Aircraft Carrier

**Aircraft Carriers** are a special kind of warship that acts as a mobile base capable of carrying, maintaining and launching aircraft. They are equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. While most other warships have short flight decks for helicopters, carriers can also operate fighter jets. Typically, carriers are the capital ships of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations.

In the *Foxtrot: Foxes in Arms* series, aircraft carriers appear prominently with the navies of several nations utilizing aircraft carriers. The United States Navy has the world's largest carrier fleet (consisting of 11 vessels with a 12th on the way) followed closely behind by the Urocyan Imperial Naval Forces.

## History

### Development

Ever since the airplane first flew in combat, naval officials looked at the possibility to launch planes from ships. This was mainly done by launching planes from platforms aboard warships such as cruisers, and in some cases, landing back aboard the ships again. It wasn't until the late 1910s to early 1920s that ships with full-length flight decks began to hit the water. Many of these early carriers were converted from other large capital ships, though some were designed and built as dedicated aircraft carriers, with this becoming more prominent in the 1930s.

World War II historically saw the aircraft carrier rise to prominence with the capability planes launched from these ships held in conducting long-range air operations. After the war, carriers ultimately replaced the battleship as the main striking force of any modern navy. the US and the UK have been leading the way in carrier development since the end of the war, and that is true with the United States, with developments of the *Forrestal*-class carriers, being the largest for their time, and the likes of the USS *Enterprise* (CVN-65), the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Carriers have since evolved from their inception in the early twentieth century into nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft.

### *Foxtrot: Foxes in Arms*

In the series, much of the history of aircraft carriers remains the same. Over the course of the series, the most prominent aircraft carriers seen are the United States Navy's *Nimitz*-class carriers, which had been the world's largest aircraft carriers until the arrival of a larger class after the final *Nimitz*-class entered service in 2009. In particular, aside from the United States, Urocyia has made large strides to building a modern fleet of warships, including aircraft carriers. Urocyan carriers, mainly those purchased from other nations, have seen a fair bit of history, including taking part in the Urocyan Civil War. Following Urocyia's reformation from a republic to an empire, many aircraft carriers were retained and inherited into the new Urocyan Imperial Naval Forces. In particular, the Urocyan Navy did end up developing their own class of carriers, known as the *Thunderbird*-class, with the first couple of vessels entering service in the late 2000s.

Urocyan carriers would play a huge role in waging war for Imperial interest, notably conducting airstrikes on foreign territories it sought to conquer. They even successfully launched strikes against American military assists. In turn, the United States Navy utilized its own fleet of carriers to strike back against Urocyan forces in the opening of a conflict between the two nations. Urocyia would later launch airstrikes from carriers to cripple US naval facilities and warships. A number of carriers were damaged, but some were able to survive and bring the fight back to Urocyia as best as possible. Several of these surviving carriers were utilized in counterattacks against Urocyia, but have been met with little success.

## Named Vessels

### United States Navy

* USS *Kitty Hawk* (CV-63)
* USS *Enterprise* (CVN-65)
* USS *Nimitz* (CVN-68)
* USS *Theodore Roosevelt* (CVN-71)