Top Aircraft Carriers in the World (Part 2)

An aircraft carrier is undoubtedly the most invaluable naval asset for any military’s naval army as it holds the ability to deploy a fleet of the fighter jets and military helicopters from its deck at a moment’s notice from the sea. Last time we presented some very amazing aircraft carriers and now we present another list of these aircraft carriers.

Here is another list of the top aircraft carriers of the world (part 2).

Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle is modern and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier which was commissioned in the French Naval Force back in 2011. At the moment it is the most important naval asset of the French Navy and is also their only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that was built outside of US.

The v has the ability to carry a fleet of 40 fixed wing fighters along with helicopters to carry out the attack and the utility roles. In its full capacity, the Charles de Gaulle has the ability to operate from it a fleet of 30 Naval Dassault Rafael multirole jet fighters.

In addition to these, the Charles de Gaulle has the capacity to operate the airborne early warning aircraft the E-2C Hawkeye along with AS 322 Cougar and SA 365F Dauphin attack helicopters.

Although a second aircraft carrier of the same class was ordered by the French Navy, it was never completed due to the financial problems.

INS Vikramaditya

The Vikramaditya aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy is the modified version of the former Kiev class aviation cruiser which was operated in the past by the Russian Navy. Russian Navy was incurring too much cost in operating these aviation cruisers on their tight Cold War budget and was eventually forced to sell one of these aircraft carriers to the Indian Navy.

The agreement to sale this ship was made between India and Russia back in 2004 and the aircraft carrier after its modification was commissioned into the Indian navy back in 2014. The purpose to commission this aircraft carrier is to replace the aging aircraft carrier by the name “Viraat”.

The Vikramaditya has the ability to carry a fleet of nearly 40 fixed wing fighter jets and helicopters. The main fighters operated from the Vikramaditya are the MiG-29 KUB and the MiG-29 KU which is the carrier-based fighters. In addition to this, Vikramaditya also operates the following aircraft form it.

Sea harrier with STVOL capability
HAL Dhruv helicopter for the utility role
Russian Ka-321 attack helicopters

The Vikramaditya which is the remodification of the former Admiral Gorshkov lost some of its major long-range attack weapons and is currently equipped with the short range air defense weapons.

São Paulo

São Paulo is the aircraft carrier which belongs to the Clemenceau class of the aircraft carriers which was originally commissioned into the French Navy back in 1963 under the name ‘Foch”.

However, due to the modern needs and upgrading of their naval assets, French navy sold the Foch to the Brazilian Navy back in 2000 and now it is serving the Brazilian Navy as their flagship.

The São Paulo has the ability to carry a fleet of nearly 40 of the fixed wing fighter jets as well as helicopters. Despite having the ability to operate the fighter jets and attack helicopters, São Paulo is currently utilized by the Brazilian military as a mean to train their pilots. In addition to limited offensive use, the offensive capability of the São Paulo is also limited.

The attack capability of this aircraft is weak with the main interceptor being the A-4KU Skyhawk. These fighters are equipped with short range air-to-air missiles called AIM-9 Sidewinder along with free fall bombs.

Being an ageing aircraft carrier its ability to defend against the anti-ship and the ground attacks is very compromised and is currently no match for the fight generation air superiority fighters.

Cavour

Cavour is the aircraft carrier which is the main warship of the Italian navy which was commissioned back in 2008. This new state of the art warship was designed in order to operate from it not only VTOL aircraft and helicopters but also to serve as a naval command center. In other duties of the Cavour, it also serves as a transport carrier for the military vehicles and troops.

The maximum holding capacity of the Cavour is to carry 20 fixed wing aircraft and the helicopters. At the moment, Cavour operates the Boeing V-8B Harrier II Plus as its main ground attack asset. The Italian navy plans to replace these helicopters with a new and powerful fleet of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Bs.

The aircraft carrier for its various roles of airborne surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and utility missions; operates the following aircraft from it.

SH-3D helicopter
NH-90 Helicopter
EH-101 helicopter

One quality that makes the Cavour unique is its ability to carry put an amphibious assault. The Cavour’s aircraft hanger has the ability to transport battle tanks along with amphibious assault vehicles. It also has the ability to accommodate on it a regiment consistent of 325 marines.

HTMS Chakri Naruebet

The Chakri Naruebet is the aircraft carrier which was actually built in Spain back in the 90s but was later commissioned into the Royal Thai Navy back in 1997. The Chakri Naruebet was the first ever aircraft carrier which was operated by any Southeast Asian country in the 90s.

The Chakri Naruebet has the ability to carry a fleet of 40 helicopters as well as the fixe wing aircraft. The main ground attack force of the Chakri Naruebet is consistent of the AV-8S Matador fighter jets. As for carrying the utility, transport and anti submarine warfare roles, the Chakri Naruebet operates the following helicopters from it.