"Favorite Aircraft Carrier?" Topic

Which is your favorite aircraft carrier?

I always liked the Forrestal-class. First of the Supercarriers!

USS Ronald Reagan

CV6 – USS Enterprise without a doubt or hesitation.

USS Enterprise, CV-6.

I have always had a soft spot for Ark Royal and Saratoga CV3. Poor Sara just could never catch a break.

But, I have to agree CV 6 all the way.

USS Richard Nixon

WWII Ark Royal, Falklands era Bulwark at a pinch.

Well, my submarine did some unspeakable things to Abraham Lincoln (and her escort group) one summer…

USS Enterprise, CV-6

USS Yorktown CV-5

USS John F Kennedy, CV-67. I spent 39 months on big john so I have a soft spot for her.

CV-6. USS Enterprise

USS Enterprise CV6

CV6

CV-8 USS Hornet
Launch platform for the Doolittle Raiders, May they all Rest In Peace.

CV6 as well

Enterprise CV-6

HMS Furious, the old girl had a lovely "warhorse" look about her.

Another vote for CV-6.

Rick

Yep … The Enterprise !

I really wish the USN would keep the names of some of the original CVs. E.g. Saratoga, Hornet, Langley, etc.

Another vote for the Yorktown.

Yorktown class. Enterprise, Yorktown, Hornet. With two Yorktowns, the Navy bombed the home islands, with all three they changed the war.

USS Enterprise – the original version!

HMCS Bonaventure.

USS Sable (IX-81). Converted paddle wheel tour boat, converted to carrier for training pilots to land and take off, on one of the Great Lakes. President George H. W. Bush got himself qualified on this one!

link

The Wolerine was a sister ship.

Even Pacifists could love these two – never fired a shot in anger, never sent a plane to bomb anyone!

GdeP

HMS Formidable or HMS Victorious.

Difficult to choose between the two.

USS Lexington

Another Enterprise, CV 6, vote.

CV-6 Enterprise
IJN Shokaku
Midway
Gambier Bay

Charles de Gaulle

x42

Garde de Paris beat me to it. Oh well, his heart's in the right place.

LT

USS Nimitz. Stopped the attack on Pearl Harbour single handed.

The other Enterprise, CVN-65, launched the year I was born. The original slab-sided, cone-topped island says "USN rules the waves" to me.

USS Lexington CV2

Tied between USS Enterprise, Saratoga and HMS Ark Royal.

Lexington

IJN Kaga.

Lexington and Saratoga, in their first configuration. Gotta love aircraft carriers mounting eight 8" guns :)

HMS Illustrious. As a kid I was fascinated by the name and her appearance. In adult years, I enjoyed the fact that she operated Swordfish.

Difficult to choose. Either WW2 era HMS Ark Royal or HMS Victorious. The former was considered a bit of an "ugly duckling" when she joined the fleet but became the key ship of Force H in the Mediterranean, and in appalling conditions flew off the strike that crippled Bismarck. Victorious spanned the eras, finishing her career with an angled flight deck and operating jet aircraft.

CV6 Big E all the way

Aquila.

Another vote for Kaga.

I will toss in a vote for USS Ranger CV-4. Only large US CV in the Atlantic for the the long haul. Only big CV that shot her guns at another ship (French sub Nov 1942) that I know of.

Dave G

Midway Class.

HMS Queen Elizabeth .

USS Enterprise CV-6
USS Coral Sea CV-43
usscoralsea.net

HMAS Melbourne. The only carrier I've actually set foot on.