Active Aircraft Carriers

Updated 12 Feb 2025: Added Iran's IRGC Shahid Bagheri Drone Carrier. This is a reissue of the book to provide major updates. Several ships were added. Updated the Chinese Type 076 LHD to show dual island construction, EMCAT, and dual 30-ton edge elevators.

The class distinctions between types are clearly changing as technology advances. For example, vertical take-off and landing aircraft advances such as the Osprey and F-35B are rapidly being adopted to ships that otherwise only had helicopters before, making them more versatile and more lethal. Rapid adoption of unmanned vehicles (airborne, water-borne and underwater-borne) continues to dramatically change the naval battlespace. In addition, I believe recent technological advances in laser technology promise to greatly affect the survivability of aircraft carriers in the near future.