The Forrestal incident was still taught at Navy Bootcamp in 2009 when I went. Watching a video of what happened and how the crew saved the ship is basically your introduction to why fire fighting is important in the Navy.
My father served aboard the Antietam, and even as a child looking through his old books, I never knew how significant the ship was. Thank you so much for your work on this video.
Something that doesn't seem to be mentioned often is early carriers had catapults but they weren't on the flight deck but in the hangar and they sent aircraft out the side. They weren't used often because they couldn't use the carrier's forward speed for additional lift
A lot of ships had catapult launched aircraft, virtually everything cruiser sized and above had aircraft mounted. The aircraft could land in the water next to the ship and be picked up by crane.
They say that almost half of the scientists involved in the Manhattan project were concerned that they were going to light the atmosphere on fire but felt the risk was worth the reward.
25:44 The reactors on the Nimitz were also much larger and much higher output than the ones on Enterprize, as the ones on Enterprize were specifically designed to replace conventional boilers on a 1 for 1 basis, keeping the design changes from the Kitty Hawk minimal in the hope of keeping costs down. The Navy also had more experience with larger reactors by the time Nimitz first hit the design study stage.
I trained and qualified at A1W. I didn't know that. - It means you don't have to redesign the steam plant as well as introducing reactors. Tandem design is more feasible with experience. The "what if the reactors don't work" question has been answered ("don't work" can include not reliable enough.) Rickover was a brilliant engineer.
@@kingssuck06 i can never say this enough, but knowledge and intellect are two separate things. Just because it's easier for someone to learn doesn't mean they will make the effort, nor does it mean someone not conventionally "smart" can't put in the effort to learn something to equal mastery. *edit* also, casual conversations are a really crappy place to try to big brain on semantics
10:50 Note about the addition of armored flight decks: Part of what finally convinced the US to adopt armored decks was the Royal Navy, whose carriers all had armored flight decks, and were noted to be able to shrug off Kamikaze strikes with little maintenance other than sweeping the debris of the deck.
Very good documentary giving a good overview of carrier innovation over the years. There are only two things you forgot to mention: 1. Catapults allow the aircraft to carry higher fuel and payloads as compared with ski jump or VTOL launched aircraft. 2. The superstructure originally caused port/starboard weight imbalance but was overcome by careful placement of equipment to counterbalance the weight.
The superstructure weight imbalance issue mostly went away when the angle deck got common - if anything, it's usually not ENOUGH to balance the angle deck (though it helps some).
Except it was actually done across the pond. HMS Hermes 1924 have a look at her features. She even had a bow catapults which were removed. The starboard island with lifts behind the arrestor wires..... The Royal Navy innovations include the angled flight deck, steam catapults and mirror landing system. Eric Brown was the first pilot to land a twin engined aircraft the Mosquito on an aircraft carrier. HMS Indefatigable 25 3 44. The following year he landed a de Havilland Vampire on HMS Ocean 3 12 45 making the first jet to land on a carrier.... Armoured flight decks..... etc Appalling video.
@@davidbroadley2983 very good comment because the British even welded the first carrier at Cammell Laird shipyard but the USA make out that all Carrier technology was theirs and they even now make out that steam powered VTOL technology is also theirs
It was Great Britain (RN) That made the very first aircraft carrier and made it with the single island but the Royal Navy have now upgraded to a two-island design. “On 7 May 1913 the Royal Navy commissioned its first aviation ship. The old light cruiser, Hermes, launched in 1898, was converted to a seaplane carrier. Canvas shelters to hold aircraft were installed on the stern and forward of the bridge structure and aircraft-handling booms installed on the masts. During World War I the British navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, which was built on a converted merchant-ship hull. You are welcome world;-)
I do like some of the older names like Midway, Yorktown. and Lexington. Im just happy we arent getting a carrier named after Obama or Biden. Hell China might honor Biden by naming its next carrier after Biden because we all know Biden is on the payroll of the communist Chinese. As far as Obama, he was just and idiot that hates the US. I wouldn't mind seeing a carrier named after Trump like most other veterans.
I was lucky enough to serve as a Boiler Technician on USS Lexington from 1983-1986. We still steamed her "almost" just like they did during WW2. The only differences for us was the fuel was no longer black oil that had to be heated to flow. WE used Diesel fuel marine or F76. Sometimes before fires side maintenance we would burn JP5 to make the soot easier to clean from the boiler tubes 8- 600 PSI 850Degree superheated steam Babcock & Wilcox M type boilers. Fully manual control! We lit fires with a zippo lighter to light a hand held torch that was fuel soaked asbestos pucks bolted on the steel rod that was inserted in the firebox. on a good day it was only 100 degrees on the burner front. BTW this was the coolest place in the boiler room! Every time the Catapult was launched. You could feel it shake the ship all the way down in the boiler room where you could see the effect on the steam drum pressure gauge and had to quickly increase the firing rate by adding fuel/air mix to the firebox to make up the steam pressure loss via the cat shot! That and you were already hauling ass to provide speed for more wind to give the planes more lift on launch. Good times! Also the very first crash shown on the video was on the Lexington not that long after I left. That was a bad one. Even on a training carrier it is very dangerous. Lost a few shipmates and not all were on the flight deck..
I volunteered on a WW2 aircraft carrier for a few years. One of the big jobs was restoring one of the fire rooms. The other had been stripped for parts. I would have probably hated working down there as it was probably insanely hot and loud. There was a huge turbine-like fan that shot cooled air into the compartment.
The flight deck on a carrier is absolutely the most dangerous place in the world to work. As an Aviation Boatswains Mate (Handler), better known as a yellow shirt, I can attest to that fact. I've seen first hand what can happen if you are not paying attention at all times. Great video. Well done.
Been on the Flight deck during flight Ops before too. Even when it was just qualifying pilots, no ordinance and only using 2 catapults, it’s still incredibly dangerous. I love being up there, but I don’t envy you guys who HAVE to be up there
I used to work with a guy..... Squid. Deck Boss. He'd tell me stories and say an active flight deck is the most dangerous place blah blah blah. I'd always reply with the same retort: "Is the flight deck trying to kill you?" You see I'm a Marine. I chewed sand in active combat zones. I'd have to argue that living 24/7 in a plywood shack surrounded by religious fanatics who literally NEED to kill you or die trying is more dangerous than a modern flight deck. Places like......Camp Gannon. I was there. They wrote books about that place. Real wild west Al Anbaar shit. "Blood Stripes" is one such book. You ever been told you must wear body armor AND carry your weapon in condition 1 at all times? Even in the shower? You ever been without power in sub-freezing temperatures for weeks while dudes lob mortars, rockets and sniper fire at you all day? Not even talking about driving on an MSR loaded with daisy chain IEDs just to get chow. No. No I must disagree with you Squid. An active warzone "outside the wire" is most definitely the most dangerous place to be in uncle Sammy's service.
Deck edge elevators: As soon as I saw elevators on the main deck earlier in the video, I was asking myself, "what if one of them breaks?" How was this not thought of immediately upon design? "What if it breaks?" Has to always be the first thing you ask yourself when buying or designing anything.
The answer? Barring major combat damage that messes the mechanics of a in deck elevator and breakdown is going to occur in the motor that lifts it. The answer to what if that motor breaks is essentially that a capstan will be installed and the lifting mechanism will be powered by hand. Obviously this will be too slow for normal flight operations and would mostly be used to elevate the inboard elevator and lock it in it’s up position
I guess you could plank them over if needed, with some support beams into the hangar. Planking material is probably at hand in order to fix flight deck anyways. Edge elevators didn't really appear until the Essex class, with a very rudimentary version trialed on USS Wasp. I am not sure why originally internal elevators where preferred. I guess for the CV conversions it might have been to difficult to pierce the hull on the sides without compromising structural stiffness. Also for the armoured carriers the armoured sides (and deck) where part of the ships structure, and lift where placed in front and aft of the armoured hangar. I don't know the reasoning for the Yorktowns, cause technically they had hangar catapults installed, and as such probably could fit an edge elevator on that location instead. But then again, war was coming, the USN needed some optimized carriers instead of the (large and powerful, but with some drawbacks that hindered deck operations) Lexingtons, so no time (and weight budget?) to experiment to much.
Not only that, but what if you need to...you know...actually use it. Launch and recovery must cease either way. No idea why they thought this was a good design.
Very good job! My life was flight deck operations for 19 of my 26 years in the Navy. I only caught a couple things worthy of notice. USS Midway only had 2 catapults, both on the bow. 2 huge innovations that came from Forrestal and Enterprise fires were flush deck fire nozzles and mobile firefighting vehicles. I never heard anyone call them bridle catchers. The correct term is bridle arrestors, but everyone simply called them horns. Interesting note: many ships had their horns cut off in the shipyard after they became obsolete. USS Enterprise's commanding officer wouldn't allow it so that Big E would remain the longest aircraft carrier. Green shirts are also worn by squadron maintenance personnel and blue shirts are also worn by chock and chain guys known as aircraft handlers. Lastly, we can't operate the 2 waist catapults during landing operations because they are in the landing area. However, shooting the bow catapults can continue.
Sir I would like to first thank you for your service to our country. You are, in my eyes, a hero. These nuclear powered carriers amaze me that they can go decades between refuel. That is amazing.
It’s a large version of the British Carrier who welded the first carrier, invented the steam Catapult, angled flight deck, Optical Landing System, Armoured deck, Radar, STOVL and then made them Nuclear Powered which will be devastating during warfare
14:14 Another advantage of the angled flight deck is that if the landing aircraft misses and can't get airborne again, it crashes into the sea BESIDE the ship, rather than in front of it.
14:22 *ALL* of the Essex/Ticonderoga and Midway class ships that remained in service eventually got angle deck conversions - as did those early Forestal class that started construction as straight-deck. USS Ranger (CV-61) was the first US carrier built from the keel up as an Angle Deck carrier.
It's true, but Forrestal and Saratoga were initially launched with angled decks so the "conversion" was more of a redesign mid build and the affected areas had nothing to do with the keel, nor were they top heavy like the Midways. I was on the Forrestal and it was pretty stable in heavy seas.
@@kwaktak Forrestal and Saratoga were designed under project SCB 80 and laid down as axial deck carriers and converted to angled deck ships while under construction - so it's fair to say the conversion was while they were being built. None of that class or the later ones were top heavy like the Midways - 20 feet taller from keel to flight deck (and about the same in hull width) left more space for hull and room to better shape it. MUCH better sea boats, and MUCH less spray reaching the flight deck messing up flight operations. The conversion to angle deck did mess up the starboard elevator (it would have been usable on the original straight deck design, but it was almost useless on the angle deck due to it blocking the angle deck cats and other positioning issues), the latter Kitty Hawk class rearranged things for better efficiency of elevator usage.
I grew up living about a 12 minute drive away from Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. Where they build these behemoths. And seeing these floating cities taxiing in and out of the docks is truly a sight to behold! They are absolutely MASSIVE! It's hard to believe that ships that large can actually float lol. My dad was a senior engineer that maintained and repaired the ginormous cranes that put these things together. He used to tell me about how he had the best view of the peninsula while working 230 feet up at the top of the cranes.
Definitely one of the best documentaries on the American carrier evolution! I think you should make a short video on the British pilot who started this plane landing on battleships idea! He had some successful ones and some failures! He later passed away in one of his unsuccessful landings after overshooting into the water and was unable to get outta the plane and drowned! If my memory is correct, the Americans and other countries like UK and Japan took his idea and made it successful!
The Americans were the first to preform a landing in 1911. One year later, a Brit was the first to take off from a ship. The idea of aircraft carriers doesn't belong to any single nation.
My dad was stationed on an aircraft carrier during Vietnam. There were two stories he told me about what happened on the flight deck that stuck out to me. The first one he was below decks in a break room where they had a black and white TV that was apparently showing CCTV footage from the deck. He watched as a jet that still had some bombs mounted landed and got trapped by the arresting wire. One of the bombs wasn't too securely attached and came off while the jet was decelerating, skipped down the runway, and went down over the bow. He expected it to go off but it apparently wasn't armed. The other one was when a jet had crashed while attempting to land and he was out on the deck helping with damage control. He saw what he thought was the overboard dummy, due to the limbs looking boneless like a rag doll, laying out out he deck, and thought it was odd it hadn't been stowed away properly. He was surprised a few seconds later when a bunch of medics came over, put it on the stretcher, and took off. Turns out it was the pilot.
My great grandfather was on a carrier in ww2, he died when I was young, but my grandpa told me stories, he broke his back in a kamikaze attack, there is nothing scarier than watching what is essentially a big bomb come flying at you. He did get to go in Alden once or twice, but he did not like, only two warm beers and no women, I also got to read is diary, he served on the ISS Wasp
@@NotWhatYouThink my great grandpa served on the USS Wasp, not the one sink in 1043, the one after that, I am not sure if this is 100 percent true, but the plane that sunk the Yamato came from the wasp
@@huhh4380 My dad was on the USS Hancock, one of the Essex-class carriers that was mentioned in the video (kind of surprised me, hardly ever hear anything about the Hancock; it seems to be fairly obscure as far as carriers go, probably because the Essex class was so big).
I recently visited the USS Midway in San Diego. It was a very fascinating experience and I learned so much about the USS Midway and aircraft carriers in general. I would highly recommend anyone in the area to go check it out. There was so much there that I could not possibly type it out but you will definitely not leave without learning something new!
I feel like the best idea in the Nimitz class was designing it with the assumption that technology would improve before the first carriers were finished, and they needed to be designed with the intent of immediate updates, hence the modular design. It’s rare to see that kind of forward thinking at the time.
I like how the old aircraft carriers were just a ship with a plate on the top. I think we could have a mini-carrier with helicopters that'd have 2 decks, 1 for storage and 1 for deploying aircraft with an elevator.
Great doc on the history of carriers. I'm a history buff and made 5 deployments aboard carriers starting with the Enterprise and ending with the Nimitz and this was very enjoyable to watch. My son watched it with me and I paused it several times to point out things to him.
Come on yall, hit the thumbs up button for this video! So much work and time went into producing this amazing documentary and our guy deserves a ton of likes :)
It was Great Britain (RN) That made the very first aircraft carrier and made it with the single island but the Royal Navy have now upgraded to a two-island design. “On 7 May 1913 the Royal Navy commissioned its first aviation ship. The old light cruiser, Hermes, launched in 1898, was converted to a seaplane carrier. Canvas shelters to hold aircraft were installed on the stern and forward of the bridge structure and aircraft-handling booms installed on the masts. During World War I the British navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, which was built on a converted merchant-ship hull. You are welcome world;-)
Excellent video! I was stationed aboard USS Midway(CV-41). Really appreciate your serious attention to detail and humor covering a subject close to my heart. Bravo 👏
British Aircraft Carriers perhaps? It’s interesting how the British differed their design due to operations in the Mediterranean (larger focus on armour etc).
British aircraft carrier design was more focused on attacking the Japanese, not the Germans or Italians, hence their lack of effectiveness against U Boats, high speed destroyers, and small cruisers. Britain focused her designs against Japan as they imagined fighting the Japanese, the armoured deck aboard the Illustrious class carriers would only see her fully effective state against the Japanese in the final days of WWII, but at that point, Japan was using kamikazes and the armour was partially negated as they was not prepared against kamikazes
@@aceapache4914 I don't think the last part of your comment is particularly correct. British carriers were rather famously capable at dealing with Kamikaze attacks, which more often than not would simply splatter on the deck without dealing significant damage.
@@aceapache4914. When the British invented the aircraft carrier, it was because they knew they would be using them worldwide, and they were built for this in mind, as well as the maximum tonnage that was allowed......... And, they were most definitely not, thinking of using them against our main ally in the Far East, the Japanese(this is known, by the people who already know that the Royal Navy, was instrumental in helping the Japanese to start their own naval airforce)........ Also the British aircraft carriers(which didn’t suffer from one sinking or being taken out of commission for more than a few hours, which was needed to “just sweep the decks” of Japanese kamikaze debris), were the only aircraft carriers in the Pacific fleets, that were able to just sweep the Japanese debris into the ocean(this is a quote from one of the septic fliers that had taken refuge on a British ship, after he was stopped from landing on his own ship, because of a Kamikaze), after the Kamikazes had a hard landing on our armoured decks(which happened up to six times, on some of the British ships), unlike the ineffective wooden tops that the septics used, which had a habit of sinking when they had the same interaction with the Japanese planes......
An interesting evolution was that the nav(ies) found that specializing operations on specific carriers worked better than mixing functions. Instead of each carrier in a group having fighter(defense) and attack aircraft, it worked better to concentrate all the fighters on one or two carriers and run attack aircraft exclusively off the others. This started in 1942 and became standard by 1944-45. Carriers operated in groups of 4 starting in 1944 with one dedicated to fighters. When the RN joined the Pacific operations it seemed the RN carriers were better suited to the fighter function.
@@aceapache4914 I’m not sure where you got all this information because as mentioned by others, British armoured carriers weren’t designed to fight just Japan, they were more likely focused on German (and maybe Italian) land Based aviation which were more than Likely to be using heavy ordnance against the carriers. This resulted in the design of the Illustrious using heavily armoured flight decks, a feature the USN copied and pasted onto USS Midway, mind you. Additionally there is no way the British would have been design carriers against Kamikaze attacks in the late 1930’s because: Firstly the Kamikaze Tactic wasn’t used , even commonly, until late into 1944, so there is no possible way we could have been designing a ship against such a thing in the 1930’s. Secondly, it was possible that the RN, similarly to the USN, saw the IJN as inferior and less advanced, and probably didn’t think much of their capabilities. However if this is true, it certainly would have been to a lesser extent to that of the USN’s beliefs. Also, it is rather difficult to hit a moving target that is moving at high speeds. It is not limited to the RN that planes weren’t always the most effective way of dealing with light surface combatants. As for U-Boats, well, that job was probably almost entirely delegated to Escort Carriers such as the Bogue and Attacker class, and land based bombers. Fleet Carriers were more concerned with attacking enemy fleets or surface combatants and Anti submarine duty would be handed to basically anything else that could do it.
Carrier mastery is in American's blood! over 100 years of experience, they perfected it at this point. Carriers paved the war for Americans before , only time will tell how they will manage against modern warfare and hypersonic missiles.
It’s too the point that America’s Carriers are so well equipped they are strictly a deterrent. At this point who would dare challenge them openly? My guess is they’ll never get used in an all out Naval battle.
I'm betting on aircraft supersubmarine carriers. Basically submersible supercarriers. Pops up out of the ocean, released a swarm of ai drones, then goes back under until mission is done.
I really enjoyed this video. I am a plankowner on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70). Our first cruise was when we were transferred from Norfolk, Va to Alameda, Ca. We took the long route by going east, with a couple of 60 day pauses in the North Arabian Sea.
It was Great Britain (RN) That made the very first aircraft carrier and made it with the single island but the Royal Navy have now upgraded to a two-island design. “On 7 May 1913 the Royal Navy commissioned its first aviation ship. The old light cruiser, Hermes, launched in 1898, was converted to a seaplane carrier. Canvas shelters to hold aircraft were installed on the stern and forward of the bridge structure and aircraft-handling booms installed on the masts. During World War I the British navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, which was built on a converted merchant-ship hull. You are welcome world;-)
British make the cool stuff, the US test it in the field, then the British use what the Americans learned to build the next thing that the Americans test again It's a beautiful balance lmao
Because they had the money and political will to do so. Unfortunately the situation was very different in Britain, with a struggling post-war economy, a shrinking empire and reducing overseas commitments, and political lobbying by the RAF trying to secure more funding for themselves (at the cost of Royal Navy aviation).
@@Solidboat123 No ! the UK actually was at war as their industry was getting carpet bombed unlike the USA who was in the safe world and don’t use one of those carriers today because I wouldn’t want to be on one when a reactor is hit. The RAF still do the dangerous low level bombing raids whilst other nations watch from high up
Yes but it didn't feel long. Great pacing and the 2 stories of those fired were so awful. But like all human tragedies, we learn from our mistakes so they never happen again. Go team!
I thought I was going crazy then I checked the comments and for sure thought I was going crazy lol until I found this comment now we’re going crazy together 😂
My Dad served on Antietam in the late 50's - early 60's. He told me of the time when she was attempting to dock at Pensacola and crashed into it instead. And navigating thru an Atlantic tropical storm when the waves washed across the flight deck.
My dad also served on the antietam during the Korean war 1950 ish he told me about riding out a storm in the sea of Japan that came over the decks. I have a I guess what you would call a year book from the ship dated 1951 plus a funeral program that dad saved when they buried some men at sea. dad was a gun captain on the quad 40 overlooking the deck he saw a lot of of planes that got all shot up while on bombing raids only to crash on the deck or hit the barrier. After the war the ship returned to Seattle where the crew was let off and a skeleton crew sailed through the Panama canal to the Virginia shipyards to have the angled flight deck installed. The crew then switched to the Shangrla and sailed it back through the canal to Seattle. Dad is 92 years old
@@dalepitts6642 Thank your Dad for serving in the Navy for me. Mine is 82 and was a signalman. He inspired me to try to enlist after high school. I was rejected because of blindness in my right eye, and suffered sever asthma.
I can’t wait for the new Enterprise to be launched! My Pops served on the Big E (CVNA-65) in Nam. Doesn’t feel right to not have an Enterprise patrolling the seas!
@@logantwidell677 Uhh, CVN 80 IS the Enterprise. And her steel-cutting ceremony was August of 17. So she is well and truly under construction currently. CVN 81 is slated to be laid down in '26.
@@NotWhatYouThink I would love to hear about what other countries did for their aircraft carriers (even if it only ends up being a UK video + a second video over-viewing other countries).
in my 4 years of service in the Navy in the mid 80's, I was Damage Control, and I certainly remember the films made about the Forrestal and Enterprise fires for training purposes.
"The bulbous bow is like that even when the ship is not excited..." Hahahaha! Hahahaha! Very good footage, some of it, I have never seen before. Very good style of doing documentary. You got a new subscriber. Very good job! Greetings from Brazil.
Whats concerning is the WW2 carriers were improved and optimized through the fire of combat whereas modern carriers are entirely built on theory. I suspect while they have plenty of great features, if they actually see "real" combat in a large scale war... major flaws will be found.
Do you not think that maybe, just maybe, Modern carriers still hold onto the lessons learned from the past just like every modern day technology and engineering does??
I had the microphone and the pop filter starting with out very first video. Adding the acoustic foams made a big difference in audio quality. Hope that helps. If you have more questions, please use the email in the “about” section of the page.
@@NotWhatYouThink I appreciate your quality audio and the way you present your narration. So many cool videos I can't watch because of the terrible narration.
British: We have a lot of crazy invention for carrier. But we have no carrier..... American: don't worry friend, we will buy your invention and put them onto our carrier. :D
@@oneinsilence1121 well back when the queen elizabeth class was still in the design phase, they did want to operate the F-35C's along with the F-35B's, but the F35C's need to take off from a catapult, but they wanted to operate the same catapult system that was used in the Gerald Ford class since the steam catapult was a little bit outdated, but due to it still unreliable they decided to go for the short take off that is capable for the F35B
All British carrier inventions have been used on British carriers (up until Ark Royal's decommissioning in 1979). Royal Navy fleet carriers were equipped with arresting gear since the '30s, and steam catapults since the '50s. HMS Centaur was the first British carrier commissioned with an angled deck in 1954, with Ark Royal following in '55 (the first carrier in the world to have an angled deck fitted during construction, rather than as a retrofit post-launch). The optical landing system was first tested on two British carriers in the early '50s, then put into frontline service in 1954 (one year prior to the first US carrier use of the system).
@@SnakeHarrow77 Tossup between the Brits and the Japanese who had the first actual carrier (as opposed to the first ship converted to a carrier, the USS Langley).
Good video, I served onboard the USS Independence, CV-62 from September 74 to June 1, 1978. Going to sea is what differentiates the USN from other branches of the services!
I think some better options would be a space carrier, or a submarine version of a super carrier. On top of the water or in the sky is too vulnerable. But deep below or high above could be workable.
Great video. I served on the Connie (CVA-64) from 1963 - 1966. Brought back many memories. Many thanks to the plane captains who parked their F4s over my fire control radar!
As for the future, I expect that the biggest changes will be the role of automation/drone technologies both offensively as carrier armament and defense against them will be big factors, as well as hypersonic anti-naval missiles currently in development. We'll see how the design holds up.
Outstanding video. The comparative analysis of refinements and evolutionary changes are fascinating and something I've never seen in a single video about aircraft carriers. I learned that the British are responsible for some of the most significant innovations, even after the US emerged from WW2 as the preeminent power in naval aviation. That's something I was completely unaware of. Thank you!
I think the main reasons for the British innovations, were because of budget constraints as well as the brains. Post war the Americans had several large carriers in the 24 ships of the Essex class and 4 of the midway class. Compared to the smaller carriers of Royal Navy like the 4 Illustrious and 2 Impeccable class ships. The only ships the RN had even comparable to two dozen of the Essex class were just two Audacious class ships. With no plans or money to build anything larger as the Malta class (Midway equivalents) had already been cancelled with wars end. So while the Americans had several large aircraft carriers and the ability to build even larger ones, they had no desperate need to maximise space and deck area. Obviously the Royal Navy on the other hand desperately sought solutions to get their jet powered aircraft on to pre-existing relatively restricted carriers.
@@GG-ir1hwIt was Great Britain (RN) That made the very first aircraft carrier and made it with the single island but the Royal Navy have now upgraded to a two-island design. “On 7 May 1913 the Royal Navy commissioned its first aviation ship. The old light cruiser, Hermes, launched in 1898, was converted to a seaplane carrier. Canvas shelters to hold aircraft were installed on the stern and forward of the bridge structure and aircraft-handling booms installed on the masts. During World War I the British navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, which was built on a converted merchant-ship hull. You are welcome world;-)
@@azzajames7661 I don’t know why you replied to my comment with this information. I was talking about post WW2 innovations and why the Royal Navy and not the USN were the ones to innovate.
I now understood that earlier the airplane used in aircraft carriers did not needed a large runway . That's why catapults were not from the initial stage . this is contrary to what I used to think I used to think that earlier United States aircraft carriers also had a ski jump These type of videos bring insights and clarity about many things
The importance of an angled flight deck isn't really about simultaneous launch and recovery, but about deck space. With an angled landing zone, the deck can be used to park space-hungry fast jets.
I seem to recall that India is making headway into having their own aircraft carriers. Even 100 years later, it is still an exclusive club, welcome to it.
@@theholyasdf3593 we have... INS Vikrant our first indigenous aircraft carrier it's undergoing sea trials but is expected to be commissioned by the end of this year
@@theholyasdf3593 That was the INS Vikramaditya (formerly known as Admiral Gorshkov) the Indian Navy burnt a lot of money refurbishing a cold war era relic and learnt their lesson quickly following that Programme IAC-1(Indigenous Aircraft Carrier) was commissioned, which is now known as INS Vikrant. When Vikrant is commissioned IN will have 2 aircraft carriers one for each seaboard East & West.
Great coverage of the aircraft carrier evolution! I watch alot of these and you have done some great work here. In the future UAV's will dominate the sky and carrier.
Not as long as there are great pilots, and great training software to master. the allure of pilot-less aircraft is great and all, but there will still be a need of pilots in some fashion before we make the full transition.
@@azmannadim3742 na they will be obsolete, why have a battle group when a couple of missile cruisers will achieve similar results. Aircraft carriers even today are more about image then effective fighting power, I can fully see them in a similar situation to battleships in WW1 where they where more important to preserve then use.
@@generalharness8266 I think that they will stay mostly relevant. The ability to launch a large number of planes with your fleet without the worry of them running out of fuel, because they can always come back is a huge advantage.
@@generalharness8266 Missile cruisers will not replace carriers, or they would have already. 1 missile= 1 target kill (usually requiring some sort of ground asset to identify and mark target), air craft has several missiles and/or bombs, 20mm cannon and can more easily identify and hit multiple targets (11+ targets for F/A18s). Carriers carry multiple types of aircraft for different operations (can carry and operate 85-90 aircraft, usually 24-36 F/A 18E/Fs, 10-12 F/A18Cs, 4-6 E-18Gs, 4-6 E-2s, C-2, MV-22, 6-8 SH-60s or 130 F/A18s only), cruiser may have 2 helicopters (SH-60) for anti-submarine operations/personnel transport.
My grandfather served on CVE-78 Savo Island. The Navy sent him to MIT for radar school. At the time radar was huge, expensive, and was reserved for the highest value ships. They needed officer(s) on board who understood this new and experimental technology, and could repair, calibrate, adjust, and operate underway. (Unlikely to find spare parts west of Hawai'i.)
30 minutes and it wasnt even boring
Exactly what I thought
😊👍🏼
@@NotWhatYouThink can the problems with the Emals get solved? Or are they going to just use steam catapults again?
@@bruhmomento4590 I think that can be fixed, same with the AAG
@@NotWhatYouThink Yes this was a very good one,
well done
@@bruhmomento4590 So hard to tell the future. But if I was asked to bet on it, I'd bet on them fixing EMALS.
The Forrestal incident was still taught at Navy Bootcamp in 2009 when I went. Watching a video of what happened and how the crew saved the ship is basically your introduction to why fire fighting is important in the Navy.
It was also shown/taught in Navy boot camp when i went in the Summer of 1986.
@@elwin38 And in Spring/Summer of 1978 - and probably still today.
Some lessons NEVER grow old.
And how about the mole mc shame causing the Forrestal disaster ? Firing off a zuni across the deck at someone he didn't like much ?
@@rebelwithoutaclue8164 Total BS. Makes for a grand conspiracy, however.
@@elwin38 trial by fire. Mandatory viewing in bootcamp 1981 and every shipboard firefighting school I attended. Being a BT I went to a few...
30 min video from NWYT? is this heaven?
Yes, yes it is
Sir this is a Wendys
Yes
i was about to say that lmao😂 wtf this is like 20 of his episodes in 1
No, this is patrick🤣
9:16 “the bulbous bow always looks like that even when the ship is not excited”. What a legend.
That’s what she said.
Basically, this ships are running around with a littleChubby.
Just wait until our adversaries see them when they’re really excited!
My father served aboard the Antietam, and even as a child looking through his old books, I never knew how significant the ship was. Thank you so much for your work on this video.
I salute to your Father.
ur father did well and im happy he was in service so ill salute him too
Antietam 🤣🤣 the amount of hatred is real...
Not What You Think: video
Me: "another short and sweet clip"
Also NWYT: 30 min. documentary
Not what I thought.
Same (:
Yes, we all get use to nwyt posting short content but sometimes he posts documentaries
A suprise to be sure, but a welcome one
I see what you did there
I thought it would be about 10 min but naaaaaah
Something that doesn't seem to be mentioned often is early carriers had catapults but they weren't on the flight deck but in the hangar and they sent aircraft out the side. They weren't used often because they couldn't use the carrier's forward speed for additional lift
Interesting, thanks for mentioning that!
A lot of ships had catapult launched aircraft, virtually everything cruiser sized and above had aircraft mounted. The aircraft could land in the water next to the ship and be picked up by crane.
@@werewolfnar Yup, that even includes a few submarines with an aircraft launching catapult.
Catapults on many gunships were powder actuated.
@@shadowkillz9606 I think that was Japanese? I can't remember.
The pioneer days were sheer daredevil.
Engineers: Let's try this setup to see if you can land _safely_
Test pilots: Ok.
gets faceplanted
'Hold my beer' has been a world wide tradition for thousands of years...
They say that almost half of the scientists involved in the Manhattan project were concerned that they were going to light the atmosphere on fire but felt the risk was worth the reward.
My grandma's brother was a test pilot, he also knew chuck jaeger and was good friends with him :D
"Ight bet"
25:44
The reactors on the Nimitz were also much larger and much higher output than the ones on Enterprize, as the ones on Enterprize were specifically designed to replace conventional boilers on a 1 for 1 basis, keeping the design changes from the Kitty Hawk minimal in the hope of keeping costs down.
The Navy also had more experience with larger reactors by the time Nimitz first hit the design study stage.
I trained and qualified at A1W. I didn't know that. - It means you don't have to redesign the steam plant as well as introducing reactors. Tandem design is more feasible with experience. The "what if the reactors don't work" question has been answered ("don't work" can include not reliable enough.) Rickover was a brilliant engineer.
Enterprise, not Enterprize
How do you know all of this but not know how to spell enterprise?
@@kingssuck06 Just because I am an ex-Navy doesn't mean I was a spelling bee champion and am immune to typos.
@@kingssuck06 i can never say this enough, but knowledge and intellect are two separate things. Just because it's easier for someone to learn doesn't mean they will make the effort, nor does it mean someone not conventionally "smart" can't put in the effort to learn something to equal mastery. *edit* also, casual conversations are a really crappy place to try to big brain on semantics
10:50 Note about the addition of armored flight decks: Part of what finally convinced the US to adopt armored decks was the Royal Navy, whose carriers all had armored flight decks, and were noted to be able to shrug off Kamikaze strikes with little maintenance other than sweeping the debris of the deck.
did the debris include the dead pilot?
@@tonyatthebeach I do not know
@@tonyatthebeach I think that needed scrapping off rather than sweeping :3
"by the way the bulbous bow always looks like that, even when its not excited"
I can't🤣🤣
B... But... how do we know they aren't just always excited?
@@angelarch5352 oh yeah, land on me daddy!
I can tell this will turn into a cursed comment thread
Bulge OwO what's this
Very good documentary giving a good overview of carrier innovation over the years. There are only two things you forgot to mention:
1. Catapults allow the aircraft to carry higher fuel and payloads as compared with ski jump or VTOL launched aircraft.
2. The superstructure originally caused port/starboard weight imbalance but was overcome by careful placement of equipment to counterbalance the weight.
The superstructure weight imbalance issue mostly went away when the angle deck got common - if anything, it's usually not ENOUGH to balance the angle deck (though it helps some).
Except it was actually done across the pond. HMS Hermes 1924 have a look at her features. She even had a bow catapults which were removed. The starboard island with lifts behind the arrestor wires.....
The Royal Navy innovations include the angled flight deck, steam catapults and mirror landing system.
Eric Brown was the first pilot to land a twin engined aircraft the Mosquito on an aircraft carrier. HMS Indefatigable 25 3 44. The following year he landed a de Havilland Vampire on HMS Ocean 3 12 45 making the first jet to land on a carrier....
Armoured flight decks..... etc
Appalling video.
@@davidbroadley2983 very good comment because the British even welded the first carrier at Cammell Laird shipyard but the USA make out that all Carrier technology was theirs and they even now make out that steam powered VTOL technology is also theirs
It was Great Britain (RN) That made the very first aircraft carrier and made it with the single island but the Royal Navy have now upgraded to a two-island design.
“On 7 May 1913 the Royal Navy commissioned its first aviation ship. The old light cruiser, Hermes, launched in 1898, was converted to a seaplane carrier. Canvas shelters to hold aircraft were installed on the stern and forward of the bridge structure and aircraft-handling booms installed on the masts.
During World War I the British navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, which was built on a converted merchant-ship hull.
You are welcome world;-)
We should go back to the old naming schemes, like Bunker Hill, Coral Sea, Midway, Ranger, Kitty Hawk, etc.
yeah lmao
The British have the coolest ship names, except their two new carriers. I'm tired of naming boats after people. Boring sounding names.
As long as they dont name a carrier after Obama or Biden!
I do like some of the older names like Midway, Yorktown. and Lexington. Im just happy we arent getting a carrier named after Obama or Biden. Hell China might honor Biden by naming its next carrier after Biden because we all know Biden is on the payroll of the communist Chinese. As far as Obama, he was just and idiot that hates the US. I wouldn't mind seeing a carrier named after Trump like most other veterans.
@@mississippirebel1409 no not the three of them, just the classic ones
I was lucky enough to serve as a Boiler Technician on USS Lexington from 1983-1986. We still steamed her "almost" just like they did during WW2. The only differences for us was the fuel was no longer black oil that had to be heated to flow. WE used Diesel fuel marine or F76. Sometimes before fires side maintenance we would burn JP5 to make the soot easier to clean from the boiler tubes 8- 600 PSI 850Degree superheated steam Babcock & Wilcox M type boilers. Fully manual control! We lit fires with a zippo lighter to light a hand held torch that was fuel soaked asbestos pucks bolted on the steel rod that was inserted in the firebox. on a good day it was only 100 degrees on the burner front. BTW this was the coolest place in the boiler room! Every time the Catapult was launched. You could feel it shake the ship all the way down in the boiler room where you could see the effect on the steam drum pressure gauge and had to quickly increase the firing rate by adding fuel/air mix to the firebox to make up the steam pressure loss via the cat shot! That and you were already hauling ass to provide speed for more wind to give the planes more lift on launch. Good times! Also the very first crash shown on the video was on the Lexington not that long after I left. That was a bad one. Even on a training carrier it is very dangerous. Lost a few shipmates and not all were on the flight deck..
long live The Lady Lex!. i think she was the first model carriers i ever had, one of those Revell kits.
I volunteered on a WW2 aircraft carrier for a few years. One of the big jobs was restoring one of the fire rooms. The other had been stripped for parts. I would have probably hated working down there as it was probably insanely hot and loud. There was a huge turbine-like fan that shot cooled air into the compartment.
The flight deck on a carrier is absolutely the most dangerous place in the world to work. As an Aviation Boatswains Mate (Handler), better known as a yellow shirt, I can attest to that fact. I've seen first hand what can happen if you are not paying attention at all times. Great video. Well done.
I pray for your continued health and safety as well as that of the rest of the crew
Been on the Flight deck during flight Ops before too. Even when it was just qualifying pilots, no ordinance and only using 2 catapults, it’s still incredibly dangerous. I love being up there, but I don’t envy you guys who HAVE to be up there
I used to work with a guy.....
Squid. Deck Boss. He'd tell me stories and say an active flight deck is the most dangerous place blah blah blah.
I'd always reply with the same retort: "Is the flight deck trying to kill you?"
You see I'm a Marine. I chewed sand in active combat zones. I'd have to argue that living 24/7 in a plywood shack surrounded by religious fanatics who literally NEED to kill you or die trying is more dangerous than a modern flight deck.
Places like......Camp Gannon. I was there. They wrote books about that place. Real wild west Al Anbaar shit.
"Blood Stripes" is one such book.
You ever been told you must wear body armor AND carry your weapon in condition 1 at all times? Even in the shower? You ever been without power in sub-freezing temperatures for weeks while dudes lob mortars, rockets and sniper fire at you all day?
Not even talking about driving on an MSR loaded with daisy chain IEDs just to get chow.
No. No I must disagree with you Squid. An active warzone "outside the wire" is most definitely the most dangerous place to be in uncle Sammy's service.
Elaborate on what you saw 🤨
@@daviswhite3591 joining Marine is stupid
Deck edge elevators: As soon as I saw elevators on the main deck earlier in the video, I was asking myself, "what if one of them breaks?" How was this not thought of immediately upon design? "What if it breaks?" Has to always be the first thing you ask yourself when buying or designing anything.
according to them broken elevator is not on their list of important things to remember
The answer? Barring major combat damage that messes the mechanics of a in deck elevator and breakdown is going to occur in the motor that lifts it. The answer to what if that motor breaks is essentially that a capstan will be installed and the lifting mechanism will be powered by hand.
Obviously this will be too slow for normal flight operations and would mostly be used to elevate the inboard elevator and lock it in it’s up position
I guess you could plank them over if needed, with some support beams into the hangar. Planking material is probably at hand in order to fix flight deck anyways.
Edge elevators didn't really appear until the Essex class, with a very rudimentary version trialed on USS Wasp. I am not sure why originally internal elevators where preferred. I guess for the CV conversions it might have been to difficult to pierce the hull on the sides without compromising structural stiffness. Also for the armoured carriers the armoured sides (and deck) where part of the ships structure, and lift where placed in front and aft of the armoured hangar. I don't know the reasoning for the Yorktowns, cause technically they had hangar catapults installed, and as such probably could fit an edge elevator on that location instead. But then again, war was coming, the USN needed some optimized carriers instead of the (large and powerful, but with some drawbacks that hindered deck operations) Lexingtons, so no time (and weight budget?) to experiment to much.
Not only that, but what if you need to...you know...actually use it. Launch and recovery must cease either way. No idea why they thought this was a good design.
Well, since the fact that one of those broke caused the big E to lose it's capability to receive planes...there you have your answer
Very good job! My life was flight deck operations for 19 of my 26 years in the Navy. I only caught a couple things worthy of notice. USS Midway only had 2 catapults, both on the bow. 2 huge innovations that came from Forrestal and Enterprise fires were flush deck fire nozzles and mobile firefighting vehicles. I never heard anyone call them bridle catchers. The correct term is bridle arrestors, but everyone simply called them horns. Interesting note: many ships had their horns cut off in the shipyard after they became obsolete. USS Enterprise's commanding officer wouldn't allow it so that Big E would remain the longest aircraft carrier. Green shirts are also worn by squadron maintenance personnel and blue shirts are also worn by chock and chain guys known as aircraft handlers. Lastly, we can't operate the 2 waist catapults during landing operations because they are in the landing area. However, shooting the bow catapults can continue.
My bad I called the horns catchers in the ramp strike video
@@JoeBLOWFHB really I was just nitpicking. The reality is it was a great video.
@@JoeBLOWFHB Generally good overview, some issues in the details.
I actually red all of it
Sir I would like to first thank you for your service to our country. You are, in my eyes, a hero. These nuclear powered carriers amaze me that they can go decades between refuel. That is amazing.
R.I.P aircraft carrier sailors who lost their lifes.
F
Well, Those who play with fire.....
@@alltheusernameswastaken8936 lol, cynic.
"lives" mis-spelling can be fatal.
@@HarryNicNicholas found a joke in there lol
It’s a large version of the British Carrier who welded the first carrier, invented the steam Catapult, angled flight deck, Optical Landing System, Armoured deck, Radar, STOVL and then made them Nuclear Powered which will be devastating during warfare
14:14 Another advantage of the angled flight deck is that if the landing aircraft misses and can't get airborne again, it crashes into the sea BESIDE the ship, rather than in front of it.
Isn't it weird that the founder of amazon could afford to build 19 Nimitz class carriers
Or 1 ISS.
***only
No it’s not weird...
Exactly what I thought
You can always tell somebody has way too much money when they start trying to fly in space.
So..... we're just going to ignore the totally naked crewmember strolling around on deck at 2:04?
They couldnt waste any weight on clothes.
Too hot in the pacific I guess
Yes, yes we are
It is the Navy. Nothing to see there.
The captain designed his own uniform
Uncle Drach has some real competition. Also can't belive NWYT didn't mention all the damage Enterprise took
had to keep it short, as you can talk about Enterprise alone for 30 minutes
Even Yorktown's epic 3 days of surviving waves of attacks was limited to "Yorktown was sunk at the battle of Midway".
@@werewolfnar yorktown is one hell of tough carrier. Lore's the enemy and made them sank 1 ship 3x Lol😂
Leave that to Animarchy, hes currently working on the Grey Ghost and his last video on the IJN Akagi alone was over 2 hours long. ^^
@@primangelollait8548 Actually four times if you count the time they actually sunk it.
14:22
*ALL* of the Essex/Ticonderoga and Midway class ships that remained in service eventually got angle deck conversions - as did those early Forestal class that started construction as straight-deck.
USS Ranger (CV-61) was the first US carrier built from the keel up as an Angle Deck carrier.
It's true, but Forrestal and Saratoga were initially launched with angled decks so the "conversion" was more of a redesign mid build and the affected areas had nothing to do with the keel, nor were they top heavy like the Midways. I was on the Forrestal and it was pretty stable in heavy seas.
@@kwaktak Forrestal and Saratoga were designed under project SCB 80 and laid down as axial deck carriers and converted to angled deck ships while under construction - so it's fair to say the conversion was while they were being built.
None of that class or the later ones were top heavy like the Midways - 20 feet taller from keel to flight deck (and about the same in hull width) left more space for hull and room to better shape it. MUCH better sea boats, and MUCH less spray reaching the flight deck messing up flight operations.
The conversion to angle deck did mess up the starboard elevator (it would have been usable on the original straight deck design, but it was almost useless on the angle deck due to it blocking the angle deck cats and other positioning issues), the latter Kitty Hawk class rearranged things for better efficiency of elevator usage.
That is kind of fitting, since Ranger CV-4 was the first American purpose built aircraft carrier.
I grew up living about a 12 minute drive away from Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. Where they build these behemoths. And seeing these floating cities taxiing in and out of the docks is truly a sight to behold! They are absolutely MASSIVE! It's hard to believe that ships that large can actually float lol. My dad was a senior engineer that maintained and repaired the ginormous cranes that put these things together. He used to tell me about how he had the best view of the peninsula while working 230 feet up at the top of the cranes.
Definitely one of the best documentaries on the American carrier evolution! I think you should make a short video on the British pilot who started this plane landing on battleships idea! He had some successful ones and some failures! He later passed away in one of his unsuccessful landings after overshooting into the water and was unable to get outta the plane and drowned! If my memory is correct, the Americans and other countries like UK and Japan took his idea and made it successful!
The Americans were the first to preform a landing in 1911. One year later, a Brit was the first to take off from a ship. The idea of aircraft carriers doesn't belong to any single nation.
@BloxyHD yeah I'm pretty sure you're correct
@@chaosXP3RT oh thanks for the correction. Idk much about it but thanks for explaining anyways
British were first to the true aircraft carrier ewith the HMS hermes
@BloxyHD bro i used that source too…
I think i got the names wrong i guess
My dad was stationed on an aircraft carrier during Vietnam. There were two stories he told me about what happened on the flight deck that stuck out to me.
The first one he was below decks in a break room where they had a black and white TV that was apparently showing CCTV footage from the deck. He watched as a jet that still had some bombs mounted landed and got trapped by the arresting wire. One of the bombs wasn't too securely attached and came off while the jet was decelerating, skipped down the runway, and went down over the bow. He expected it to go off but it apparently wasn't armed.
The other one was when a jet had crashed while attempting to land and he was out on the deck helping with damage control. He saw what he thought was the overboard dummy, due to the limbs looking boneless like a rag doll, laying out out he deck, and thought it was odd it hadn't been stowed away properly. He was surprised a few seconds later when a bunch of medics came over, put it on the stretcher, and took off. Turns out it was the pilot.
Thanks for sharing. It’s one thing to see some footage. It’s another thing to live that moment.
My great grandfather was on a carrier in ww2, he died when I was young, but my grandpa told me stories, he broke his back in a kamikaze attack, there is nothing scarier than watching what is essentially a big bomb come flying at you. He did get to go in Alden once or twice, but he did not like, only two warm beers and no women, I also got to read is diary, he served on the ISS Wasp
@@NotWhatYouThink my great grandpa served on the USS Wasp, not the one sink in 1043, the one after that, I am not sure if this is 100 percent true, but the plane that sunk the Yamato came from the wasp
@@huhh4380 My dad was on the USS Hancock, one of the Essex-class carriers that was mentioned in the video (kind of surprised me, hardly ever hear anything about the Hancock; it seems to be fairly obscure as far as carriers go, probably because the Essex class was so big).
Uh, I'm Vietnamese.
"Even when the ship is not excited" hahahahaha
Was looking for this comment lol
When does this happen
@BloxyHD they asked a question
organism
lol
I recently visited the USS Midway in San Diego. It was a very fascinating experience and I learned so much about the USS Midway and aircraft carriers in general. I would highly recommend anyone in the area to go check it out. There was so much there that I could not possibly type it out but you will definitely not leave without learning something new!
I feel like the best idea in the Nimitz class was designing it with the assumption that technology would improve before the first carriers were finished, and they needed to be designed with the intent of immediate updates, hence the modular design. It’s rare to see that kind of forward thinking at the time.
2:02 Obviously uniform of the day was an optional thing back then... and that included clothing in general
"In the navy" existe way before WMCA for what I see.
@@myvideosetc.8271 YMCA?
Hahahaha! I saw that!
@@andreferro4618 Sorry I had a brain fart, I meant this from the same band: ruclips.net/video/InBXu-iY7cw/видео.html
Yea That took me out of the video.
"the bulbous bow always looks like that, even when they're not ecxited"
Different case for me
Daaaaaaamn
You a grower?
we bought one of these old carriers but still can't get it in the driveway.
Evolution of American aircraft carriers after 100 years : America's mainland become a super carrier
If you think about it, the continent IS moving in the water...
and they DO have planes...
I like how the old aircraft carriers were just a ship with a plate on the top. I think we could have a mini-carrier with helicopters that'd have 2 decks, 1 for storage and 1 for deploying aircraft with an elevator.
Thanks! Great job at putting all these infos and footage together!
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed the video :-)
Great doc on the history of carriers. I'm a history buff and made 5 deployments aboard carriers starting with the Enterprise and ending with the Nimitz and this was very enjoyable to watch. My son watched it with me and I paused it several times to point out things to him.
Come on yall, hit the thumbs up button for this video! So much work and time went into producing this amazing documentary and our guy deserves a ton of likes :)
Hehe thanks Josiah. Appreciate the kind words 😊
It was Great Britain (RN) That made the very first aircraft carrier and made it with the single island but the Royal Navy have now upgraded to a two-island design.
“On 7 May 1913 the Royal Navy commissioned its first aviation ship. The old light cruiser, Hermes, launched in 1898, was converted to a seaplane carrier. Canvas shelters to hold aircraft were installed on the stern and forward of the bridge structure and aircraft-handling booms installed on the masts.
During World War I the British navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, which was built on a converted merchant-ship hull.
You are welcome world;-)
After hearing about the "Learning The Hard Way" section, I realized that:
One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.
That sounds like something stalin will say
@@zeroshikagure7997 he did
Oh shi
-comrade Josef Stalin "the man of steel"
Thank you for that observation, Comrade Iosip.
one day a guy woke up and thought to himself “ima put an airport on a boat”
Mad lad
Excellent video! I was stationed aboard USS Midway(CV-41). Really appreciate your serious attention to detail and humor covering a subject close to my heart. Bravo 👏
It’s impressive and you can truly see the evolutions
British Aircraft Carriers perhaps? It’s interesting how the British differed their design due to operations in the Mediterranean (larger focus on armour etc).
British aircraft carrier design was more focused on attacking the Japanese, not the Germans or Italians, hence their lack of effectiveness against U Boats, high speed destroyers, and small cruisers. Britain focused her designs against Japan as they imagined fighting the Japanese, the armoured deck aboard the Illustrious class carriers would only see her fully effective state against the Japanese in the final days of WWII, but at that point, Japan was using kamikazes and the armour was partially negated as they was not prepared against kamikazes
@@aceapache4914 I don't think the last part of your comment is particularly correct. British carriers were rather famously capable at dealing with Kamikaze attacks, which more often than not would simply splatter on the deck without dealing significant damage.
@@aceapache4914. When the British invented the aircraft carrier, it was because they knew they would be using them worldwide, and they were built for this in mind, as well as the maximum tonnage that was allowed......... And, they were most definitely not, thinking of using them against our main ally in the Far East, the Japanese(this is known, by the people who already know that the Royal Navy, was instrumental in helping the Japanese to start their own naval airforce)........
Also the British aircraft carriers(which didn’t suffer from one sinking or being taken out of commission for more than a few hours, which was needed to “just sweep the decks” of Japanese kamikaze debris), were the only aircraft carriers in the Pacific fleets, that were able to just sweep the Japanese debris into the ocean(this is a quote from one of the septic fliers that had taken refuge on a British ship, after he was stopped from landing on his own ship, because of a Kamikaze), after the Kamikazes had a hard landing on our armoured decks(which happened up to six times, on some of the British ships), unlike the ineffective wooden tops that the septics used, which had a habit of sinking when they had the same interaction with the Japanese planes......
An interesting evolution was that the nav(ies) found that specializing operations on specific carriers worked better than mixing functions. Instead of each carrier in a group having fighter(defense) and attack aircraft, it worked better to concentrate all the fighters on one or two carriers and run attack aircraft exclusively off the others. This started in 1942 and became standard by 1944-45. Carriers operated in groups of 4 starting in 1944 with one dedicated to fighters. When the RN joined the Pacific operations it seemed the RN carriers were better suited to the fighter function.
@@aceapache4914 I’m not sure where you got all this information because as mentioned by others, British armoured carriers weren’t designed to fight just Japan, they were more likely focused on German (and maybe Italian) land Based aviation which were more than Likely to be using heavy ordnance against the carriers. This resulted in the design of the Illustrious using heavily armoured flight decks, a feature the USN copied and pasted onto USS Midway, mind you.
Additionally there is no way the British would have been design carriers against Kamikaze attacks in the late 1930’s because:
Firstly the Kamikaze Tactic wasn’t used , even commonly, until late into 1944, so there is no possible way we could have been designing a ship against such a thing in the 1930’s.
Secondly, it was possible that the RN, similarly to the USN, saw the IJN as inferior and less advanced, and probably didn’t think much of their capabilities. However if this is true, it certainly would have been to a lesser extent to that of the USN’s beliefs.
Also, it is rather difficult to hit a moving target that is moving at high speeds. It is not limited to the RN that planes weren’t always the most effective way of dealing with light surface combatants. As for U-Boats, well, that job was probably almost entirely delegated to Escort Carriers such as the Bogue and Attacker class, and land based bombers. Fleet Carriers were more concerned with attacking enemy fleets or surface combatants and Anti submarine duty would be handed to basically anything else that could do it.
Shipyards: Hey US Navy How many carriers do you want us to build?
US Navy: Yes !!!
And the shipyards sure aren’t complaining.
@@logantwidell677 There is only one shipyard capable of building carriers.
Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News VA. One at a time.
"All of them."
The Carrier is the King of War. Power Overwhelming! 🤘🤘
I love how they're performing Landings with Aircraft parked at the other end..... No pressure.
This long video was seriously not what I thought
Carrier mastery is in American's blood! over 100 years of experience, they perfected it at this point. Carriers paved the war for Americans before , only time will tell how they will manage against modern warfare and hypersonic missiles.
It’s too the point that America’s Carriers are so well equipped they are strictly a deterrent. At this point who would dare challenge them openly? My guess is they’ll never get used in an all out Naval battle.
I'm betting on aircraft supersubmarine carriers. Basically submersible supercarriers. Pops up out of the ocean, released a swarm of ai drones, then goes back under until mission is done.
@@FractalNinja You know, at this point submarines already do that, just that the drones are suicide drones, better known as ballistic missiles lol
The British are the masters of the sea! The Americans are the masters of the air!
It's called phalanx
Please more long form military documentaries. This is awesome
I really enjoyed this video. I am a plankowner on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70). Our first cruise was when we were transferred from Norfolk, Va to Alameda, Ca. We took the long route by going east, with a couple of 60 day pauses in the North Arabian Sea.
It was Great Britain (RN) That made the very first aircraft carrier and made it with the single island but the Royal Navy have now upgraded to a two-island design.
“On 7 May 1913 the Royal Navy commissioned its first aviation ship. The old light cruiser, Hermes, launched in 1898, was converted to a seaplane carrier. Canvas shelters to hold aircraft were installed on the stern and forward of the bridge structure and aircraft-handling booms installed on the masts.
During World War I the British navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, which was built on a converted merchant-ship hull.
You are welcome world;-)
I'm a 65 year old woman. How come I love aircraft carrier videos.
Because you’re awesome 😊👍🏼
Did anyone else notice the pattern of the British developing all the cool carrier tech and the US just running with it...
British make the cool stuff, the US test it in the field, then the British use what the Americans learned to build the next thing that the Americans test again
It's a beautiful balance lmao
Well, now it's more like "we build cool stuff and the brits put a ramp on a Forrestal sized carrier"
Because they had the money and political will to do so. Unfortunately the situation was very different in Britain, with a struggling post-war economy, a shrinking empire and reducing overseas commitments, and political lobbying by the RAF trying to secure more funding for themselves (at the cost of Royal Navy aviation).
@@Solidboat123 No ! the UK actually was at war as their industry was getting carpet bombed unlike the USA who was in the safe world and don’t use one of those carriers today because I wouldn’t want to be on one when a reactor is hit. The RAF still do the dangerous low level bombing raids whilst other nations watch from high up
this is his longest video !
New record
Yes but it didn't feel long. Great pacing and the 2 stories of those fired were so awful. But like all human tragedies, we learn from our mistakes so they never happen again.
Go team!
Ok, it's almost done, 10 seconds left, wait. Wait, it's 1 minute, oooh it's those long 10 minutes NWYT,
Wait.
😁
So nobody’s gonna talk about the naked guy walking on the flight deck at 2:05😂
I thought I was going crazy then I checked the comments and for sure thought I was going crazy lol until I found this comment now we’re going crazy together 😂
My Dad served on Antietam in the late 50's - early 60's. He told me of the time when she was attempting to dock at Pensacola and crashed into it instead. And navigating thru an Atlantic tropical storm when the waves washed across the flight deck.
My dad also served on the antietam during the Korean war 1950 ish he told me about riding out a storm in the sea of Japan that came over the decks. I have a I guess what you would call a year book from the ship dated 1951 plus a funeral program that dad saved when they buried some men at sea. dad was a gun captain on the quad 40 overlooking the deck he saw a lot of of planes that got all shot up while on bombing raids only to crash on the deck or hit the barrier. After the war the ship returned to Seattle where the crew was let off and a skeleton crew sailed through the Panama canal to the Virginia shipyards to have the angled flight deck installed. The crew then switched to the Shangrla and sailed it back through the canal to Seattle. Dad is 92 years old
@@dalepitts6642
Thank your Dad for serving in the Navy for me. Mine is 82 and was a signalman. He inspired me to try to enlist after high school. I was rejected because of blindness in my right eye, and suffered sever asthma.
I can’t wait for the new Enterprise to be launched!
My Pops served on the Big E (CVNA-65) in Nam.
Doesn’t feel right to not have an Enterprise patrolling the seas!
Back in Fleet Week ’06, I went inside and there was both a F-14 AND a SR-71. It was beautiful.
"... the Enterprise, the finest vessel in the fleet." Lieutenant Commander Spock in TOS episode " The Immunity Syndrome".
Agreed! Of course CV-6 left some damn big shoes to fill!
You might be waiting a while for the Enterprise (CVN-81). CVN-80 just started construction less than a year ago.
@@logantwidell677 Uhh, CVN 80 IS the Enterprise. And her steel-cutting ceremony was August of 17. So she is well and truly under construction currently. CVN 81 is slated to be laid down in '26.
this has got to be some of the best historical footage i've ever seen!
Thanks!
Thank god another evolution video. Keep making these for all 7 types of ships. Pls
We will do our best. They are pretty big projects, but we are always happy with the result when they are done.
@@NotWhatYouThink I would love to hear about what other countries did for their aircraft carriers (even if it only ends up being a UK video + a second video over-viewing other countries).
@@NotWhatYouThink whether you can do it or not, I have learned so much from your videos. Keep it up!
Visited the USS Midway in San Diego. Very cool, got to hear a lot of stories about the evolution of carriers from the docents onboard
9:07 Imagine missing a shot, and it being watched by millions of people decades later
Super good, as an ex RN officer and engineer I think that's a fair review. Awesome bits of kit.
Thanks Nick!
This video taught me a lot about aircraft carriers, And it was interesting the entire time!
One of the most informative articles I’ve ever read, much appreciated.
in my 4 years of service in the Navy in the mid 80's, I was Damage Control, and I certainly remember the films made about the Forrestal and Enterprise fires for training purposes.
The Franklin just hanging over like that and still being able to get back on its own. Amazing. Must’ve been scary sailing
"The bulbous bow is like that even when the ship is not excited..."
Hahahaha! Hahahaha!
Very good footage, some of it, I have never seen before.
Very good style of doing documentary.
You got a new subscriber.
Very good job!
Greetings from Brazil.
Cheers Andre!
Whats concerning is the WW2 carriers were improved and optimized through the fire of combat whereas modern carriers are entirely built on theory. I suspect while they have plenty of great features, if they actually see "real" combat in a large scale war... major flaws will be found.
i didnt think about that
When they retire the ships they try to sink them then improve from those results
Called "Sod's" Law.
Do you not think that maybe, just maybe, Modern carriers still hold onto the lessons learned from the past just like every modern day technology and engineering does??
@@BuLLetwhitOutaGun Warfare has changed a lot since WW2. Modern carriers haven’t been faced with the challenges of modern war
I love your teachings. I appreciate the voice. ( not computer animated). Very professional. 👍
30 minute video ?
My god in heaven this is clearly the best thing ever
That color footage takeoff from the Lexington was incredible
NWYT '21 when taking photos: Skillshare
US Marines '05 when taking photos: Skullshare
very impressive coverage of the changes in carriers. i enjoyed it
Wow, you can tell why you have such proffesional sounding audio! Did you start the channel with this setup or invest as you grew?
Also, awsome video!!
I had the microphone and the pop filter starting with out very first video.
Adding the acoustic foams made a big difference in audio quality.
Hope that helps. If you have more questions, please use the email in the “about” section of the page.
@@NotWhatYouThink I appreciate your quality audio and the way you present your narration. So many cool videos I can't watch because of the terrible narration.
"It always looks like this, even when it's not excited!" AWESOME!
Very informative video for the evolution of air craft carrier
British: We have a lot of crazy invention for carrier. But we have no carrier.....
American: don't worry friend, we will buy your invention and put them onto our carrier. :D
You know the british had carriers since it was first invented, guess somebody havent seen the Queen elizabeth class yet
@@SnakeHarrow77 I think they don't use their own catapult tech even though, since they're lazy knowing that F-35s can do short takeoffs, right?
@@oneinsilence1121 well back when the queen elizabeth class was still in the design phase, they did want to operate the F-35C's along with the F-35B's, but the F35C's need to take off from a catapult, but they wanted to operate the same catapult system that was used in the Gerald Ford class since the steam catapult was a little bit outdated, but due to it still unreliable they decided to go for the short take off that is capable for the F35B
All British carrier inventions have been used on British carriers (up until Ark Royal's decommissioning in 1979). Royal Navy fleet carriers were equipped with arresting gear since the '30s, and steam catapults since the '50s. HMS Centaur was the first British carrier commissioned with an angled deck in 1954, with Ark Royal following in '55 (the first carrier in the world to have an angled deck fitted during construction, rather than as a retrofit post-launch). The optical landing system was first tested on two British carriers in the early '50s, then put into frontline service in 1954 (one year prior to the first US carrier use of the system).
@@SnakeHarrow77 Tossup between the Brits and the Japanese who had the first actual carrier (as opposed to the first ship converted to a carrier, the USS Langley).
Good video, I served onboard the USS Independence, CV-62 from September 74 to June 1, 1978. Going to sea is what differentiates the USN from other branches of the services!
😊👍🏼
You are so right Mark! During that time I was stationed in Germany with the AF and had a rented chalet in Switzerland for skiing.
The only thing we need now is a helicarrier like the avengers.
Hail hydra
That's impossible to do if u understand science
@@widodoakrom3938 it’s easier to implement if we find a power source to do it. The helicarriers in Avengers are powered by arc reactors.
I think some better options would be a space carrier, or a submarine version of a super carrier. On top of the water or in the sky is too vulnerable. But deep below or high above could be workable.
@@FractalNinja Big boy nuclear space station sounds like a great idea lol. Can be expanded infinitely and it never has to land.
Voice is perfect for shorts. Not for longer videos.
Great video. I served on the Connie (CVA-64) from 1963 - 1966. Brought back many memories. Many thanks to the plane captains who parked their F4s over my fire control radar!
Please do an evolution of submarines.
What great effort to put all these videos together and present them professionally.
As for the future, I expect that the biggest changes will be the role of automation/drone technologies both offensively as carrier armament and defense against them will be big factors, as well as hypersonic anti-naval missiles currently in development. We'll see how the design holds up.
Do you honestly think drones aren't used by the Fleet ?
They went from converted merchant ships to the most advanced warships ever conceived of by humanity... and they are still evolving.
That E-3 Sentry save was impressive. Thought that thing was gone.
Outstanding video. The comparative analysis of refinements and evolutionary changes are fascinating and something I've never seen in a single video about aircraft carriers. I learned that the British are responsible for some of the most significant innovations, even after the US emerged from WW2 as the preeminent power in naval aviation. That's something I was completely unaware of. Thank you!
Limeys are significant for giving us fish and chips. And buggery.
@@rebelwithoutaclue8164 and watching Rice Farmers batter you in Vietnam
I think the main reasons for the British innovations, were because of budget constraints as well as the brains. Post war the Americans had several large carriers in the 24 ships of the Essex class and 4 of the midway class. Compared to the smaller carriers of Royal Navy like the 4 Illustrious and 2 Impeccable class ships. The only ships the RN had even comparable to two dozen of the Essex class were just two Audacious class ships. With no plans or money to build anything larger as the Malta class (Midway equivalents) had already been cancelled with wars end. So while the Americans had several large aircraft carriers and the ability to build even larger ones, they had no desperate need to maximise space and deck area. Obviously the Royal Navy on the other hand desperately sought solutions to get their jet powered aircraft on to pre-existing relatively restricted carriers.
@@GG-ir1hwIt was Great Britain (RN) That made the very first aircraft carrier and made it with the single island but the Royal Navy have now upgraded to a two-island design.
“On 7 May 1913 the Royal Navy commissioned its first aviation ship. The old light cruiser, Hermes, launched in 1898, was converted to a seaplane carrier. Canvas shelters to hold aircraft were installed on the stern and forward of the bridge structure and aircraft-handling booms installed on the masts.
During World War I the British navy developed the first true aircraft carrier with an unobstructed flight deck, the HMS Argus, which was built on a converted merchant-ship hull.
You are welcome world;-)
@@azzajames7661 I don’t know why you replied to my comment with this information. I was talking about post WW2 innovations and why the Royal Navy and not the USN were the ones to innovate.
Awesome work again! Loving the military-themed content a lot. keep it up :)
i really loved watching the old footage NWYT has consistent explaining making the engagement so much better
I now understood that earlier the airplane used in aircraft carriers did not needed a large runway .
That's why catapults were not from the initial stage .
this is contrary to what I used to think I used to think that earlier United States aircraft carriers also had a ski jump
These type of videos bring insights and clarity about many things
The importance of an angled flight deck isn't really about simultaneous launch and recovery, but about deck space. With an angled landing zone, the deck can be used to park space-hungry fast jets.
A video this long from you is like finally finding a needle within the haystack 0o0
Hehe, but we got quite a few long videos now. We try to publish one long(er) video per week.
Watching from India :)
Will be glad to hear something abt other countries too...
Btw nice content and Amazing voice... + superb videos...
I seem to recall that India is making headway into having their own aircraft carriers. Even 100 years later, it is still an exclusive club, welcome to it.
Would be interesting to see India build their own aircraft carrier one day from the ground up in my lifetime!
@@theholyasdf3593 we have... INS Vikrant our first indigenous aircraft carrier it's undergoing sea trials but is expected to be commissioned by the end of this year
@@madheshiya26 Oh wow. For some reason I thought it was a heavily upgraded Russian carrier
@@theholyasdf3593 That was the INS Vikramaditya (formerly known as Admiral Gorshkov) the Indian Navy burnt a lot of money refurbishing a cold war era relic and learnt their lesson quickly following that Programme IAC-1(Indigenous Aircraft Carrier) was commissioned, which is now known as INS Vikrant. When Vikrant is commissioned IN will have 2 aircraft carriers one for each seaboard East & West.
9:20 I hate you, i was watching this with my mum XXDD
I was never really interested in boats until this channel.
I watched the whole 30 minutes and enjoyed every single second
Great coverage of the aircraft carrier evolution! I watch alot of these and you have done some great work here. In the future UAV's will dominate the sky and carrier.
Thanks Eric!
Not as long as there are great pilots, and great training software to master. the allure of pilot-less aircraft is great and all, but there will still be a need of pilots in some fashion before we make the full transition.
What will aircraft carriers look like in the next 90 years?
my mind: flying aircraft carriers.
Probably
*u won’t need to drive a jet then*
@@azmannadim3742 na they will be obsolete, why have a battle group when a couple of missile cruisers will achieve similar results. Aircraft carriers even today are more about image then effective fighting power, I can fully see them in a similar situation to battleships in WW1 where they where more important to preserve then use.
@@generalharness8266 I think that they will stay mostly relevant. The ability to launch a large number of planes with your fleet without the worry of them running out of fuel, because they can always come back is a huge advantage.
@@generalharness8266 Missile cruisers will not replace carriers, or they would have already. 1 missile= 1 target kill (usually requiring some sort of ground asset to identify and mark target), air craft has several missiles and/or bombs, 20mm cannon and can more easily identify and hit multiple targets (11+ targets for F/A18s). Carriers carry multiple types of aircraft for different operations (can carry and operate 85-90 aircraft, usually 24-36 F/A 18E/Fs, 10-12 F/A18Cs, 4-6 E-18Gs, 4-6 E-2s, C-2, MV-22, 6-8 SH-60s or 130 F/A18s only), cruiser may have 2 helicopters (SH-60) for anti-submarine operations/personnel transport.
NWYT: drop us a comment
Anchor: falls into the ocean
My grandfather served on CVE-78 Savo Island. The Navy sent him to MIT for radar school. At the time radar was huge, expensive, and was reserved for the highest value ships. They needed officer(s) on board who understood this new and experimental technology, and could repair, calibrate, adjust, and operate underway. (Unlikely to find spare parts west of Hawai'i.)
one of the best military channels in YT