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| Helicopter carrier | |
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| Australian Army S-70A-9 Black Hawk helicopters operating from a U.S. Navy Wasp class amphibious assault ship |
Helicopter carrier is a term for an aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters. The term is sometimes used for both ASW carriers and amphibious assault ships.
Helicopter carriers can either have a full-length aircraft deck like HMS Ocean, or have a large helicopter deck, usually aft, as in the Soviet Navy's Moskva class or RFA Argus. The latter is becoming less common, as such a design represents a compromise.[clarification needed] A full-length deck maximises deck space for helicopter landing spots. Such a design also allows for a hangar deck.
Pure helicopter carriers are difficult to define in the 21st century. The advent of STOVL aircraft such as the Harrier Jump Jet have complicated the classification; the United States Navy's Wasp class, for instance, carries six to eight Harriers as well as 30 helicopters. Only smaller carriers unable to operate the Harrier and older pre-Harrier-era carriers can be regarded as true helicopter carriers. In many cases, other carriers, able to operate STOVL aircraft, are classified as "light aircraft carriers." Other vessels, such as the Wasp class, are also capable of embarking troops such as Marines and landing them ashore; they are typically classified as amphibious assault ships.
HMS Hermes and two of her sisters were 22,000 ton fleet carriers converted to operate helicopters only as "commando carriers". Hermes was later converted to a STOVL carrier.
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Helicopter carriers
Helicopter carriers currently in use
- Rotterdam class amphibious transport dock (Royal Netherlands Navy)
- HMS Ocean (British Royal Navy)
- Jeanne d'Arc (French Navy, to be decommissioned in 2010)
- Mistral class amphibious assault ship (French Navy),
- Tarawa class amphibious assault ship (USN)
- Wasp class amphibious assault ship (USN)
- Hyūga class helicopter destroyer (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) (Hyūga was commissioned on March 18, 2009. The second ship is under construction.)
- HTMS Chakri Naruebet (Royal Thai Navy)
Retired helicopter carriers
- USS Iwo Jima (United States Navy) - the lead ship of the Iwo Jima class
- HMS Bulwark, HMS Albion, (Royal Navy) - helicopter carriers of the 1960s-1980s
- Moskva class (Soviet Navy)
- Vittorio Veneto class (Italian Marina Militare)
Helicopter carriers under construction
- America class amphibious assault ship (USN)
- Canberra class landing helicopter dock (Royal Australian Navy)
- Mistral class amphibious assault ship French Navy. The third ship is under construction, and maybe a fourth ship will be ordered.
See also
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