America's Flying Naval Aircraft Carriers
Naval aircraft carriers revolutionized the way great nations project power all over the world. Naval aviation, of course, forever changed how battles at sea are fought and made the difference between victory and defeat for the Allies in World War II's Pacific Theater. But even a weapon as supreme as the aircraft carrier has its limits.
If a carrier was no longer limited to the blue water oceans and the range of its aircraft, it could once again change the nature of warfare as we know it. Like the helicarriers featured in the Marvel movies, flying aircraft carriers could ferry their fighters and helicopters closer to a target, cutting the risk to pilots in contested airspace as they refueled in-flight and even joining the fight for air supremacy.
They could have changed history.
Imagine: If the special operations aircraft used in Operation Eagle Claw, the failed joint special ops effort to rescue hostages in Iran, didn't have to refuel, they could have made the assault on the U.S. embassy in Tehran, rescued the hostages, and gotten out safely. President Carter might have been reelected, and the U.S. would never have known Ronald Reagan as President.
The United States actually did develop early flying aircraft carriers around the same time as it developed naval carriers. They came in the form of zeppelins, helium-inflated naval airships that carried Curtiss Sparrowhead biplanes that could take off and be recovered while in flight – and it increased the range of naval reconnaissance by a huge margin.
Two of them were built, the USS Akron and the USS Macon, each equipped with large hangars for up to five aircraft to take off and be collected via a trapeze connected to a hole in the bottom of its hull. Like naval carriers, the planes not only acted as recon aircraft, they could deploy to defend their mother ship.
Both airships were designed with a more intricate (and thus, heavier) design than most of the U.S. Navy airships that came before it. Their redesigned internal structure gave the ships more strength to keep them safe, even in stormy weather. They were also more aerodynamic than other airships of the time, with internal engines that allowed its crew to access them for repairs.
The Akron was built in Akron, Ohio, in 1929, christened by First Lady of the United States Lou Hoover in 1931, and finally took to the skies in September 1931. Within a month, it was commissioned into the U.S. Navy. Despite a ground accident, the ship generally performed well in the air and could remain in the air for days at a time.
It crossed the country to rebase at San Diego in 1932 when it had another accident. The ship accidentally became airborne, lifting three sailors dangling from its mooring ropes. Two of those sailors fell to the ground in an incident captured on film. Until this point, its ability as a reconnaissance aircraft had been limited because it didn't have its five fighter planes, so the airship's operational history had been embarrassing.
Once it did have its aircraft, however, all seemed to be forgotten. In 1933, the USS Akron flew to Cuba, the Panama Canal, and even newly-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Inauguration Ceremony.
In April 1933, however, disaster struck. Akron was off the coast of New Jersey on a mission to aid radio direction finder stations. It was carrying Rear Adm. William Moffett and a number of other dignitaries. Including its crew, there were 76 people aboard.
Akron ran into one of the worst and most violent storms recorded to that date in the North Atlantic. Wrapped up in fog, the turbulence from the storm brought the airship into a steep nosedive. It recovered, only to be dragged down by its tailfin. The fin hit the ocean and pulled the airship in, breaking it up in the stormy sea. Only three survived.
After the USS Macon met a similar fate, crashing into the ocean in 1935, the age of the airship was effectively over, at least for the U.S. Navy. Its airships had a lot of potential and, some say, never fully had the chance to display the potential it could bring to the battlefield. If ever an airborne aircraft carrier could be protected from the elements and the enemy, it could be a huge game changer for anyone using them.