Aircraft carrier

A warship with a flight deck and facilities for launching, recovering, and supporting military aircraft at sea. It moves an air base with its fleet.

Flight deck: A shipboard surface used for launching, landing, and moving aircraft. Its layout and operating routines determine how many aircraft can fly and recover safely.
Eugene Ely: An American aviation pioneer who made early takeoffs and landings from ships in 1910 and 1911. His demonstrations showed that aircraft could operate from a vessel at sea.
Power projection: The ability of a state to deploy military force beyond its own territory. A carrier gives this broader capability a mobile airfield and a deployable force.
Amphibious assault ship: A warship designed to transport troops and landing craft while operating helicopters and, on some ships, short-takeoff aircraft. It can support aviation but prioritizes amphibious forces rather than a conventional carrier air wing.
Battle of Midway: A 1942 naval battle in the Pacific in which U.S. forces defeated a Japanese carrier force. Its outcome weakened Japan's carrier strength and showed the stakes of carrier-based air combat.
Aircraft catapult: A launch system that accelerates an aircraft along a short track to flying speed. Catapults let carriers launch heavier aircraft than a short deck alone permits.
HMS Furious: A British aircraft carrier converted from a battlecruiser and used during the First World War. Its successive flight-deck conversions exposed the limits of early carrier design.
Naval aviation: The use of aircraft by naval forces for combat, surveillance, transport, and support. Carrier operations are one of naval aviation's main ways to conduct missions far from shore.
Land-based air power: Military aviation operated from airfields on land. It can use larger bases and aircraft but depends on access to suitable territory.
Attack on Pearl Harbor: A Japanese surprise air attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Carrier-launched aircraft inflicted major damage and demonstrated the reach of a carrier strike.

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