Haze Gray & Underway

World Aircraft Carrier Lists

And Photo Gallery


From 1913 to 2001

The World Aircraft Carriers Lists are a comprehensive, detailed listing of all the world's aircraft carriers and seaplane tenders, from the start of naval aviation into the 21st century. Every carrier and seaplane tender ever built or planned is listed, with complete technical data, historical sketches and photographs for virtually every ship. There are nearly 1000 high-quality photos linked to the respective ship histories. The lists are being continually revised to ensure that the data is accurate and up-to-date.


World Aircraft Carrier Lists
General Information
Carriers Summary, a list of all carriers in existence today

Death and Rebirth of the Supercarrier the life, death and return of the post-WWII supercarrier concept
US WWII Carrier Force Levels a detailed list showing the number of carriers in service at each stage of the war
About The World Carriers List Project - what, why, formatting and terminology, etc.
Bibliography for the World Carriers List Project
Photo Galleries
USS Abraham Lincoln Homecoming - return from a deployment.
USS Cabot/SNS Dedalo - a look at the life and demise of the last light carrier.
USS Coral Sea - the "ageless warrior" through her long career.
US Carrier Fires - three USN carrier disasters from the 1960's.
Dutch Aircraft Carriers - a close-up look at the various Dutch carriers.
Aviation Oddities - a look at some of the more unusual aviation ships and craft we've seen.
HMCS Magnificent - life aboard one of Canada's carriers.
Note: Letters in "quotes" following ships' names are the flight deck codes assigned to those ships.

United States
Master Index of US Carriers
Pre-WWII Fleet Carriers
WWII Fleet Carriers: Essex and Midway classes
WWII Light Fleet Carriers: Independence and Saipan classes
Auxiliary Fleet Carriers, passenger liner conversions
Post-WWII Supercarriers, today's behemoths
Carrier Air Wings in service today

Escort Carriers, Part 1: Long Island & Bogue classes, BAVGs
Escort Carriers, Part 2: Casablanca class
Escort Carriers, Part 3: Sangamon and Commencement Bay classes

Amphibious Assault Ships

Miscellaneous Seaplane Support Ships & Converted Tenders
Large Seaplane Tenders: purpose-built AVs
Small Seaplane Tenders: all AVPs and AVDs
Miscellaneous Aviation Ships

United Kingdom
Master Index of RN Carriers
Developmental & Experimental Carriers
WWII Fleet Carriers
Light Fleet Carriers including VSTOL
Escort Carriers
Merchant Aircraft Carriers

Postwar Attack Carriers, including rebuilt WWII-era ships and CVA01 project.
Helicopter and Assault Ships including helicopter training ships

Seaplane Carriers & Tenders


Japan
Aircraft Carriers
Seaplane Ships
Helicopter Ships (ASW/Assault)
European Nations
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Russia and the Soviet Union
Spain
Sweden
Ukraine
'White Russians'
Yugoslavia
Other Nations
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
India
Peru
Thailand

Corrections, Comments, Suggestions: Despite our vigorous efforts make this work as error-free as possible, some mistakes are sure to slip through. If you find an error, please send email to Andrew Toppan (actoppan@hazegray.org), being sure to state the exact nature of the error, and the list in which it was found. We'll resolve the error and make any necessary corrections. We also welcome comments, suggestions and additional material, which will be incorporated as time allows. However, please DO NOT send binary files (photographs) without contacting us first, to avoid overflowing mailboxes. Thank you!

Copyrights: The World Aircraft Carrier Lists are Copyright © 1995-2001 by Andrew Toppan. The lists may not be redistributed or published, in whole or in part, for any purpose without prior written permission. The lists are not in the public domain. Please send email to Andrew Toppan if you would like to publish or distribute the lists. Unauthorized republication or distribution of these lists or the data contained herein will not be tolerated.

Acknowledgements: A project of this sort is only possible with the generous assistance of many people. I would like to specifically thank several people who have been especially helpful. Brooks Rowlett has been an invaluable source of photographs, data and opinions, and has proofread many of the lists. Alex Walton supplied many RN photos and related information. Jack Arrowsmith provided invaluable data on RN carrier pennant numbers. Paul Silverstone, Chris Cavas and Paul Yarnall supplied many photos for this project. DANFS entries for the US ships were provided by several members of the DANFS Project Team. In addition, many other people have provided other data and material for this project. Thank you everyone!

Photo Credits: Uncredited photos are, to the best of our knowledge, "official" photos from government sources such as the US Navy, Ministry of Defense, Royal Navy, Imperial Japanese Navy, US National Archives, Fleet Air Arm Museum, or other similar organization around the world. Such photos are in the public domain. All other photos are credited as to source and are used in accordance with applicable copyright laws. If there are any questions regarding photo credits or copyrights, please contact us and we will resolve the matter promptly.

Links to Other Web Resources
PLEASE NOTE: These are links to off-site resources, provided for your convenience. We are not responsible for the content or availability of these sites.
I would like to add links to as many carrier-related sites as possible. The only requirements are that (1) the site must contain significant carrier-related material, not just a passing reference to carriers, (2) the site must not violate the copyrights of this or any other site, and (3) the site must be reasonably well maintained, i.e. no obvious broken links, bad HTML or other serious defects. If it crashes my browser, it will not be listed!

To suggest a site, please send email with the URL and a brief site description, and be sure to indicate that the site is to be listed in the "Carrier Links". Thank you!


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