About The Carrier Project
Scope
The Carrier Project is a personal research project. It is not affiliated with any organisation, nor is it endorsed by the United States Navy.
It is intended to make available basic technical and historical information - in a simple, easy-to-read format - about aircraft carriers that have served, or are serving, in the United States Navy.
Philosophy
For purposes of this website, an "aircraft carrier" is defined as a ship designed for the express purpose of launching and recovering fixed-wing aircraft while under way. Seaplane tenders do not meet this definition since they do not launch or recover their aircraft aboard or under way. Nor do ships equipped with catapults for scout/attack aircraft -- they have no recovery facilities. I have included amphibious assault ships, for two reasons. Primus, the first amphibs were conversions of existing escort or fleet carriers. Secundus, purpose-built amphibs are designed to operate some fixed-wing aircraft, such as the AV-8 Harrier, even if these aircraft may not normally be carried. And they look like aircraft carriers -- unobstructed flight deck, island on the starboard side, hangar below the flight deck, etc.
The focus of this project is on the ships themselves, not on the battles they have participated in, although some battles are described on sub-pages. The technical information is as accurate and current as I can make it, and will be updated as necessary. I have exercised my own judgement as to which references to use in creating The Carrier Project.
However, this site is not intended to be the final word on aircraft carriers. Rather, I have tried to make available basic information on each ship, with extensive links to other sites that have more complete information. Think of The Carrier Project as a first step in finding out about these wonders of marine engineering.
Eventually, I may create similar "Projects" for other classes of ships.
I am solely responsible for the content of these pages.
Conception
The idea for this site was conceived as I watched a National Geographic Special on Dr. Robert Ballard's search for and discovery of the USS Yorktown, the American carrier sunk during the pivotal Battle of Midway in June of 1942. I had always been interested in aircraft carriers, and I was beginning to consider creating a personal website. This seemed to be an opportunity to satisfy both interests - write a website about aircraft carriers. Little did I know what I was getting myself into!
Some may ask why I decided to create this site, since there are literally hundreds of sites dedicated to the United States Navy, with dozens of those specifically about aircraft carriers. I have found that most sites fall into one of two categories: broad and specific. A broad site covers many, many ships, but does not go into great detail about specific ships. A good example of this type (and an excellent site in it's own right) is Andrew Toppan's Haze Gray and Underway Online Naval History Museum. Andrew covers just about every hull that ever floated - and many that didn't. Other broad sites cover only a single type of ship (fleet carriers, for example) or a single class (Essex-class carriers). A specific ship site gives all the details about one particular ship. For a fine example of this type of site, take a look at Joel Shepherd's CV-6 USS Enterprise site. As far as I can tell, the only thing that Joel hasn't covered is the number of rivets used in the construction of the ship
(Joel says he's working on it...). I have attempted to "split the difference" between these two types of sites, by including all aircraft carriers (as defined above) and a reasonable amount of detail about each ship. For some excellent printed examples of what I am trying to do, look for a copy of Aircraft Carriers of the U.S. Navy by Stefan Terzibaschitsch or Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present by Roger Chesneau. For the record, I did not encounter either book until over a year after I started this project.| Top of Page | Home Page | Site Index |