A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s, 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 The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

(RN), or extend only partway, usually aft, as in the Soviet Navy's or in the

Chinese Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chine ...

's Type 0891A. It often also has a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

deck for the storage of aircraft. Pure helicopter carriers are difficult to define in the 21st century. The advent of

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 ...

aircraft such as the

Harrier jump jet The Harrier, informally referred to as the Harrier jump jet, is a family of jet-powered attack aircraft capable of vertical/short takeoff and landing operations (V/STOL). Named after a bird of prey, it was originally developed by British ma ...

, and now the

F-35 The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...

, have complicated the classification; the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

's , for instance, carries six to eight Harriers as well as over 20 helicopters. Only smaller carriers unable to operate the Harrier and older pre-Harrier-era carriers can be regarded as true helicopter carriers. In many cases, other carriers, able to operate STOVL aircraft, are classified as " light aircraft carriers". Other vessels, such as the ''Wasp'' class, are also capable of embarking troops such as

marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

and landing them ashore; they are classified as

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, a ...

s. Helicopter carriers have been used as

anti-submarine warfare carrier An anti-submarine warfare carrier (ASW carrier) (US hull classification symbol CVS) is a type of small aircraft carrier whose primary role is as the nucleus of an anti-submarine warfare hunter-killer group. This type of ship came into existenc ...

s and amphibious assault ships. and two of her sisters were 22,000 ton fleet carriers converted to "commando carriers" only able to operate helicopters. ''Hermes'' was later converted to a STOVL carrier.

Helicopter carriers by country

Helicopter carriers

Helicopter carriers currently in use

Retired helicopter carriers

* (

) – helicopter carrier of the 1960s–1980s * ( Italian Navy) – an

helicopter cruiser The aircraft cruiser (also known as aviation cruiser or cruiser-carrier) is a warship that combines the features of the aircraft carrier and a surface warship such as a cruiser or battleship. Early types The first aircraft cruiser was origina ...

active from 1964 to 1992 * (

) –

landing helicopter dock A landing helicopter dock (LHD) is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship which is capable of operating helicopters and has a well deck. The United States Navy (USN) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) use the term as a hull classification symbo ...

, active 1998–2020 * (Royal Navy) – helicopter carrier of the 1960s–1980s * (Italian Navy) - an ''Andrea Doria''-class helicopter cruiser active from 1964 to 1989 * (

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

), decommissioned in 1946 – world's first helicopter carrier. * (Royal Navy) – an light aircraft carrier, which operated as a helicopter carrier when HMS ''Ocean'' was being refitted. * (United States Navy) – lead of the seven-ship , active from the early 1960s to the early 2000s * (

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

), decommissioned in 2010 * ( Soviet Navy) – second of the two-ship - active 1969–1991 * (Soviet Navy) – lead of the two-ship ''Moskva'' class, active 1967–1991 * ex- (Royal Navy) – helicopter carrier 1998–2018, decommissioned March 2018. ** Sold to Brazil in February 2018, renamed ''Atlântico'' * (Italian Navy) – a helicopter cruiser active from 1969 to 2003

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