Saturday, November 24, 2018

The U.S. Navy Once Wanted A Submarine Aircraft Carrier

AN-1 with all eight aircraft in launch position. HI Sutton

Popular Mechanics: The U.S. Navy Could Have Had a Submarine Aircraft Carrier

AN-1 would have carried eight fighter jets, had virtually unlimited range.

During the 1950s, the advent of the atomic age forced the U.S. Navy to look at a number of alternate basing schemes for naval aviation. One such scheme was AN-1, an enormous nuclear-powered submarine that could launch eight fighter jets in just under eight minutes.

Although AN-1 was never built, it’s a fascinating look at a ship that could have been.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: It's not too late.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty picture.

Should be part of a board game concept

One word:

Corrosion

Anonymous said...

They put compasses on the wings of ship bridges.

Yes, ships have wings, but they cannot fly.

They are short stubby things.

But not vestigial.


The wings are use to get the compass away from the metal of the ship to a small extent. You'll get a different reading from a compass inside the bridge than on the wing.

That wing adds weight. The extra compass is an expense. It also must protected from the elements (& painted or otherwise protected). The expense all adds up. Ship builders and owners would not go through that expense if the interference of large moving hunks of metal were not a problem.

They are continually mapping the world magnetically and gravitationally.

China, Russia, and the US are trying to claim the high ground. With the high ground (space)and good maps, can you really hide that large of a sub?

Sure they can make the concept work, but maybe they can make another concept work on the high ground better for less money and more effective.

PS The Japanese bombed California with planes from submarines. It did not and could not change the course of the war. It did give the world the largest hangar in the world made of wood, where it often rains indoors. It is use as a recreational facility now.

Maybe after the US Navy build the sub carrier, they can sell it to Carnival Cruise lines and they have trips for the uber-wealthy (like Richard Branson) to cruise underwater and launch and recover planes.

Just a thought.


Hans Persson said...

Didnt the japanese have something like that during WW2?

Anonymous said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_aircraft_carrier

Hans Persson said...

Yes! Thanks anon