Aircraft carriers of the Royal Australian Navy

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The Royal Australian Navy, while significant in the Asia-Pacific region, has never been a major global force. As with many smaller navies after World War II, the RAN made a decision to develop a naval air arm and operate aircraft carriers. Due to the expense of naval aviation and Australia's changing defence priorities the RAN's last carrier was retired in 1982.

1 Pre-World War II
2 World War II
3 Post-World War II
4 The future

[edit] Pre-World War II

HMAS Albatross

The navy's experience with aircraft at sea actually began prior to the Second World War, with the commissioning of the seaplane carrier, HMAS Albatross. Albatross was commissioned in 1929 and served for four years in the RAN before being paid off into the reserve in 1933. During her time in service she followed the normal uneventful pattern of the peacetime naval vessel of the thirties on the Australia Station – winter cruises to New Guinea and New Britain and surrounding islands, spring cruises to the southern states, exercises, training and long periods in Sydney Harbour. Her complement of Supermarine amphibians were crewed and maintained by personnel of the RAAF. She was eventually traded to the Royal Navy in 1938 as part payment for the cruiser HMAS Hobart.

[edit] World War II

Walrus aircraft embarked on an Australian light cruiser

While the Royal Australian Navy did not operate any aircraft carriers during World War II, each of the RAN's heavy and light cruisers was equipped with a single seaplane operated by No. 9 Squadron RAAF. Due to the Allied air dominance of the areas in which the cruisers operated, the surviving Australian cruisers had their seaplane catapults removed in 1944 and No. 9 Squadron was disbanded at the end of the year.

During late 1944 and 1945 the British Pacific Fleet was based in Australia. In order to support the Fleet's aircraft carriers, the Australian government constructed a number of airfields and other facilities to support naval aviation. Many of these facilities (including HMAS Albatross, the RAN's main air station) were later used to support Australia's post-war carriers.

[edit] Post-World War II

HMAS Vengeance in 1953

World War II saw a number of squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm being crewed exclusively by Australians. Their experience led the Australian government to make the decision to form an air arm for the RAN. In tandem with this was the decision to purchase two conventional aircraft carriers from the Royal Navy. At the time, a large class of small light fleet carriers, the Majestic class was under construction. Two of these, Majestic and Terrible, were selected for purchase. Terrible was in a more advanced state of construction, and was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS Sydney in 1948. Sydney, with an air wing of Hawker Sea Fury and Fairey Firefly aircraft, served as the flagship of the fleet for seven years, serving during the Korean War. Her sister Majestic meanwhile had been taken in hand for a major conversion which would see all of the latest developments in carrier technology (angled flight deck, mirror landing sight, steam catapult) incorporated, enabling her to operate the latest jet aircraft. Because of the amount of work needed to complete Majestic, the RAN took another light fleet carrier, the Colossus class HMS Vengeance, on loan from the RN. She commissioned as in 1952 as HMAS Vengeance and served for three years before she was returned to the Royal Navy.

HMAS Sydney leading HMAS Melbourne in 1965

In 1955, work on Majestic was completed, and she was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS Melbourne. At that time, Sydney, which remained unmodified and thus incapable of supporting jet operations, was re-roled as a training ship, leaving Melbourne as the only operational carrier. On her commissioning, her air wing included Sea Venoms and Gannets. As time went on, Melbourne received newer and more powerful aircraft to operate from her deck, culminating in 1967 with the A-4 Skyhawk and S-2 Tracker, as well as helicopters. Melbourne saw service during the Vietnam War, when she served as part of the escort for Sydney, which was operated in the fast troop transport role.

Sydney was decommissioned in 1973 and sold for scrapping, while Melbourne continued in her operational role. In 1981, she was scheduled for a long refit. However, a decision was taken by the government to replace her with a new carrier. Contact was made with the British government, and an agreement was reached for the sale of the brand new light aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, to be renamed HMAS Australia and handed over to the RAN in late 1982. However, the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina, and the subsequent deployment of Invincible as part of the task force led to a rethink of British policy. The sale of Invincible was subsequently cancelled, with the older and larger HMS Hermes offered instead. The 1983 election in Australia, which saw a change of government, eventually led to the decision being taken that Melbourne would not be replaced. Melbourne was sold to China for scrap in 1985. There is evidence to suggest that the ship was studied by the Chinese Navy to help understand aircraft carrier concepts prior to the Chinese building their own aircraft carrier.

HMAS Manoora

Following the decommissioning of Melbourne, the Fleet Air Arm was restricted to helicopters operating from frigates and support ships. The RAN's aviation capabilities were boosted in the late 1990s with the commissioning of the two Kanimbla class LPAs, each of which are capable of operating 4 S-70 Blackhawk or 3 Sea King helicopters. The ships will also be able to operate the new Tiger helicopter gunships. While the LPAs are primarily amphibious transports, their large helicopter capacity means that they could be used as anti-submarine helicopter cruisers, along similar lines to the French helicopter cruiser Jeanne d'Arc. The LPAs have operated in this role during exercises.[1]

[edit] The future

Mistral class

Buque de Proyección Estratégica

Up to the present, the RAN has not made any attempt to become an aircraft carrier force. However, a major new project to re-equip the navy will see a pair of Canberra class large amphibious ships constructed. These ships will be utilised in the amphibious assault, command, transport and air support roles. Two designs have been chosen to compete for this - the French Mistral class and the Spanish Buque de Proyección Estratégica. Both of these are fitted with a full length flight deck and island superstructure, giving them the appearance of small aircraft carriers.

While it is not currently planned that the multi-purpose vessels operate fixed wing aircraft, the ships are potentially capable of operating STOVL aircraft. If it is decided to operate such aircraft the only real option would be the STOVL F-35B version of the Joint Strike Fighter. Australia has made a preliminary commitment to purchase 100 of the CTOL F-35A for the RAAF; were it required, the option would be there to add a small number of F-35Bs to that order. The two ships, to be named Adelaide and Canberra, are due to enter service in approximately 2012 and 2015.

Name	Displacement	Launched	Commissioned	Air Wing
Albatross	6,350 tons	1928	1929	9 seaplanes
Sydney	19,550 tons	1944	1948	37
Vengeance	18,150 tons	1944	1952 (RAN)	27
Melbourne	20,320 tons	1945	1955	27
Kanimbla	14,000 tons	1970	1994 (RAN)	4 helicopters
Canberra	25,000 tons (approx)	2010?	2012?	11-16 helicopters