Aircraft Carriers

How it Works: Aircraft Carriers

Aircraft carriers are basically floating airbases, transporting, servicing, launching planes into combat and recovering them, providing readily available air support to the naval fleets under their charge. While they can project power virtually anywhere on the battlefield, carriers are incredibly vulnerable when enemies have penetrated or circled your team's defenses, with no player-controlled guns and only AI-controlled secondaries to defend themselves.

While the first ship-launched takeoffs, and subsequently airborne attacks, were made in the early 20th century, the then-immature development of heavier-than-air aircraft prevented them from having any major influence in World War I. During the interwar years, ongoing research resulted in the development of several converted and purpose-built ships that could not only launch aircraft, but eventually recover them as well. In addition, carrier-launched aircraft (or rather, air power in general) began to have longer ranges, superior flexibility and greater precision than naval guns of any size and make. Although fierce resistance from "big gun" battleship admirals initially limited carrier assets and development, it was in World War II — amply illustrated by the battles of Taranto, Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Midway and Operation Ten-Go — that the aircraft carrier clearly demonstrated its overwhelmingly superior ability to project naval power and took over the reins as the flagship of a navy from battleships, a trend that continues today.

USS Lexington, Tier VII American tech-tree aircraft carrier

Playing an aircraft carrier differs quite a bit from playing the regular warships. Aircraft carrier captains can, for the most part, keep their vessel far from the main action of a battle and instead participate in the battle with individual squadrons of strike craft. You do not directly participate in combat, but are able to influence the flow of battle from a safe distance like no one else can: scouting, reinforcing a crumbling flank, providing additional presence to a sector that your team has committed fewer ships to, or even breaking up entire battleship formations to tip the scales in favor of your team. Despite this, stay on the look out for flanking enemies as a single stray destroyer may slip through your team's defenses and hunt you down if they spot you. The ability to strike anywhere does tend to make you a priority target for the enemy, especially since you tend to leave your carrier to its own devices.

All carriers hold a limited number of aircraft of various types on deck, each specialised to a certain role, so careful usage and proper target selection is vital to ensuring a fast and consistent turnover of strikes on the enemy team. Although there is no limit to the total aircraft reserves of a carrier, long aircraft rearm times and large squadron sizes at higher tiers can make reckless loss of an entire squadron of aircraft a significant handicap to the team.