Here are 20 Interesting Facts About Aircraft Carriers.
1-5 Interesting Facts About Aircraft Carriers
1. During WWII, the Japanese navy had submersible aircraft carriers. These carriers were able to carry three aircrafts underwater to their destinations, resurface, launch their planes and quickly dive again before they were discovered. – Source
2. One US aircraft carrier has a more powerful air force than 70% of all countries. – Source
3. French named one of their aircraft carriers after Ferdinand Foch, who interestingly said, “Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value”. – Source
4. Brazil once tried to sell an aircraft carrier on eBay – Source
5. It costs $7 million per day to operate the newest class of US Aircraft Carriers, the Gerald R. Ford Class. – Source
6-10 Interesting Facts About Aircraft Carriers
6. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier can operate for 20 years without refueling – Source
7. During WWII, the US Navy had two freshwater aircraft carriers on the Great Lakes to train its pilots – Source
8. All the poop generated on the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier will be vaporized by plasma. – Source
9. Besides the USA only 1 other nation has ever built a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, France. – Source
10. China’s First Aircraft Carrier was a decommissioned Ukrainian Aircraft Carrier that was sold to a Chinese businessman to be a “Floating Casino” in 1998. – Source
11-15 Interesting Facts About Aircraft Carriers
11. The C-130 Hercules can land and take off on an aircraft carrier. Here is the youtube video
12. While filming Top Gun, Director Tony Scott paid $25K to turn the aircraft carrier for a five minute shot, so he could have the sun as back-lighting. – Source
13. During WWII, the British had serious plans of making an aircraft carrier primarily out of wood pulp and ice. – Source
14. When in 1960 a Dutch aircraft carrier wanted to dock in Australia, the local seamen’s union wouldn’t help it dock. The crew solved this problem by tying the planes to the deck with chains and using the aircraft’s propeller thrust to dock. – Source
15. In 1970s, the U.S. Air Force had plans to build an aircraft carrier from a Boeing 747, essentially creating a mothership. – Source
16-20 Interesting Facts About Aircraft Carriers
16. An aircraft carrier (USS Lexington CV-2), helped power the city of Tacoma, WA for a month in 1929 – Source
17. In 1957, 10 Sydney University students dressed as pirates boarded the aircraft carrier USS Bennington, reached the bridge, and announced over the PA that they had captured the ship. – Source
18. The largest aircraft carrier built in WWII by the Japanese was sunk on its maiden voyage – Source
19. American aircraft carriers can desalinate 400,000 gallons of water per day. – Source
20. The command center structure that rises above the flight deck on an aircraft carrier is called “the island.” – Source
Awesome 🙂
The image for no. 11 is an C17 Globemaster though, not an Hercules.
Correct. The C-17 didn’t land there. The photo is a manipulation.