Aircraft carrier

An **aircraft carrier** (CV) is an aviation ship unit intended to operate fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters from a large flight deck while also providing for aircraft maintenance and supply.

## Strategy

Typically, an aircraft carrier will represent the most powerful and valuable single unit in a scenario. Thus, while it will offer its commander an incredibly useful tool to achieve their mission, its loss will often be crippling or fatal to said commander. Recognizing that a carrier's aircraft are its most powerful weapon, but that the carrier itself must be kept safe from enemy strikes, it is often preferrable to operate the ship itself beyond the range of enemy forces if at all possible and rely on its aircraft to cover that distance to deliver strikes. One of the key tools to remaining safe from enemy attacks is to keep the carrier itself undetected by the enemy. This can be done by identifying enemy sensors and staying clear of their effective range while escorts should be detailed to maintain a perimeter some distance from the carrier to keep submarines and ships far enough away to avoid them locating the flat top. When conducting air operations, take care to arrange flight paths so that aircraft avoid entering or departing enemy detection on vectors that point to the carrier's location. Additionally, it is usually best to leave active sensor work to the carrier's escorts and limit emissions from the carrier itself to avoid enemy passive sensors being able to locate the ship.

Aircraft carriers should always be operated with a dedicated escort of ships and submarines, depending on available forces. These escorts should be numerous enough to maintain a constant 360 degree cordon around the carrier to keep all threats at the longest range possible. Defense of the carrier is generally best arranged with multiple layers. The carrier's own aircraft play a vital role in this, and thus a carrier commander must be careful not to dedicate too large a proportion of their aircraft to offensive strikes leaving insufficient aircraft to defend the fleet from a counter-strike. Always maintain at least one airborne early warning aircraft in the air for maximum detection of incoming aircraft. Detail the best anti-submarine warfare ship in your fleet and maintain regular anti-submarine warfare patrols by helicopters to sterilize the area around the carrier of any underwater threats.

If the enemy has an aircraft carrier in their fleet, neutralizing it will be a major blow to their operations, so it is worth significant risk and cost to do so. There are many strategies that can help neutralize an enemy carrier. Sinking the carrier is an optimal result, but if well defended, a commander will need a multi-layered attack force to work through the layers of defense. First, forces will need to determine where the carrier is operating from. If you lack direct contact with it, analysis of aircraft flight paths, targets, and ranges can help narrow down what portion of sea the carrier is in. Once located, the escorts will need to be identified and dealt with. If overwhelming force is a available, a mass strike that saturates the defenses can work, but if commanding a smaller force, a more nuanced strategy will be needed.

Ultimately, an enemy carrier force may simply be beyond the abilities of available forces to destroy. In this case, the threat posed by the carrier can still be mitigated. Even smaller strike forces, if the carrier commander is aware of them, will usually provoke them to avoid exposing the carrier to these threats, usually by operating at a longer range from your forces. The longer the enemy aircraft have to fly, the less efficient they will be in attacking friendly forces. Additionally, longer flight times will give friendly interceptors more opportunity to shoot down attackers and they will have less fuel to fight it out while over your territory. Aggressive scouting and probes in the direction of the carrier will often cause its commander to devote more of their forces to the carrier's defense, again reducing the efficiency of their strike capability against you. The carrier is relatively useless without its aircraft, so if it is more efficient simply to intercept their air missions rather than take on the carrier itself, you can neutralize it by crippling the air wing. Finally, a carrier air wing is a voracious consumer of fuel and ammunition, and so in longer campaigns, locating supply ships and sources and attacking them while away from the carrier can cripple the big ship's operations.

## Models

2. 911 Chakri Naruebet (2001)
3. A 11 Minas Gerais (1981)
4. A 11 Minas Gerais (1984)
5. A 11 Minas Gerais (1995)
6. A 12 Sao Paulo
7. C 551 Giuseppe Garibaldi (1985)
8. C 551 Giuseppe Garibaldi (1990)
9. C 551 Giuseppe Garibaldi (2002)
10. C 551 Giuseppe Garibaldi (2006)
11. Generic heavy CATOBAR carrier
12. Generic light CATOBAR carrier
13. Generic medium CATOBAR carrier
14. R 05 Invincible (1981)
15. R 05 Invincible (1984)
16. R 05 Invincible (1990)
17. R 05 Invincible (1992)
18. R 05 Invincible (2002)
19. R 06 Illustrious (1982)
20. R 06 Illustrious (1984)
21. R 06 Illustrious (1990)
22. R 06 Illustrious (1994)
23. R 06 Illustrious (1997)
24. R 06 Illustrious (2001)
25. R 06 Illustrious (2007)
26. R 07 Ark Royal (1985)
27. R 07 Ark Royal (1990)
28. R 07 Ark Royal (1997)
29. R 07 Ark Royal (2001)
30. R 07 Ark Royal (2007)
31. R 08 Queen Elizabeth (2018)
32. R 11 Principe de Asturias (1988)
33. R 11 Principe de Asturias (1991)
34. R 11 Principe de Asturias (1993)
35. R 11 Principe de Asturias (1997)
36. R 11 Principe de Asturias (2002)
37. R 11 Vikrant (1983)
38. R 12 Hermes (1982)
39. R 21 Melbourne (1977)
40. R 21 Melbourne (1981)
41. R 22 Viraat (1989)
42. R 22 Viraat (1996)
43. R 22 Viraat (2003)
44. R 22 Viraat (2009)
45. R 33 Vikramaditya (2014)
46. R 98 Clemenceau (1975)
47. R 98 Clemenceau (1984)
48. R 98 Clemenceau (1988)
49. R 98 Clemenceau (1992)
50. R 98 Clemenceau (1995)
51. R 98 Clemenceau (1998)
52. TAKR Admiral Kuznetsov (1995)
53. TAKR Admiral Kuznetsov (2000)
54. TAKR Admiral Kuznetsov (2015)
55. TAKR Ulyanovsk (2000)
56. Type 001 Liaoning (2015)
57. Type 002 Shandong (2019)
58. Type 003 (2023)
59. V2 Veinticinco de Mayo (1969)
60. V2 Veinticinco de Mayo (1985)
61. Vikrant (2022)
2. CVA-05 Yorktown
3. CVA-06 Enterprise
4. CVA-08 Hornet
5. CVA-16 Lexington
6. IJN Akagi
7. IJN Hiryu
8. IJN Kaga
9. IJN Shokaku (1941)
10. IJN Shokaku (1943)
11. IJN Soryu
12. IJN Zuikaku (1941)
13. IJN Zuikaku (1943)
14. R 02 Malta class (1957)
15. R 02 Malta class (1963)
16. R 02 Malta class (1967)
17. R 02 Malta class (1974)
18. R 02 Malta class (1979)
19. R 05 Eagle (1951)
20. R 05 Eagle (1959)
21. R 05 Eagle (1966)
22. R 05 Eagle (1975)
23. R 06 Centaur (1954)
24. R 06 Centaur (1958)
25. R 06 Centaur (1963)
26. R 07 Albion
27. R 08 Bulwark
28. R 09 Ark Royal (1955)
29. R 09 Ark Royal (1961)
30. R 09 Ark Royal (1970)
31. R 10 Indefatigable
32. R 11 Vikrant
33. R 12 Hermes (1960)
34. R 12 Hermes (1966)
35. R 16 Triumph
36. R 17 Sydney
37. R 21 Magnificent
38. R 21 Melbourne (1955)
39. R 21 Melbourne (1960)
40. R 21 Melbourne (1967)
41. R 21 Melbourne (1977)
42. R 22 Bonaventure (1950)
43. R 22 Bonaventure (1967)
44. R 38 Victorious (1957)
45. R 38 Victorious (1963)
46. R 62 Glory
47. R 64 Theseus
48. R 68 Ocean
49. R 71 Vengeance (1945)
50. R 71 Vengeance (1952)
51. R 81 Karel Doorman
52. R 87 Illustrious
53. R 92 Indomitable
54. R 95 Arromanches (1961)
55. R 95 Arromanches (1968)
56. R 98 Clemenceau (1961)
57. R 98 Clemenceau (1968)
58. R 98 Clemenceau (1975)
59. R 98 Implacable (1944)
60. R Verdun (1971)
61. V 1 Independencia
62. V2 Veinticinco de Mayo

## Classes

* Audacious
* Centaur
* Clemenceau
* Colossus
* Essex
* Implacable
* Invincible
* Majestic
* Malta
* Principe de Asturius
* Project 1143 Krechyet
* Project 11435
* Project 11437
* Queen Elizabeth
* Shokaku
* Vikrant
* Yorktown