Many present-day naval vessels, aside from aircraft carriers and full-length deck

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (and, a ...

s, are capable of carrying aircraft. A majority of

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ships have at least a helipad, capable of landing medium-sized

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s. Many others have decks and even

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s incorporated into the structure of the ship. It has become a standard part of modern

ship design Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and ...

to have a deck that supports multiple, medium or large helicopters, as well as being able to house them in a hangar, for protection and maintenance. Aside from carriers and full-length deck amphibious assault ships, the US Navy has 12 classes of commissioned surface warships, 10 of which are aviation-capable. Two of those classes, patrol ships and mine counter-measure ships, are due to be replaced by the littoral combat ship, at which point the entire US Naval surface war fleet will be aviation-capable.

US Navy ships

As of 2016, the current types and classes of US Navy ships, along with their capabilities are as follows: Along with these types and classes, many of the US navy's non-commissioned ships, specifically those of the Military Sealift Command, are aviation-capable as well. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

also has cutters that are aviation-capable. Also, with the growing technology in UAVs and

UCAV An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...

s, virtually every ship afloat has, or will soon have, some type of aviation capability.

Other vessels

The following are examples of other types aviation-capable vessels from other navies around the world:

Other types

* Merchant aircraft carrier *

Submarine aircraft carrier A submarine aircraft carrier is a submarine equipped with aircraft for observation or attack missions. These submarines saw their most extensive use during World War II, although their operational significance remained rather small. The most fam ...

* Aircraft cruiser * CAM ship * Fighter catapult ship * Interdiction Assault Ship * Seaplane tender

References

External links

{{Helicopters and rotorcraft Ship types Military helicopters

US Navy ships

Other vessels

Other types

See also

References

External links