherry Lake
ISBN: 1634722272
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 28

Book Description
The 21st Century Junior Library Extraordinary Engineering series explains how important feats of engineering are accomplished. Aircraft Carriers examines the engineering concepts that make these incredible floating cities possible. Sidebars encourage readers to engage in the material by asking deeper questions or conducting individual research. An activity, full color photos, a glossary, and a listing of additional resources all enhance the learning experience.

Aircraft Carrier Victorious

Author: David Hobbs
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1526737353
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
The technical details of British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the as fitted general arrangements, these drawings represented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service. Intended to provide a permanent reference for the Admiralty and the dockyards, these highly detailed plans were drawn with exquisite skill in multi-coloured inks and washes that represent the acme of the draughtsmans art.Today they form part of the incomparable collection of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, which is using the latest scanning technology to make digital copies of the highest quality. This book is one of a series based entirely on these draughts which depict famous warships in an unprecedented degree of detail complete sets in full colour, with many close-ups and enlargements that make every aspect clear and comprehensible. Extensive captions point the reader to important features to be found in the plans, and an introduction covers the background to the design.HMS Victorious was a ship with two almost separate incarnations as built in 1941 she was one of a new type of armoured carrier which saw strenuous wartime service; post-war the ship underwent a massive reconstruction lasting nearly eight years that saw her recommission in1958 as one of the best equipped carriers in the world, ready for another decade of duty. Both these phases of the ships life are fully documented, which allows this novel form of anatomy to cover two generations of carrier design.

Essex Class Aircraft Carriers of the Second World War

Author: Steve Backer
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1848320183
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Book Description
The latest volume covers the hugely important American carrier of the Second World War. Built in larger numbers than any fleet carrier before or since, the Essex class can claim to be the US Navy's most significant weapon in the defeat of Japan. Carrying up to 100 aircraft and capable of absorbing enormous punishment (not one was sunk), they spearheaded the Fast Carrier Task Forces for most of the Pacific War.??The heavily illustrated work contains everything a modeller needs to know about this prolific class.

The Supercarriers

Author: George Sullivan
Publisher: Dodd Mead
ISBN: 9780396077947
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Book Description
Presents the history of aircraft carriers, including their role during war, life on a carrier today, and the current controversy concerning carriers.