How Aircraft Carriers Evolved to be the Deadliest Weapons of War

Video Statistics and Information

Video
Captions Word Cloud
Reddit Comments
Captions
This video is sponsored by ESET Digital  Security. Progress. Protected. With ESET  1,092 feet (333 meters) displacing  over 100,000 tons- it's the American   Ford Class supercarrier and the most powerful  warship in the world. But aircraft carriers   weren't always the kings of the seas, and in  fact, they were almost canceled altogether. In 1903 Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright achieved   the first controlled and sustained flight  of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft.   Man's dream of soaring through the heavens  was finally a reality thanks to the invention   of the internal combustion engine. But no  technology has ever been as widely as quickly   adopted as the airplane, and just seven years  after the Wright brother's historic flight, naval   officers around the world were already dreaming of  what this new machine could do for their fleets. In 1910, American aviator Eugene Burton Ely would  undertake the first successful take-off from   a ship, launching his small plane off the deck  of the US Navy's USS Birmingham. But taking off   was one thing, landing was something altogether  different- and if airplanes and ships were going   to be married for combat operations then they  would have to land on a ship as well as take off   from one. Two months after his historic flight,  Ely once more made history by landing his Curtiss   Pusher onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania while  anchored in San Francisco bay. He had proven that   airplanes could not just take off from a ship,  but return to it upon completing a mission. But the way forward for naval aviation required  airplanes to be able to land on a ship while the   ship moved, an altogether different proposition  than setting down on calm waters inside a harbor. On May 9th, 1912, Commander Charles  Samson of the British Royal navy   proved that the airplane could operate from  the deck of a warship deployed in harm's way   by landing his Short Improved S.27 biplane on  the deck of the HMS Hibernia. Airplanes had   been quickly identified as invaluable tools for  a seaborne naval force, but the problem was that   deploying and recovering aircraft was difficult. Now, with Samson's successful at-sea landing,   the dawn of naval aviation had come. The idea of the aircraft carrier had   just made a gigantic leap forward,  a real moment of progress that would   eventually lead to something that  once seemed completely impossible.  Progress can mean a lot of different things  though, and for the sponsor of today’s video,   ESET Digital Security, progress means protection.  The world is rapidly changing, just as it was at   the beginning of the 20th century. Today, digital  worlds are becoming more and more complex,   but this kind of ongoing progress needs to be  safeguarded in order to continue and flourish.   That’s why wherever technology enables progress,  ESET Digital Security is here to protect it.  ESET is a global digital security company  whose ethos I truly believe in which   is why I’m so happy to recommend them.  They’re privately owned and independent,   with a commitment to the same mission statement  they’ve kept since they were founded over three   decades ago - ensuring that their customers always  have the best protection possible. They’ve grown   from a self-made pioneering antivirus company  to a digital security powerhouse with 13 global   research labs driving the development of  ESET's unique technology. It’s no surprise   that ESET is protecting millions of customers  and thousands of companies worldwide with over   440 million devices and counting protected! I’m a huge fan of ESET Internet Security,   which is ideal for the user who is concerned  about their privacy while shopping, banking,   and working online, which let’s be honest, is  virtually everyone. It provides a ransomware   shield that monitors and evaluates applications  to detect and block ransomware attempts before   they can even start. It also gives you a firewall,  banking and payment protection, and it even has a   scanning engine to identify exploits that appear  in malformed document files! With ESET Internet   Security, you’ve never been more protected while  online, which is why I’m so happy that ESET is   offering viewers of The Infographics Show an  extended 90-day free trial to make sure that   your progress remains protected too. The first  500 users to sign up with our special code also   get 50% off! So don’t wait, go to the link  in the description and sign up now to make   sure that you and the technology you use every  day are protected with ESET Internet Security.  And now back to what I like to call the  ESET of the high seas - the aircraft   carrier - and how they evolved into  the floating behemoths we know today. The new machines allowed for far better scouting  capabilities than was ever before possible, and   could also be used for far more accurate spotting  of friendly fire with the aid of a simple radio. Wireless telegraphy was used to send messages  in morse code, and once the potential for the   airplane was fully realized by military leaders,  the marriage of these two technologies was   inevitable. In 1911 the technology was put to the  test successfully during the Italo-Turkish War,   and in 1912 the Royal Flying Corps was  experimenting with wireless telegraphy in   aircraft. The technology was slow to be adapted,  as early radios were very bulky and difficult to   operate. Plus they were easy for the enemy  to intercept and target with artillery fire,   destroying listeners on the ground.  Nonetheless, in April of 1915   the first true radio message was relayed  from a ground station to a flying airplane,   and the potential of the airplane as a weapon  of war both over land and sea exploded. Early naval aircraft however were mostly seaplanes  which would be carried and recovered by seaplane   tenders, ships specifically designed to support  naval aircraft and widely considered to be the   first aircraft carriers. The French were the first  to field a seaplane tender, the La Foudre which   carried float-equipped planes inside hangars on  the main deck. A crane would be used to lower   them down to the sea from where they could take  off and fly. Recovery was equally simple- the   sea plane would simply land on the ocean near the  tender and then get picked up by the ship's crane. With World War I naval aviation was quickly  put to the test. On the 5th of September 1914,   the Imperial Japanese Navy launched the  world's first naval-launched air raid.   Four seaplanes were launched to attack  German communication and command centers   in the Tsingtao Peninsula with moderate success-  the total amount of munitions a plane could   carry into combat was still very limited due to  the low horsepower of early engines. However,   the raid caught the Germans by surprise and  helped sow discord. The Japanese would also   have the honor of launching the first night  time raid by aircraft during the same campaign. On Christmas day of 1914 though the sea plane  would prove to the world that naval aviation   was an increasingly potent  and critical weapon of war. The Germans had been harassing the British  with bombing raids executed via zeppelins,   and in response the British sought to destroy  German zeppelins and their mooring stations on   the ground- or at least damage them  enough to force their retreat. The   targets were the zeppelin sheds at  the Nordholz Airbase near Cuxhaven,   and the British deployed seaplane tenders  HMS Engadine, Riviera, and Empress,   supported by a group of cruisers, destroyers,  and submarines to try to deal with this problem. The goal was to get a good fix on the location  of the zeppelin sheds, and if possible to bomb   them from the air- if not, their coordinates could  be relayed to warships who could engage them with   long-range fire. Nine planes were lowered into the  freezing water, but only seven of them managed to   fire up their engines and take to the sky, the  other two were recovered and winched back on   board. Each plane was carrying three 20 lb (9.1  kg) bombs, and after flying through thick fog   and low cloud cover, finally reached the German  zeppelin base. Heavy anti-aircraft fire fended   off the bulk of the attack, but the early bombers  managed to cause some damage to the zeppelins and   their ground station, with zero losses on their  side. Largely symbolic, the raid was a huge boost   to the British and proved that the aircraft  carrier could be an invaluable tool of war. Seaplanes however had multiple disadvantages  that severely limited their effectiveness.   First, they needed extremely calm seas to  launch and land on, which made them useful   only when the weather was cooperative. If  weather worsened while on a mission, the sea   plane might be a total loss upon return. Second,  the big floats the planes relied on to operate   from the surface of the ocean were very heavy,  and thus limited their range, endurance, and   payload. The floats also created a great deal of  drag which slowed the planes down significantly. It was obvious that seaplanes were not the future,  and yet launching off the decks of converted   cruisers and battleships was still very dangerous.  Often these ships would have one or more turrets   removed and replaced with flat decking for  a plane to land and launch from. However,   the ship's superstructure would cause turbulence  that could spell disaster for a pilot taking off   or landing. It was obvious that naval aviation  required a ship specifically dedicated to it,   but many of the traditionalists in navies  around the world fought the concept- after all,   cruisers, destroyers, and battleships were  all proven concepts that could deliver large   amounts of steel on target, while these flimsy  airplanes could hardly carry themselves aloft. Nonetheless, ships with flush decks were  eventually constructed, leading to the first   truly recognizable aircraft carriers. In 1918 the  HMS Argus became the first carrier in the world   capable of launching and recovering aircraft  from its own deck, a massive step forward in   naval aviation. Now the big heavy floats could  be ditched, improving performance and payload.   Additionally, airplanes could operate in more  difficult sea states than before- though early   carriers were still very limited in when they  could safely launch and recover aircraft. Aircraft carriers got a massive boost after  World War I thanks to the Washington Naval   Treaty of 1922. In the post-war era, it was  feared that a new naval arms race would ensue   and the treaty sought to negotiate  acceptable limits to how many and   what types of ships each nation could build.  To meet the strict requirements of the treaty,   many heavy cruisers and battleships already in  construction were converted instead to aircraft   carriers, setting the stage for the aircraft  carrier's prominent role during World War II. By the time the Second World War rolled around,  naval aviation had taken significant technological   leaps. Engines were much more powerful allowing  for much faster, and heavier armed aircraft.   Finally, the airplane was not just a serious  threat to traditional naval firepower-   but completely trumped it even if most  nations still hadn't yet realized the fact.   Two famous raids would change that  perception forever, and make the   aircraft carrier the dominant warfighting vessel  of any navy, ending the reign of the battleship. The first was the British raid on the Italian  fleet while moored at their base in Taranto.   Launching from the HMS Illustrious, 21 Fairey  Swordfish biplanes armed with torpedoes   flew under the cover of darkness on the night of  the 11th of November, 1940. Several Italian ships   were moored in shallow water, making an attack by  submarine impossible. The British planes however   managed to brave withering anti-aircraft fire and  disabled 3 battleships and damaged 1 heavy cruiser   and 2 destroyers- all at the cost of two aircraft  and four crew. 21 airplanes had just inflicted a   devastating blow on the Italian fleet, and naval  planners around the world sat up and took notice. Perhaps none more so than the Japanese, which  planned their own surprise attack against the   United States. At the start of the war, the  Japanese had a serious problem- their ambitions   for a western Pacific empire were under threat  by the United States, which provided it with   much of its oil and materials needed for both its  military and industry. With US forces positioned   in strategically important chokepoints across  the Southern Pacific, if Japan was ever going   to stand on its own two feet it needed to force  the US out of the Pacific. But the US absolutely   dwarfed Japan in terms of industrial might- though  thanks to the Washington naval treaty of 1922,   the US had not been allowed to expand its already  large lead over the Japanese in fighting ships. Thus Japan set out to deliver a crippling body  blow to the US Navy that it couldn't recover from,   and on Sunday December 7th 1941, the Japanese  launched the largest naval raid in history,   dealing significant damage to the US ships  stationed at Pearl Harbor. However, the surprise   attack came while the US's carriers were out at  sea, and not a single American carrier was lost-   a fact that would ensure that the plan to knock  the US out of the Pacific in one move would fail. The aircraft carrier was officially the top dog of  the sea, and the Pacific theater would be defined   largely by the clash of aircraft carriers and  their onboard fleets of planes. For the first   time in history, ships launched attacks against  each other without ever being in visual range of   one another, and protecting large formations of  ships from enemy air attack was of vital concern.   This led to the creation of light escort carriers,  typically holding a much smaller complement of   aircraft and designed to provide air cover for  groups of friendly ships. The escort carrier   was also tasked with providing convoy security  against enemy submarine attack. Subs had to spend   the majority of their time on the surface because  their batteries had to be constantly recharged   with diesel engines, and they could only run those  engines on the surface where they could vent the   poisonous exhaust. This left submarines very  vulnerable to attack from enemy scout planes on   the lookout for submarines, making most crews  practice emergency crash dives extensively. After World War II naval aviation  underwent another major revolution   with the adoption of the jet engine and thus jet  aircraft. These new extremely high performance   aircraft required special modifications to  existing carriers, and new innovations allowed   for faster recovery and launch of aircraft  to increase the tempo of air operations. During World War II hydraulics were used to help  catapult aircraft off the decks of carriers.   With the increased weight of high  performance jet aircraft, this was   no longer sufficient and catapults were now  powered by steam generated inside massive boilers.   The steam builds up incredible pressure which  is released mechanically, driving the aircraft   forward on the deck and getting it up to flight  speed by the time it leaves the end of the deck. In some navies, like the current Chinese navy,   a ski-ramp like extension on the flight deck  was added to give a plane extra boost and   help it get aloft. However, this requires a  trade off in weight for a launched airplane,   thus forcing aircraft to choose  between less fuel or less munitions. Steam powered catapults have proven to be  extremely reliable, with US Nimitz carriers   reporting that they have been able to use at least  one of their four catapults 99.5% of the time.   That's an incredible upkeep time for any system,  and ensures that carriers are always ready for   air operations. However, steam catapults are also  extremely inefficient, and can't be finely tuned   for different aircraft. This means that a steam  catapult can put extreme wear and tear on an   airframe and significantly lower its service life.  It also makes the launching of light unmanned   aerial vehicles impossible, as they would be torn  apart by the sheer power of the steam catapult. Electromagnetic launch systems however generate  magnetic fields to push a carriage along a   track and launch an aircraft. EMALS as it's  known in the US, can be finely tuned for each   specific aircraft, decreasing the stresses  on each individual air frame and extending   the service life of a plane. It also allows for  the launching of light unmanned aerial vehicles   such as reconnaissance drones. Perhaps the biggest  improvement though is the 45 second recharge time-   traditional steam catapults can take around  2 minutes to launch an aircraft. This greatly   reduces the amount of time it takes to get an  air wing in the air, lowering fuel consumption   for loitering aircraft waiting for their buddies,  and helping get aircraft airborne in an emergency. However, the technology is still technically in  testing and experiencing a dramatically greater   rate of failure than traditional steam  catapults. As of right now, EMALS simply   cannot meet Navy requirements of 1 failure for  every 4,166 launches- during testing in 2021   the USS Gerald R. Ford experienced  failure after only 181 launches.   With the EMALS system being integral to the  development of the new Ford Class carriers,   which are already being built, if these issues  aren't corrected the US Navy could find itself   unable to reliably prosecute an air war against  its greatest potential adversary: China. New technology also allowed for the  construction of new types of carriers.   Landing Helicopter Dock ships took on the  task of providing air mobility and support   for ground forces during amphibious  operations. These ships, such as the   American Wasp-class are capable of ferrying an  entire expeditionary unit onto a hostile beach   either via landing crafts or by air. They are  equipped with attack and transport helicopters,   as well as Short Take-off vertical-landing- or  STOVL- or vertical take-off and landing- or VTOL   aircraft. These include the famous  Harrier and the new F-35 Lighting   II which is capable of operating off extremely  short flight decks thanks to its STOVL abilities. Smaller and lighter than traditional  aircraft carriers, LHD and LHA- Landing   Helicopter Assault- ships are not meant to be  the tip of the spear, but rather are meant to   operate alongside with traditional carriers. In  an emergency however they are capable of providing   much needed air cover for friendly forces thanks  to their unique aircraft which can take off   and land from extremely short runways. However,  inevitably this comes at a trade-off of fuel and   armament, making LHD and LHA aircraft less well  armed than their carrier and supercarrier cousins. VTOL aircraft however don't need another  major adaptation of aircraft carriers-   the arresting wires designed to safely catch  an incoming aircraft. As a pilot approaches   his home carrier, he must somehow bring his  jet from a speed of well over a hundred knots   to a complete standstill on an extremely short  runway. Normally this would be impossible, which   is why carrier planes come equipped with tailhooks  that are dropped on approach to the carrier. These tailhooks are built right into the core  structure of the plane itself, and is one reason   why carrier planes are far sturdier than their  non-carrier counterparts. As the pilot comes   down for landing, he's guided in by a series of  signals from a landing signal officer who directs   him via radio. The LSO is responsible for gauging  glideslope, altitude, and airspeed and helping   the pilot come down successfully on a deck which  could be getting tossed around in turbulent seas. On touchdown, the landing hook scrapes along the  ground where it runs across several arresting   wires. These wires will 'catch' the aircraft and  bring it to a safe, not so gentle stop. However,   both the arresting hook and the wires have to be  powerful enough to resist the incredible power   of a modern jet fighter running at nearly full  throttle, because unlike a conventional landing, a   carrier landing requires the pilot to immediately  throttle up the engine! This is done so that if   the tail hook manages to miss all of the arresting  wires, the plane doesn't simply run off the edge   of the deck and plunge into the sea. Instead,  by giving the engines more power the plane   should continue to have the required speed to  achieve lift and get safely back up into the air. Each carrier has its superstructure  concentrated in an area known as the island.   This feature first appeared in 1923 on the  HMS Hermes and was a dramatic improvement   to previous designs. Carriers with flush decks  may have been a smaller target for enemy guns,   but suffered from a host of problems  that made operations difficult.   Exhaust from both the aircraft and the ship itself  would often roll across the deck and into the   command section of the carrier, and without the  ability to sit 'above' the flight deck, managing   traffic on the deck was very difficult. It also  left nowhere to put radar and made navigation   of the ship itself difficult. Eventually  flush-deck designs were completely eliminated   in favor of the more iconic island-design  aircraft carriers you think of today. The most revolutionary change in aircraft carriers  however came with the adoption of nuclear power.   In 1961 the new USS Enterprise became the first  nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the world.   The advantages of a nuclear aircraft carrier are  overwhelming in comparison with a conventionally   powered carrier. With no need to refuel for  decades, nuclear carriers can operate non-stop   during times of conflict, and need only  replenishment of fuel and armaments for its   aircraft and food for its crew. Nuclear carriers  also generate more power than traditional ships,   which allows them to power more current and  future technologies. They also move faster,   with the American Ford-class capable of moving  at a classified speed in excess of 30 knots,   or 35 mph (56 km/h). This is important for getting  firepower to conflict zones around the world,   but also for evading enemy  attack aircraft and missiles. Currently only the United States  and France operate nuclear carriers,   with the US operating ten Nimitz-class  carriers and one Gerald R. Ford-class carrier,   and France operating the Charles de Gaulle.  Nuclear power aboard naval ships has proven   to be an extremely safe and reliable  technology, with the US Navy operating   over 80 nuclear-powered ships during a period of  5,400 “reactor years” without a single accident. Today though the future of the aircraft carrier  is in serious question. Ever advancing missile   technologies have begun to seriously threaten  the survivability of a modern carrier,   and with China operating hundreds of 'carrier  killer' ballistic missiles, it's not known if   the US Navy could protect its big carriers during  a possible confrontation in the South Pacific.   This growing threat has prompted the development  of numerous anti-ballistic missile technologies,   but the best defense seems to be staying out of  the way altogether, with the US Navy adopting   unmanned tanker aircraft that can ferry their  fighters and strike aircraft hundreds of miles   to a fight while keeping the carrier outside of  the threat envelope of enemy ballistic missiles. Detractors of modern carriers claim that  the US Navy would be better served with a   fleet of smaller, more agile carriers that  would be individually harder to target and   destroy. Concentrating so much firepower into  one ship makes it a formidable weapon of war,   but it also means that the loss of just  one carrier means the loss of approximately   75 aircraft and up to 5,000 sailors- a  horrific loss of hardware and lives both. But more widely dispersing naval aviation forces  would also make the operating costs increase   dramatically, Thus the idea has so far been canned  by the US Navy, even if many fear that the United   States has failed to identify a shift in naval  doctrine as dramatic as the one that made the   carrier the premier weapon of naval war in World  War II. This could potentially leave US forces   in an extremely compromising situation should war  break out against a foe like China or even Russia. For now, the US Navy aims to maintain a fleet  of 11 aircraft carriers supported by 9 Landing   Helicopter Assault carriers. As the Nimitz class  of carriers ages out of service, they will be   replaced by the new, bigger Ford-class which  boasts multiple technological improvements.   Its twin AB1 nuclear reactors put out three  times the power of the Nimitz class reactors’-   600 megawatts vs 200. That's enough juice to  power a small city, and it'll be needed for many   of the existing and future technological  add-ons being brought onto the ship. One of those projected additions are laser weapons  for close-in defense against enemy missiles,   aircraft, and most importantly: small waterborne  craft. During wargames in the early 2010s it was   discovered that a big supercarrier could be  destroyed by a far less capable opponent such   as Iran by using a swarm of small suicide boats.  The results were so shocking, that the Ford is   now equipped with four Phalanx Close-in Weapon  systems and four M2 .50 caliber machine guns,   all of which are more than capable of  destroying small enemy vessels before   they have a chance to swamp the big carrier.  Laser weapons already in testing by the US   Navy promise to add even greater capabilities by  acquiring and firing on targets in milliseconds,   allowing a single battery of lasers to service  large amounts of targets at incredible speed. However, the biggest firepower upgrade will be  the two squadrons of F-35 C Joint Strike Fighters,   making up between 20 to 24 aircraft. These are the  only carrier-based stealth fighters in the world,   and can operate in conjunction with the additional  two squadrons of F-18 Super Hornets by directly   feeding them targeting data and guiding their  weapons to ther target in environments too   dangerous for the non-stealthy Super Hornets to  operate in. As the F-35 proves itself over the   coming years, it'll eventually completely phase  out the F-18, but for now the Navy retains a   large number of its F-18s so as to remain mission  ready should the F-35s prove to be ineffective in   modern combat. That is until the sixth-generation  carrier fighter program, even now in development,   delivers the next generation of carrier  fighter and new revolution in naval warfare. Despite misgivings about the future of big  carriers, the firepower they bring to a fight is   undeniable- the US Navy by itself is the world's  third largest air force. However, only time will   tell if these floating superweapons can remain  viable in the face of ever-evolving threats.   The loss of a $12 billion super carrier to a  $10 million ballistic missile is not something   the United States could easily absorb, and even  one carrier loss would be a significant blow to   the capabilities of the US Navy. Despite this,  American planners remain confident that their   carriers can meet both current and future  threats, though one only hopes they aren't   making the mistake of once more fighting the  last war instead of preparing for the next. Now go check out why living on an aircraft  carrier sucks, or click this other video instead!
Info
Channel: The Infographics Show
Views: 313,216
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords:
Id: wbTYM6kQMHc
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 23min 12sec (1392 seconds)
Published: Sat Jul 30 2022
Related Videos
Note
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.