An anti-submarine warfare carrier (ASW carrier) (US
hull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ...
CVS) is a type of small
aircraft carrier whose primary role is as the nucleus of an
anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are typi ...
hunter-killer group. 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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
Role
After World War II, the main naval threat to most Western nations was confrontation with the Soviet Union. The
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
s 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. Several nations who purchased British and US surplus light carriers were most easily able to accommodate slow-moving, less expensive, and easy-to-land anti-submarine aircraft from the 1960s 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, allowing these ships to 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 World War II aircraft.
Improvement in long-range shore-based patrol and conventional ship-based ASW helicopter capability combined with the increasing difficulty maintaining surplus WWII carriers led to most of these ships being retired or docked by smaller nations from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. 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 1990s. Ships that could be called dedicated ASW carriers are now only found within the Japan MSDF, 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
The Lockheed S-3 Viking is a four-crew, twin-engine turbofan-powered jet aircraft designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Corporation. Because of its characteristic sound, it was nicknamed the "War Hoover" after th ...
, on its mixed-role super carriers had already removed most ASW equipment in the 1990s from this aircraft and has now removed this type from service as of January 2009 without replacement.
The Argentine Navy, currently without much hope of a replacement
CATOBAR
CATOBAR ("Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery" or "Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery") is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Under this technique, aircraft ...
carrier of its own, trained several times a year landings and takeoffs of their
S-2 Turbo Trackers aboard the until this carrier was also retired.
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.
List of ASW carriers
Aircraft carriers and helicopter carriers that had primary ASW duties from the mid-1960s onward.
;Argentine Navy
* – one ship (ex-''Colossus'' class) ASW (retired/scrapped) fixed-wing
CATOBAR
CATOBAR ("Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery" or "Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery") is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Under this technique, aircraft ...
S-2 and helicopters
* – one ship (ex-''Colossus'' class) ASW (retired/scrapped) fixed-wing CATOBAR S-2 and helicopters
;Brazilian Navy
* – one ship (ex-''Colossus'' class) ASW (retired/scrapped) fixed-wing CATOBAR and helicopters
;French Navy
* – one ship (ex-''Colossus'' class) ASW (retired/scrapped) fixed-wing CATOBAR and helicopters
;Italian Navy
* one ship, ASW helicopter carrier 1985–1988,
STOVL
A short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL aircraft) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is able to take off from a short runway (or take off vertically if it does not have a heavy payload) and land vertically (i.e. with no runway). The ...
fighters and ASW helicopters carrier 1988–.
;Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
* (2009–).
ASW, utility, and sea mine clearing helicopters
* (2013–). ASW, utility, and sea mine clearing helicopters
;Royal Navy
* ; recommissioned in 1979 from reserve as a helicopter ASW carrier. (Retired and scrapped)
* ; ''Centaur''-class aircraft carrier converted to helicopter ASW in 1976. (Sold to India, renamed )
* – three ships Strike/ASW/Amphibious Assault STOVL and helicopters. These ships were originally designed as "through-deck cruisers" for the ASW role and command, but ended up also equipped with
Harrier
Harrier may refer to:
Animals
* Harrier (bird), several species of birds
* Harrier (dog)
Media
* Harrier Comics, a defunct British publisher
* Space Harrier, a video game series
Military
* Harrier jump jet, an overview of the Harrier family: ...
STOVL fighters for fleet defence against Soviet reconnaissance aircraft. After the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territori ...
they were used as conventional, albeit light, fleet aircraft carriers in the
power projection
Power projection (or force projection or strength projection), in international relations, is the capacity of a state to deploy and sustain forces outside its territory. The ability of a state to project its power into an area may serve as an e ...
role. and retired/scrapped, converted to amphibious assault ship, then scrapped 2016.
;Royal Australian Navy
* – one ship (''Majestic'' class) strike/ASW (retired/scrapped) fixed-wing
CATOBAR
CATOBAR ("Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery" or "Catapult Assisted Take-Off Barrier Arrested Recovery") is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier. Under this technique, aircraft ...
and helicopters
;Royal Canadian Navy
* – one ship (ex-''Majestic'' class) ASW (retired/scrapped) fixed-wing CATOBAR and helicopters
;Royal Netherlands Navy
* – one ship (ex-''Colossus'' class) ASW (retired/sold to Argentina as ''Veinticinco de Mayo'', scrapped) fixed-wing CATOBAR and helicopters
;Soviet/Russian Navy
* ; ASW helicopter support ship, large rear deck landing pad and hangar for 18 helicopters (retired/scrapped) Helicopters only
* cruiser/carrier; guided missile cruiser/limited air defense/ASW (retired/sold) STOVL and helicopters
;Spanish Navy
* – one ship (ex-''Independence'' class) ASW helicopter carrier 1967–1976, STOVL carrier 1976–1989. Strike/ASW (retired/scrapped) STOVL and helicopters
* one ship STOVL fighters and helicopters 1988–2013
;United States Navy
* – ASW carriers with fixed-wing and helicopter anti-submarine aircraft and AEW aircraft, although occasionally carried an
A-4 Skyhawk
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed ...
detachment (4 aircraft) for daytime
combat air patrol
Combat air patrol (CAP) is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft. A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area ...
(retired/scrapped) fixed-Wing CATOBAR and helicopters
* , , and the
LPH amphibious assault ship
An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (and, ...
s were given secondary roles of
sea control meaning they would deploy with a modified air complement consisting of ASW helicopters and a STOVL fighter group for air defense.
See also
*
Escort carrier
*
Helicopter carrier
A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters, and has a large flight deck that occupies a substantial part of the deck, which can extend the full length of the ship like of the Royal Navy ...
*
Light aircraft carrier
A light aircraft carrier, or light fleet carrier, is an aircraft carrier that is smaller than the standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft only one- ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anti-Submarine Warfare Carrier
Aircraft carriers
Aircraft carriers by type
it:Portaerei#Portaerei antisommergibile