Latest posts

Aircraft carriers are warships that evolved from balloon-carrying wooden vessels into nuclear-powered vessels carrying scores of fixed and rotary-win aircraft.  Since their introduction they have allowed naval forces to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations.

Balloon carriers were the first ships to deploy manned aircraft, used during the 19^th and early 20^th century, mainly for observation purposes.  The advent of fixed-wing aircraft in 1902 was followed in 1910 by the first fight from the deck of a US Navy cruiser.  Seaplanes and seaplane tender support ships, such as HMS Engadine, followed.  The development of flat top vessels produced the first large fleet ships.  This evolution was well underway by the early to mid-1920s, resulting in the commissioning of ships such as Hosho (1922), HMS Hermes (1924).  Beam (1927), and the Lexington-class aircraft carriers (1927).

Most early aircraft carriers were conversions of ships that were laid down (or had even served) as different ship types: cargo ships, cruisers, battlecruisers, or battleships.  During the 1920s, several navies started ordering and building aircraft carriers that were specifically designed as such.  This allowed the design to be specialized to their future role and resulted in superior ships.  During the Second World War, these ships would become the backbone of the carrier forces of the Us, British, and Japanese navies, known as fleet carriers.

World War II saw the first large-scale use of aircraft carriers and induced further refinement of their launch and recovery cycle leading to several design variants.  The USA built small escort carriers, such as the USS Bogue, as a stop-gap measure to provide air support for convoys and amphibious invasions.  Subsequent light aircraft carriers, such as USS Independence, represented a large, more “militarized” version of the escort carrier concept.  Although the light carriers usually carried the same size air groups as escort carriers, they had the advantage of higher speed as they had been converted from cruisers under construction.

The earlies recorded instance of using a ship for airborne operations occurred in 1806, when Lord Cochrane of the Royal Navy launched kites from the 32-gun frigate HMS Pallas in order to drop propaganda leaflets.  The proclamations against Napoleon Bonaparte, written in French, were attached to kites, and the kite strings were set alight; when the strings had burned through, the leaflets landed on French soil.

#Aircraftcarriermonth

Mission and Capabilities of the CVN-74

The mission of John C. Stennis (named for Democratic Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi) and her wing is to conduct sustained combat air operations while forward-deployed.  The embarked air wing consists of eight to nine squadrons.  Attached aircraft are Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet, EA-18G Growler, MH-60R, MH-60S, and E-2C Hawkeye.

The air wing can engage enemy aircraft, submarines, and land targets, or lay mines hundreds of miles from the ship. 

Currently the USS John C. Stennis is at Norfolk, Virginia for refueling complex and overhaul, which began in 2019.  After completion which should be this year, she will return to Bremerton, Washington.

#Aircraftcarriermonth

USS George Washington (CVN-73) is a United States Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the sixth carrier in the Nimitz class and the fourth US Navy ship named after George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and the first president of the United States.  Her keel was laid on 25 August 1986, she was christened on 21 July 1990 by First Lady Barbara Bush, and she was commissioned at Naval Station Norfolk on 4 July 2992.  In 2008, USS George Washington became the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier to be forward deployed at naval base Yokosuka, Japan.  Since August 2017, the carrier has been in her four-year Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH), which is expected to be completed by August 2021. 

#Aircraftcarriermonth

USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) is the fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the Untied States Navy.  She is the second Navy ship to have been named after the former President Abraham Lincoln.  Her home port is NAS North Island, and she is a member of the United States Pacific Fleet.  She is administratively responsible to Commander, Naval Air forces Pacific, and operationally served as the flagship of Carrier Strike Group Nine and host to Carrier Air Wing Two until 2012.  She was returned to the fleet on 12 May 2017, marking the successful completion of her refueling and complex overhaul carried out at Newport News Shipyard.  On 1 April 2019 USS Abraham Lincoln was deployed to the Middle East as the flagship for Carrier Strike Group 12 and Carrier Air Wing Sever assigned to her.

#Aircraftcarriermonth

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

To our men and women in uniform, past, present, and future, May God bless you and thank you for your service.  Home of the Brave and Land of the Free.