The aircraft carrier- mightiest weapon in any navy's arsenal and uncontested ruler of
the high seas.
But it wasn't always this way, and when they were first developed aircraft carriers were
more a curiosity than a real weapon of war.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're taking a look
at the evolution, history, and some things you might never have known in 50 Surprising
Facts About Aircraft Carriers.
50.
Aircraft carriers are basically floating airfields, so they're a little hard to hide.
But in World War II the Japanese did just that, developing three submersible aircraft
carriers that could carry three planes each and cruise just below the waves!
Innovative, but ultimately ineffective, they had little impact in the war.
49.
US supercarriers are called that for a reason- one US supercarrier has a larger air force
than 70% of all countries in the world!
48.
The US Navy has over 2,000 aircraft- which makes it by itself the world's fourth largest
air force after China and before India.
47.
The French have an aircraft carrier named after Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch, who
in 1911 was quoted as saying “Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value”.
46.
Brazilian shipbrokers once tried to sell a retired aircraft carrier, the HMS Vengeance,
on Ebay for 7 million dollars.
45.
The US Navy's newest class of aircraft carrier- the Gerald R. Ford Class- costs $7 million
dollars a day to operate.
44.
The initial price tag of a Ford class carrier is $18 billion dollars, making it the most
expensive war ship ever built.
43.
Despite being known as having the most technologically advanced military on earth, the Ford class
is the US's first new aircraft carrier in over 40 years!
42.
The Ford class carriers were all designed using a 3 dimensional model, with hundreds
of designers, engineers, and planners logging on and working on creating the ship's features
from inside the model every single day.
41.
Ford class carriers are 1093 feet (333 meters) long and displace 100,000 tons- about the
same size as the Nimitz class they are replacing, but they will carry up to 900 less crew thanks
to automation.
40.
Each Ford class carrier carries up to 90 aircraft, and can launch a maximum of 220 sorties per
day.
39.
A single Ford class carrier has over 9,800,000 feet (3,000,000 meters) of electrical wiring!
38.
Ford class carriers aren't just the ultimate guardians of the ocean- they're also committed
to keeping them clean.
All of the solid waste generated by its crew of about 4200 sailors will be vaporized with
superheated plasma!
37.
A nuclear powered aircraft carrier can operate for more than 20 years without refueling.
36.
Besides the US only one other nation has ever built a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier:
France.
35.
China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was originally a decommissioned Soviet carrier
which China bought from Ukraine via a front company pretending to want to use the carrier
as a floating casino.
34.
While filming Top Gun, director Tony Scott paid the US Navy $25,000 to have the aircraft
carrier turn for one shot in the film so he could have the sun backlight it.
33.
Due to materials shortages during World War II, the British experimented with, and had
serious plans to build an aircraft carrier primarily made out of wood pulp and ice.
32.
In the 1970s the US Air Force experimented with plans to build an airborne aircraft carrier
from a Boeing 747.
31.
In 1929 Tacoma Washington got most of its power from hydroelectric dams- but when a
drought severely lowered water levels, an aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington, helped
power the city for a month.
30.
On 7 May 1957, while docked in Sydney, Australia, a group of University of Sydney students secretly
boarded the USS Bennington and successfully made their way to the bridge, where they turned
on the PA and announced that the ship had been captured by Sydney University pirates.
29.
In World War II the Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier Shinano was the largest carrier
ever built up to that time, and was sunk 10 days into her maiden voyage by the US Navy
submarine Archerfish.
The Shinano remains the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine.
28.
An aircraft carrier can desalinate 400,000 gallons of sea water every day.
27.
Today there are actually several varieties of aircraft carriers on active duty across
the world's militaries, they include: amphibious assault carriers, escort carriers, anti-submarine
carriers, helicopter carriers, light aircraft carriers, and super carriers.
26.
Airplanes can't take off from an aircraft carrier unless the carrier is moving at around
30 knots so that the wind generated can help them gain lift.
25.
The catapults that help launch airplanes into the air can accelerate a plane from 0 to 186
mph (300 kmh) in under 2 seconds, and pilots describe the feeling as “being punched in
the face”.
24.
Supercarriers can cover an area of 4.5 acres, or several city blocks.
They are longer than most buildings are tall.
23.
An aircraft carrier is powered by up to four propellers that measure 20 feet (6 meters)
across and weigh up to 30 tons.
22.
Each aircraft carrier in the US Navy is designed to last for 50 years.
Ford class carriers are designed to be modular in nature, leaving room for future technology
and could have a lifetime of up to 75 years.
21.
To land on a carrier a pilot needs to snag one of four arresting wires with his plane's
tailhook, but because the runway is so short pilots actually have to accelerate their aircraft
at full throttle the moment they touch down in case they missed a wire so they don't go
crashing into the ocean at the end of the runway.
20.
Each arresting wire is made of extremely high tensile steel and can stop a 54,000 pound
(24,494 lbs) aircraft going 149 mph (240 kph) in just two seconds!
19.
In 2016 an arresting wire snapped aboard the US carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower while attempting
to bring an E-2C Hawkeye to a stop- the snapped wire sped across the deck and injured eight
sailors, resulting in broken bones and a cracked skull.
18.
Pilots say that landing on a moving carrier in the middle of night amidst a pitching sea
is about the scariest thing a person can do.
17.
A miniature city, each aircraft carrier has multiple decks where it can do everything
from house crew to repair aircraft and store missiles and bombs- basically making them
self-sufficient air forces.
16.
At the end of their service lives aircraft carriers are either completely refitted and
modernized before being put back to sea or sold to friendly nations.
Rarely they might be scrapped completely.
15.
Aircraft carriers typically conduct strike missions, air superiority patrols, anti-submarine
patrols, air traffic control, and airborne early warning missions- often all of them
simultaneously!
14.
Nuclear carriers are powered by nuclear reactors which produce heat through nuclear fission-
which in turn boils water and generates steam which creates electricity.
In essence, nuclear carriers are actually steam-powered and their engineering would
be familiar to any mechanic from the Industrial Revolution!
13.
A Nimitz class carrier is powered by two nuclear reactors and delivers 260,000 horsepower to
four propellers.
12.
Nimitz class carriers each cost about $4.5 billion- or 1/4th the price of a single Ford
class carrier.
11.
C-130 Hercules aircraft are some of the largest transport planes in the world- and can both
take off and land on a modern supercarrier!
10.
France is the only other nation besides the US with a Supercarrier.
9.
The Navy's 10 current supercarriers all have 900 aircraft between them.
8.
Aircraft carriers are the most powerful weapons in the world.
In 1990 US President Bill Clinton famously remarked, “When word of crisis breaks out
in Washington, it's no accident that the first question that comes to everyone's lips is,
'where is the nearest carrier?'”
7.
Aircraft carriers are considered sovereign territory for the nation they belong to- even
when docked.
6.
Carriers are never deployed alone, but work while leading a battlegroup of at least six
ships.
A typical US battlegroup consists of at least one destroyer, one frigate, two attack submarines,
two guided missile cruisers, one guided missile destroyer, and a logistical support ship.
5.
A US battlegroup has more firepower at its disposal than most militaries on earth.
4.
During the Cold War the Soviet Union considered American battlegroups such a dire threat that
they predicted the only way to defend against them would be by use of tactical nuclear weapons,
risking an escalation to full-blown nuclear war.
3.
A US carrier air wing consists of three squadrons of F/A-18 Hornets for air superiority and
ground attack, one squadron of F-14 tomcats for fleet air defense and ground attack, one
squadron of S-3B Vikings for airborne refueling, command and control, electronic warfare and
surveillance, one squadron of EA-6B Prowlers for electronic warfare, one squadron of E-2C
Hawkeyes for long-range early warning and control, and one squadron of SH-60 Seahawk
helicopters for anti-submarine warfare, general utility, and assault operations
2.
The flight crew of a Nimitz class carrier can launch two aircraft while simultaneously
landing a third every 37 seconds during daylight, and every 60 seconds at night.
1.
At 11:01 AM on January 18th, 1911, US pilot Eugene Ely landed a Curtiss Pusher aircraft
on a specially built platform aboard the USS Pennsylvania, thus birthing the concept of
an aircraft carrier.
Know any other cool or amazing facts about aircraft carriers?
What kind of innovations will the future see for these incredible weapons of war?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called 50 Surprising Facts About World War
1!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!”