An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project seaborne air power far from homeland without depending on local airfields for staging aircraft operations. Since their inception in the early 20th century, aircraft carriers have evolved from wooden vessels used to deploy individual tethered reconnaissance balloons, to nuclear-powered supercarriers that carry dozens of fighters, strike aircraft, military helicopters, AEW&Cs and other types of aircraft such as UCAVs. While heavier fixed-wing aircraft such as airlifters, gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not landed on a carrier due to flight deck limitations.
The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrying cruiser, Soviet designation Project 1143.5, is a class of STOBAR aircraft carriers operated by the Russian and Chinese navies. Originally designed for the Soviet Navy, the Kuznetsov-class ships use a ski-jump for launching high-performance jet aircraft and arrestor gears for landing. The design represented a major advance in Soviet fleet aviation over the Kiev-class carriers, which do not have full-length flight deck and could only launch VSTOL aircraft. The Soviet Union's classification for the class was as a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser, which permits the ships to transit the Turkish Straits without violating the Montreux Convention. However, the Chinese variants are classified as aircraft carriers.
The Albion-class landing platform dock is a class of amphibious warfare ship in service with the Royal Navy. The class consists of two vessels, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, ordered in 1996 to replace the ageing Fearless class. Both ships were built by BAE Systems Marine at the former Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering yard in Barrow-in-Furness. Albion was commissioned in 2003 and Bulwark in 2005. Each of the ships has a crew of 325 and can accommodate up to 405 troops. Thirty-one large trucks and thirty-six smaller vehicles and main battle tanks can be carried inside the vehicle deck. To disembark troops and vehicles, the vessels are equipped with eight landing craft. As of 2024, both vessels were in reserve. In November 2024, the newly elected Labour government indicated that the ships would be removed from service by March 2025.
STOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier, combining elements of "short take-off and vertical landing" (STOVL) with "catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery" (CATOBAR).
A landing helicopter dock (LHD) is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship that is capable of operating as a helicopter carrier and also has a well deck for supporting landing crafts. LHD vessels are built with a full flight deck similar in appearance to a light aircraft carrier to operate VTOL rotorcrafts such as utility and attack helicopters, and can also support tiltrotor aircraft and VSTOL fixed-wing aircraft. Some future designs might even support CATOBAR operations for light aircraft and UCAVs via aircraft catapults and arresting gears.
An anti-submarine warfare carrier is a type of small aircraft carrier whose primary role is as the nucleus of an anti-submarine warfare hunter-killer group. This type of ship came into existence during the Cold War as a development of the escort carriers used in the ASW role in the North Atlantic during World War II.
Juan Carlos I is a multi-purpose aircraft carrier-landing helicopter dock (LHD) in the Spanish Navy. Similar in role to many aircraft carriers, the amphibious landing ship has a ski jump for STOVL operations, and is equipped with the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft. The vessel is named in honour of Juan Carlos I, the former king of Spain.
A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters. It has a large flight deck that occupies a substantial part of the deck, which can extend the full length of the ship like HMS Ocean of the Royal Navy (RN), or extend only partway, usually aft, as in the Soviet Navy's Moskva class or in the Chinese Navy's Type 0891A. It often also has a hangar deck for the storage and maintenance of rotorwing aircraft.
CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Under this technique, aircraft launch using a catapult-assisted take-off and land on the ship using arrestor wires.
The Dokdo-class amphibious assault ship is a class of landing platform helicopter (LPH) and amphibious assault ships operated by the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). It was designed and built by Hanjin Heavy Industries (HHIC) to enhance South Korea's amphibious operation capability in terms of assault and military operations other than war (MOOTW).
An amphibious assault ship is a type of warship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an armed conflict. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers. Modern designs support amphibious landing craft, with most designs including a well deck. Like the aircraft carriers they were developed from, some amphibious assault ships also support V/STOL fixed-wing aircraft and have a secondary role as aircraft carriers.
A carrier-based aircraft is a naval aircraft designed for operations from aircraft carriers. Carrier-based aircraft must be able to launch in a short distance and be sturdy enough to withstand the abrupt forces of launching from and recovering on a pitching deck. In addition, their wings are generally able to fold up, easing operations in tight quarters.
Fujian, named after Fujian province, is a Chinese aircraft carrier serving in the People's Liberation Army Navy. It is the third aircraft carrier of the Chinese aircraft carrier programme and the first of the Type 003 class. It succeeds the Type 002 Shandong which is described as a modified Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier. It is China's first indigenously designed carrier, and its first capable of catapult-assisted take-offs (CATOBAR); previous Chinese carriers used ski-jumps (STOBAR).
TCG Anadolu (L-400) is a drone-carrying amphibious assault ship of the Turkish Navy. It is named after the peninsula of Anatolia which forms the majority of the land mass of Turkey. The construction works began on 30 April 2016 at the shipyard of Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. in Istanbul, with the keel being laid on 7 February 2018. TCG Anadolu was commissioned with a ceremony on 10 April 2023.
Many present-day naval vessels, aside from aircraft carriers and full-length deck amphibious assault ships, are capable of carrying aircraft. A majority of United States Navy ships have at least a helipad, capable of landing medium-sized helicopters. Many others have decks and even hangars incorporated into the structure of the ship. It has become a standard part of modern ship design 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.
The Type 075 landing helicopter dock is a class of Chinese amphibious assault ships built by Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). It has a full-length flight deck for helicopter operations and features a floodable well deck from which to disembark hovercraft and armored amphibious assault vehicles.
The Hongdu GJ-11 Sharp Sword is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) developed in the People's Republic of China for the People's Liberation Army. It was designed by Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute (SYADI) and Hongdu Aviation Industry Group (HAIG) and is part of seven proposed models by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) program called "AVIC 601-S". The GJ-11 can perform precision strike and aerial reconnaissance missions.
Project Vixen is the name of a Royal Navy programme examining the use of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from its two aircraft carriers. The project likely draws its name from the de Havilland Sea Vixen, notable for being the Royal Navy's first two-seat carrier-based aircraft capable of supersonic flight. The project is part of the navy's wider Future Maritime Aviation Force (FMAF) strategy to increase the use of uncrewed systems.
A drone carrier is a crewed or uncrewed ship equipped with a flight deck on which drones can take off and land. This ship can be civilian or military. In addition to drone carriers for unmanned aerial Vehicles, there are also others for unmanned underwater vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles.
People's Liberation Army Navy 
