Topic summary
Seaplane carrier
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Seaplane tender.
History
The first seaplane carrier appeared in 1911 with the French Navy La Foudre, following the invention of the seaplane in 1910 with the French Fabre Hydravion. La Foudre carried float-equipped planes under hangars on the main deck, from where they were lowered on the sea with a crane. La Foudre was further modified in November 1913 with a 10 m (32 ft 10 in)-long flat deck to launch her seaplanes. Another early seaplane carrier was HMS Hermes, an old cruiser converted and commissioned with a flying-off deck in mid-1913. However, HMS Ark Royal was the first ship in history designed and built as a seaplane carrier in 1914.