50 Min Vid: Aircraft Carriers: Modern Warships - Big bigger biggest

[SpazSinbad]

Aircraft Carriers: Modern Warships - Big bigger biggest [National Geographic] 50 MINUTES
"Published on May 23, 2013
This film reveals how seven ingenious technological breakthroughs enabled engineers to build the biggest aircraft carrier in the world - the USS Nimitz, weighing more than 100,000 tons.

From steam catapults and mirror landing aids to advanced nuclear-powered engines, well chart the historic inventions embodied by seven landmark aircraft carriers to see how aircraft carrier design continues to push the limits of size.

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project airpower worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations. They have evolved from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons into nuclear-powered warships that carry dozens of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft.

Aircraft carriers are typically the capital ship of a fleet, and are extremely expensive to build and important to protect. Of the ten nations that possess an aircraft carrier, eight possess only one. Twenty aircraft carriers are currently active throughout the world with the U.S. Navy operating 10 as of February 2013 though some of these nations no longer have carrier-capable aircraft in inventory and have repurposed these ships."
Aircraft Carriers: Modern Warships - Big bigger biggest [National Geographic Documentary] - YouTube

[MightyGem]

Standard NG documentary. Shame it doesn't mention that the RN had the worlds first purpose designed carrier, HMS Argus, and that the steam catapult, angled flight decks and armoured flight decks were, again, RN innovations.

[500N]

I saw that program here in Aus, was quite interesting.


MightyGem
Wasn't the original "mirror landing aids" via the use of lights
also a Royal Navy Officer invention ?

[Romulus]

The version of this, or at least something similar, credited the RN where appropriate.

I look forward to the doco on the new Gerald R Ford class carriers to see what they've done extra there.

[MightyGem]

Wasn't the original "mirror landing aids" via the use of lights
also a Royal Navy Officer invention ?
Yes, but they did mention that one.

[SpazSinbad]

It seems there are non-viewers willing to criticise a video they have not seen. Here is Admirable GoodHart explaining his mirror invention with 'the mirror' whilst the lipstick is seen the secretary is not. Amongst other Brit fings mentioned would be the first deck landing on a moving ship in 1917 and the Ark Royal in 1937 with Brit techos explaining other stuff throughout. The doco theme is 'Big, BIGger, BIGGEST' so there is some license there for the seven innovations allowing aircraft carriers to become so large over time. But hey - go watch it before criticising it.

Admirable GoodHart: http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l261/SpazSinbad/NewerAlbum/th_GoodhartMirrorInventorScreenie.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/SpazSinbad/media/NewerAlbum/GoodhartMirrorInventorScreenie.jpg.html)

Plus we get to see colour footage of the first jet landing with Eric 'Winkle' Brown seen emerging from the Sea Vampire. One day I wonder if youse Brits will make a doco about CVF and moan and groan. Prolly. :}

[SpazSinbad]

Eric 'Winkle' Brown clip from video above:

Eric 'Winkle' Brown 1st Sea Vampire Deck Landing 03 Dec 1945 HMS Ocean - YouTube (http://youtu.be/i0DDkzS6p7E)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0DDkzS6p7E (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0DDkzS6p7E&feature=youtu.be)

[4Greens]

It should be remembered that when the Belgrano was sunk the entire Argentine Navy including a carrier stayed in port from then on.

Carriers are now very vulnerable particularly with the number of missiles around.

[MightyGem]

But hey - go watch it before criticising it.
I did, otherwise how would I know that they didn't credit the the inventions to the RN.

[SpazSinbad]

'mightgem': This is the theme of the aforementioned doco:
"This film reveals how seven ingenious technological breakthroughs enabled engineers to build the biggest aircraft carrier in the world - the USS Nimitz, weighing more than 100,000 tons...."

The doco is not about any specific invention otherwise although some 'ingenious inventions' are mentioned in context of the LARGer tech breakthroughs. But you knew that because you watched to doco - right?

Note the emphasis is on 'build' and not 'operate with ingenious specific RN inventions'. I look forward to one day seeing a non-brit doco about anything aircraft carrier specific that will mention SRVL.

[orca]

4 Greens,

It is often forgotten that the RAF made short work of Iraqi airfields using nothing more clever than a 'fly straight over top dispensing munitions' type of tactic.

The RAF (or fans thereof) also (despite the case being based mainly on supposition) attribute the Argentine decision to keep fast air on the main land to a single hit on Stanley runway. Using nothing more clever than a fly over top and drop an oblique stick.

The RAF, as it stands today, will struggle to so much as locate a carrier let alone target it or damage the thing.

So, if we can conclude that our flexible, adaptable...person for person second to none Lords of all that is airborne can take out fixed runways with gay abandon - yet cannot so much as scratch a carrier...perhaps the 'carriers are vulnerable' brigade need a re-think.

Submarines can of course wreck a carrier's day, but they'll actually do the same to an airfield without having to chase it around first. (Just ponder quickly what we would have thrown at Syria if 'Genocide using WMD in country with land border with NATO member' had been deemed worthy of military response - TLAM anyone?).

[gr4techie]

Carriers are now very vulnerable particularly with the number of missiles around.


Do we still have Sea Eagle missiles?