ASW carrier

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ASW carrier
USS Yorktown (CVS-10) at sea off Hawaii, circa the early 1960s4
Three SH-3A Sea Kings from HS-6 flying over the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CVS-33), circa 1962–1964
Three SH-3A Sea Kings from HS-6 flying over the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CVS-33), circa 1962–1964
An S-2E ready for launching from the USS Bennington (CVS-20)
An S-2E ready for launching from the USS Bennington (CVS-20)
British light carrier HMS Invincible (R05) underway during a NATO exercise in 1991
British light carrier HMS Invincible (R05) underway during a NATO exercise in 1991

An ASW carrier (Anti-Submarine Warfare carrier) is a type of small aircraft carrier whose primary role is to hunt and destroy submarines. 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.

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[edit] Role

After WW-II the main naval threat to most western nations was confrontation with the Soviet Union. The Soviets ended the war with a small navy and took the route of asymmetric confrontation against western surface ship superiority by investing heavily in submarines both for attack and later fielding submarine launched missiles. [1] Smaller nations who purchased British and US surplus light carriers were most easily able to accommodate slow moving, less expensive, and easy to land antisubmarine aircraft from the 1960's forward such as the S-2 Tracker which flew from the decks of US, Canadian, Australian, Dutch, Argentine, and Brazilian carriers or Alizé which flew from French and Indian ships and still remain useful especially in the framework of NATO even as newer fighter and strike aircraft were becoming too heavy for the equipment designed for WW-II aircraft.

Improvement in long range shore based patrol and conventional ship based ASW helicopter capability combined with the increasing difficulty maintaining surplus WW-II carriers lead to most of these ships to be retired or docked by smaller nations from the 1970's to the mid 1980's. This trend in ASW force draw down only accelerated with the massive reduction in the operational Soviet/Russian submarine fleet which rarely went to sea in large numbers in the 1990's. Ships that could be called dedicated ASW carriers are now only found with the Japanese navy which operates helicopters and no fixed wing carrier based aircraft of any kind. Even the United States Navy, the last nation to regularly operate a dedicated fixed wing carrier based ASW aircraft, the S-3 Viking, on its mixed role super carriers has already removed most ASW equipment from this aircraft and plans to remove this type from service in 2009 without replacement. Interestingly the Argentine Navy currently without much hope of a replacement CATOBAR carrier its own still trains several times a year landing S-2 Turbo Trackers aboard the Brasillian carrier São Paulo.

Much easier to operate from small decks than fixed wing aircraft were ASW helicopters which flew from the decks of nearly all allied conventional carriers to this day and most LPH or STOVL carriers operated by the Soviet, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, British, and Thai navies. Since the only navy currently building new ASW though-deck helicopter-only ships is Japan, who terms their vessels as helicopter destroyers, it is disputable if a ASW helicopter support vessel is best defined as a ASW carrier or perhaps an new designation.

[edit] List of ASW carriers

[edit] ASW carriers under construction

[edit] ASW aircraft carriers

Argentine Navy
Brazilian Navy
French Navy
  • FS Arromanches - one ship (ex-Colossus-class) ASW (retired/scrapped) Fixed Wing CATOBAR and ASW Helicopters
Indian Navy
Italina Navy
Spanish Navy
  • Dédalo - one ship (ex-Independence class) ASW helicopter carrier 1967-1976, STOVL carrier 1976-1989. Strike/ASW (retired/scrapped) STOVL and ASW Helicopters
  • Príncipe de Asturias - one ship Strike/ASW STOVL and ASW Helicopters
  • Future Juan Carlos I Strike/ASW/Amphibious Assult STOVL and ASW Helicopters
Royal Navy

The three ships of the Invincible class, were originally designed as through deck cruisers for the ASW role, but ended up also equipped with Harrier STOVL fighters. Following the Falklands War, however, the role of these ships was reconsidered, and they were used as conventional, albeit light, fleet aircraft carriers, in the power projection role.

Royal Australian Navy
  • HMAS Melbourne - one ship (ex-Majestic-class) Strike/ASW (retired/scrapped) Fixed Wing CATOBAR and ASW Helicopters
Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Netherlands Navy
Royal Thailand Navy
  • HTMS Chakri Naruebet - one ship, potential for Strike, ASW, and other roles (mostly dockside or carrying royal family) STOVL and ASW Helicopters
Soviet/Russian Navy
United States Navy
  • Essex-Class CVS designated ships ASW although some carried an attack squadron and AEW (retired/scrapped) Fixed Wing CATOBAR and ASW Helicopters

As an ASW carrier the air wing on an Essex class ship in the 1960's such as the USS Bennington CVS-20 consisted of two squadrons of S-2F Tracker's, a squadron of Sikorsky SH-34's ASW helicopters which were replaced in 1964 by SH-3A Sea King's in that role. Airborne early warning was first provided by EA-1E's modified for the AEW role, these were upgraded in 1965 to the E-1 Tracer which is built on the same frame as the S-2 Tracker. During the years 1964 and 1965 a squadron of A-4B Skyhawks were also embarked.[2]

[edit] See also

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