Originally Posted by airborne_artist
All carrier ops are done sailing into wind, assuming there is a surface wind. The 25 kts over the deck is pretty much a minimum req. I think you'll find for conventional launch/landing. The carrier would never be stationary, and I'd expect it to be making a minimum of 15-20 kts if launching/recovering. The sea state if the surface wind was 35 kts or more (Beaufort 8) may well preclude ops anyway.
The old man was in the penultimate HMS Ark Royal for her first commission in 1955, and I followed him into the Andrew in 1978, the year after she was paid off.
AA,
It has been done, more than once, for CV's to launch while at anchor. Not often and not pretty, but it has been done. Believe it was the USS Saratoga (but might have been another), that suffered an embarrassing grounding in Naples (?). She launched her air wing while at anchor. Admittedly, the a/c were light with no stores, so operationally not a player, I'd agree with you, but it has been done.